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Flamenco dance

Flamenco (Spanish pronunciation: [flaˈmeŋko]), in its strictest sense, could also be a professionalized art-form supported the various folkloric music traditions of Southern European nation at intervals the autonomous communities of geographical area, Extremadura and Murcia.in an exceedingly wider sense, it refers to those musical traditions and additional trendy musical designs that have themselves been deeply influenced by and become blurred with the event of flamenco over the past 2 centuries. It includes cante (singing), toque (guitar playing), baile (dance), jaleo (vocalizations), Palmas (handclapping) and pitas (finger snapping).

The oldest record of flamenco dates to 1774 within the book Las Cartas Marruecas by José Cadalso.The genre originated within the music and dance kinds of geographic region, of abundant older origin. Flamenco has been influenced by and becomes related to the itinerant individuals in Spain; but, in contrast to itinerant music in jap Europe, its origin and magnificence is unambiguously Andalusian.

In recent years,[when?] flamenco has become fashionable everywhere around the globe and is schooled in several non-Hispanic countries, particularly u. s. and Japan. In Japan, their square measure additional flamenco academies than their square measure in Espana. On November sixteen, 2010, UN agency declared flamenco one of all the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

Etymology

There square measure several suggestions for the origin of the word flamenco as a musical term (summarized below) however no solid proof for any of them. The word wasn’t recorded as a musical and dance term till the late eighteenth century.

One theory is that the Spanish word flamenco may are a spinoff of the Spanish word for flame, that means “fire” or “flame”. The word flamenco might have returned to be used for fiery behavior, that may have returned to be applied to the Gypsy players and performers.

Another theory, planned by geographic area scholar and nationalist Blas Infante in his 1933 book Orígenes American state lo Flamenco y Secreto del Cante Jondo urged that the word flamenco comes if truth be told from the Hispano-Arabic term peasant menu, meaning “expelled peasant”.This term brought up the numerous Andalusians of the Islamic religion, the Moriscos UN agency remained, and so as to avoid spiritual maltreatment, joined with the Roma newcomers.

The Palos of Flamenco

Palos (formerly referred to as cantes) square measure flamenco designs, classified by criteria like prosody, mode, chord progression, stanzaic type and geographic origin. There square measure over fifty completely different Palos, some square measure sung unaccompanied whereas alternatives have a stringed instrument or other accompaniment.

Some forms square measure danced whereas others aren’t. Some square measure reserved for men et al. for ladies whereas some could also be performed by either, tho’ these ancient distinctions square measure breaking down: the Farruca, as an example, once a male dance, is currently unremarkably performed by ladies too.

There square measure some ways to reason Palos however they historically are 3 classes: the foremost serious is thought as cante jondo (or can’t grande), whereas lighter, empty-headed forms square measure known as cante Leonard Marx. Forms that don’t match either class square measure classed as cante intermedio.

These square measure the simplest illustrious Palos:

Alegrías
Bulerías
Bulerías por soleá (soleá por bulerías)
Caracoles
Cartageneras
Fandango
Fandango American state Huelva
Fandango Malagueño
Farruca
Granaínas
Guajiras
Malagueñas
Mineras
Peteneras
Rondeñas
Rumba
Saeta
Seguiriyas
Sevillanas
Tangos
Tanguillos
Tarantos
Tientos
Villancicos
Music
Structure

A typical flamenco recital with voice and instrument accompaniment includes a series of things (not specifically “songs”) in various Palos. each song of a bunch of verses (called copla, Tercio, or Letras), that area unit punctuated by instrument interludes referred to as falsetas.The player conjointly provides a brief introduction that sets the musical notation, compás, and tempo of the cante. In some palos, these falsetas are vie with bound structures too; as an example, the standard sevillanas is vie in associate degree AAB pattern, wherever A and B square measure constant falseta with solely a small distinction within the ending.

Harmony

Flamenco uses the Flamenco mode (which may also be delineated because of the trendy Phrygian mode (modo frigio), or a harmonic version of that scale with a serious third degree), additionally to the most important and minor scales unremarkably utilized in trendy Western music. The Phrygian mode happens in Palos like soleá, most bulerías, siguiriyas, tangos, and tientos.

Descending E Phrygian scale in flamenco music, with common alterations in parentheses
A typical chord sequence, typically referred to as the “Andalusian cadence” may even be viewed as in AN passing modified Phrygian: in E the sequence is Am–G–F–E.[18] keep with Manolo Sanlúcar E is here the tonic, F has the harmonic perform of dominant whereas Am and G assume the functions of note and tone severally.

Guitarists tend to use solely 2 basic inversions or “chord shapes” for the tonic chord (music), the open first inversion E and therefore the open third inversion A, tho’ they typically transpose these by employing a head. trendy guitarists like Ramón Montoya, have introduced various positions: Montoya himself began to use various chords for the tonic among the stylish Dorian sections of the many Palos; F♯ for tarantulas, B for granaínas and A♭ for the minera. Montoya conjointly created a brand new Palo as a solo for a stringed instrument, the rondeña in C♯ with scordatura. Later guitarists have additional extended the repertoire of tonalities, chord positions, and scordatura.

