Learning Forms / Palos 2 - Deepen Your Knowledge (Compas 102)
1 - TANGOS
Tangos is quite a simple palo that is easy to learn and play. The first general characteristic of tangos is it's galloping rhythm, similar to fandango. Therefore it uses the iai type of finger rasgueado for it's main compas strumming.Though I highly doubt tangos is related to the Argetine tango, the two forms share the same 4-beat structure. Tangos also goes through 1-2-3-4 but much faster.
Here are some samples of tangos for you:
PACO DE LUCIA, la cañada, flamenco carlos saura
Moraíto Chico | Rocayisa (Tangos)
I have one too (score included in Compas 102):
Tangos
The base compas pattern of tangos is 1-2-3-4 and it is cycled twice: 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4
As for the accents, I have seen various combinations. Some say the accent is on 1. Some say on 4. And then there is the 1234-1234.
Don't worry about the accents, seriously. Again, as I said in an earlier email, everything you need is in the music I have provided with the tabs and the videos. Once you start playing, you will immediately figure out what the palo needs.
Tangos is quite similar to Rumba.
To oversimplify a bit, if you speed up the tangos, you end up playing a rumba. Watch Tomatito in the following video and you'll see what I mean:
Tomatito - Por Tangos
Tientos deceptively sounds like a slow tangos whereas in fact it is not. Compared to tangos' rather straightforward adherence to 4 beats, tientos sort of glides over the beats via syncopations. It is the 4-4 system and the por medio harmony that bring tangos and tientos together.
Most tientos pieces speed up toward the finale and cross the finish line as tangos. Watch the following tientos by Paco Pena and observe how it becomes tangos at the end:
Paco Peña - Tientos De La Bahía
2- SOLEA POR BULERIA
Also referred to as Buleria por Solea, Solea por Buleria is essentially a fast solea played in the buleria tonality.
It is one of the more popular palos in the modern flamenco scene. And for good reason. SpB brings together the best aspects of solea and buleria. It takes the 12-beat solea compas alongside the characteristic llamadas, remates, cierres and presents it in the key of A - aka por medio tonality. Again, it is basically a solea, however the accents fall on 3, 7, 8, 10, 12 exactly like buleria. As for the tempo I'd say from 150 bpm to 190 bpm would be a good range for this palo. Anything slower will fall into the domain of solea and if you exceed 190 then you will practically start playing buleria.
In my humble opinion por medio harmony presents a more potent array of chords for creativity than the classical Andalusian cadenza based in E. We also see many players explore various other keys within this palo, something you cannot really do in a solea without altering the most essential characteristics of the palo.
Check this out, for example:
Yago Santos "A Faly" Solea por bulerias
Another one from Manolo Franco:
Manolo Franco - Bulerias Por Solea
And here is the maestro with his most recent SpB composition. See how complicated the harmony is:
Paco de Lucia | Buleria por Solea | Antonia
A while ago I covered most of Paco de Lucia's classic SbP Solera:
Rasgueado Exercise - 10 (Solea por Buleria by Paco de Lucia)
Pulgar Exercise - 17 - Solea por Buleria (Solera) by Paco de Lucia
3 - SEGUIRIYA
Seguiriya Trailer from 102
Any player studying flamenco absolutely has to play seguiriya! Seguiriya is probably the most hardcore palo of all. Why do I say that? Well, just listen to a good seguiriya performance and you'll probably hear what I'm talking about.
Moraito Chico - Seguiriyas
Paco de Lucía - Siguiriyas
Seguiriya shares the same 12-beat structure with many other others and the similarity starts and ends there. The compas structure has such a peculiar accent pattern that it is almost futile to count 12 beats to make sense of it. Some suggest using the 12-beat pattern and start counting at 8 so that the accents repeat the ones used in the other palos, others simply start at 12 and force the accents on it.
But generally many experienced players conceptualize the Seguiriya compas as follows:
1 * 2 * 3 * * 4 * * 5 *
I designed the visual metronome myself to reflect this pattern (Compas 102.