There are Palos in major mode; most cantiñas and alegrías, guajira, some bulerías and tonás, and therefore the cables (a major style of Sigiriya). The secret’s restricted to the Farruca, the milongas (among cantes province international organization agency y vuelta), and some types of tangos, bulerías, etc. ordinarily ancient Palos in major and key area unit restricted harmonically to two-chord (tonic-dominant) or three-chord (tonic–subdominant–dominant) progressions. (Rossy 1998:92) however fashionable guitarists have introduced chord substitution, transition chords, and even modulation.

Fandangos and spinoff Palos like malagueñas, tarantulas and cartageneras square measure bimodal: stringed instrument introductions square measure in Phrygian mode whereas the singing develops in a major key, modulating to Phrygian at the tip of the text. (Rossy 1998:92)

Melody

Dionisio Preciado, quoted by Sabas American state Houses established the subsequent characteristics for the melodies of flamenco singing:

1. Microtonality: the presence of intervals smaller than the half step.

2. Portamento: oft, the modification from one note to a different is finished in an exceedingly sleek transition, instead of victimization separate intervals.
3. Short tessitura or range: Most ancient flamenco songs square measure restricted to a spread of a sixth (four tones and a half). The impression of vocal effort is that the results of victimization completely different timbres and selection is accomplished by the employment of microtones.

4. Use of enharmonic scale. whereas in temperament scales, enharmonics square measure notes with identical pitch however completely different spellings (e.g. A♭ and G♯); in flamenco, as in unequal temperament scales, there’s a microtonal intervallic distinction between enharmonic notes.

5. Insistence on a note and its contiguous chromatic notes (also frequent within the guitar), manufacturing a way of urgency.
6. Baroque ornamentation, with associate degree communicative, instead of simply aesthetic perform.
7. Apparent lack of normal rhythm, particularly within the siguiriyas: the melodic rhythm of the sung line is completely different from the metric rhythm of the accompaniment.
8. Most designs categorical unhappy and bitter feelings.
9. Melodic improvisation: flamenco singing isn’t, properly speaking, improvised, however, supported a comparatively tiny range of ancient songs, singers add variations on the spur of the instant.
Musicologist Hipólito Rossy adds the subsequent characteristics (Rossy 1997: 97):

* Flamenco melodies square measure characterized by a descending tendency, as critical, as an example, a typical opera aria, they typically go from the upper pitches to the lower ones, and from forte to piano, as was usual in Ancient Greek scales.

* In several designs, like soleá or siguiriya, the melody tends to proceed in contiguous degrees of the size. Skips of a 3rd or a fourth square measure rarer. However, in fandangos and fandango-derived designs, fourths and sixths will typically be found, particularly at the start of every line of verse. in keeping with Rossy, this can be proof of the newer creation of this kind of songs, influenced by Castilian jota.

Compás

Compás is that the Spanish word for a meter or musical notation (in musical style theory). It conjointly refers to the tripping cycle, or layout, of a Palo.

The compás is prime to flamenco. Compás is most frequently translated as rhythm however it demands way more precise interpretation than the other Western kind of music. If there’s no player on the market, the compás is rendered through applause (palmas) or by striking a table with the knuckles. The player uses techniques like strumming (rasgueado) or sound the resonator (golpe). Changes of chords emphasize the foremost vital downbeats.

Flamenco uses 3 basic counts or measures: Binary, Ternary and a type of a twelve-beat cycle that’s distinctive to flamenco. There are free-form designs as well as, among others, the tonás, saetas, malagueñas, tarantos, and a few varieties of fandangos.

* Rhythms in 2/2 or 4 / 4 These meters square measure utilized in forms like tangos, tientos, gypsy rumba, zambra, and tanguillos.
* Rhythms in 3/ 4. These square measure typical of fandangos and sevillanas, suggesting their origin as non-Roma designs, since the 3/4 and 4/4 measures aren’t common in ethnic Roma music.
* 12-beat rhythms sometimes rendered in amalgams of 6/8 + 3/4 and generally 12/8

8. The 12-beat cycle is that the commonest in flamenco, differentiated by the accentuation of the beats in numerous Palos. The accents don’t correspond to the classic conception of the musical rhythm. The alternating of teams of two and three beats is additionally common in Spanish people dances of the sixteenth Century like the zarabanda, jácara, and canarios.
There square measure 3 varieties of 12-beat rhythms, that vary in their layouts, or use of accentuations: soleá, seguiriya, and bulería.

1. peteneras and guajiras: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 each palos begin with the sturdy accent on 12. therefore the meter is 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 ..
2. The seguiriya, liviana, serrana, toná liviana, cabales: 121 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
3. soleá, inside the cantiñas cluster of palos which has the alegrías, cantiñas, mirabras, romera, caracoles and soleá por bulería (also “bulería por soleá”): 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 For sensible reasons, once transferring flamenco stringed instrument music to musical composition, this rhythm is written as a daily 3/4.

The Bulerías is that the emblematic Palo of flamenco: these days its 12-beat cycle is most frequently vie with accents on the third, 6th, 8th, tenth and twelfth beats. The incidental palmas square measure vies in teams of half dozen beats, giving rise to a mess of counter-rhythms and music voices inside the twelve beat compás.

(Shahinul Islam Uzzal)