Enjoy
Tangos is quite a simple palo that is easy to learn and play. The first general characteristic of tangos is it's galloping rhythm, similar to fandango. Therefore it uses the iai type of finger rasgueado for it's main compas strumming.Though I highly doubt tangos is related to the Argetine tango, the two forms share the same 4-beat structure. Tangos also goes through 1-2-3-4 but much faster.
Here are some samples of tangos for you:
PACO DE LUCIA, la cañada, flamenco carlos saura
Moraíto Chico | Rocayisa (Tangos)
I have one too (score included in Compas 102):
Tangos
The base compas pattern of tangos is 1-2-3-4 and it is cycled twice: 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4
As for the accents, I have seen various combinations. Some say the accent is on 1. Some say on 4. And then there is the 1234-1234.
Don't worry about the accents, seriously. Again, as I said in an earlier email, everything you need is in the music I have provided with the tabs and the videos. Once you start playing, you will immediately figure out what the palo needs.
Tangos is quite similar to Rumba.
To oversimplify a bit, if you speed up the tangos, you end up playing a rumba. Watch Tomatito in the following video and you'll see what I mean:
Tomatito - Por Tangos
Tientos deceptively sounds like a slow tangos whereas in fact it is not. Compared to tangos' rather straightforward adherence to 4 beats, tientos sort of glides over the beats via syncopations. It is the 4-4 system and the por medio harmony that bring tangos and tientos together.
Most tientos pieces speed up toward the finale and cross the finish line as tangos. Watch the following tientos by Paco Pena and observe how it becomes tangos at the end:
Paco Peña - Tientos De La Bahía
2- SOLEA POR BULERIA
Also referred to as Buleria por Solea, Solea por Buleria is essentially a fast solea played in the buleria tonality.
It is one of the more popular palos in the modern flamenco scene. And for good reason. SpB brings together the best aspects of solea and buleria. It takes the 12-beat solea compas alongside the characteristic llamadas, remates, cierres and presents it in the key of A - aka por medio tonality. Again, it is basically a solea, however the accents fall on 3, 7, 8, 10, 12 exactly like buleria. As for the tempo I'd say from 150 bpm to 190 bpm would be a good range for this palo. Anything slower will fall into the domain of solea and if you exceed 190 then you will practically start playing buleria.
In my humble opinion por medio harmony presents a more potent array of chords for creativity than the classical Andalusian cadenza based in E. We also see many players explore various other keys within this palo, something you cannot really do in a solea without altering the most essential characteristics of the palo.
Check this out, for example:
Yago Santos "A Faly" Solea por bulerias
Another one from Manolo Franco:
Manolo Franco - Bulerias Por Solea
And here is the maestro with his most recent SpB composition. See how complicated the harmony is:
Paco de Lucia | Buleria por Solea | Antonia
A while ago I covered most of Paco de Lucia's classic SbP Solera:
Rasgueado Exercise - 10 (Solea por Buleria by Paco de Lucia)
Pulgar Exercise - 17 - Solea por Buleria (Solera) by Paco de Lucia
3 - SEGUIRIYA
Seguiriya Trailer from 102
Any player studying flamenco absolutely has to play seguiriya! Seguiriya is probably the most hardcore palo of all. Why do I say that? Well, just listen to a good seguiriya performance and you'll probably hear what I'm talking about.
Moraito Chico - Seguiriyas
Paco de Lucía - Siguiriyas
Seguiriya shares the same 12-beat structure with many other others and the similarity starts and ends there. The compas structure has such a peculiar accent pattern that it is almost futile to count 12 beats to make sense of it. Some suggest using the 12-beat pattern and start counting at 8 so that the accents repeat the ones used in the other palos, others simply start at 12 and force the accents on it.
But generally many experienced players conceptualize the Seguiriya compas as follows:
1 * 2 * 3 * * 4 * * 5 *
I designed the visual metronome myself to reflect this pattern (Compas 102.
Enjoy
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