What you will hear and see
The hour, form by form
A one-hour flamenco show in plain terms: the soleá, the bulerías, the guitar solo, the singer, the clapping and the dancers' footwork.
Reserve your seat at City Hall ↗Three arts and one rhythm
Flamenco joins song, dance and guitar. UNESCO names them cante, baile and toque, and lists hand-clapping and foot-stamping alongside castanets as the percussion that holds them together. Underneath all three runs the compás, the rhythmic cycle of each piece. In an hour you will see the three arts take turns, then lock into the same pulse. Knowing that makes the evening easier to follow, because you can ask at any moment who is leading and who is answering.
How a recital is built
A flamenco recital is a series of pieces, each in a different palo, or style. Wikipedia counts more than fifty. Each piece is a set of verses, interrupted by guitar interludes called falsetas, and the guitarist opens by setting the tonality, the compás and the tempo. A one-hour show cannot cover many palos, so you meet a handful. The theatre's programme names the bulerías and the soleá, and the cast decides the order on the night.
The soleá
The soleá is one of the most basic palos and is sometimes called the mother of palos, although siguiriyas is older. It runs on a twelve-beat cycle with strong beats at the ends of the bars. Its verses are three or four lines long and usually serious, with a tone of private pain. The melody stays in a narrow range, so its difficulty lies in ornament and microtones. For a singer it is a test of control: passion without losing restraint.
The bulerías
The bulerías is the fast one. It began among the Romani people of Jerez in the 19th century as a quick, lively ending to other pieces, and it still often closes a flamenco gathering. It uses a twelve-beat cycle, clapped in groups of six, and it gives performers the most freedom to improvise. Dancers need speed and control, with intricate tapping of toe, heel and the ball of the foot. If the room suddenly wakes up, you are probably hearing bulerías.
The guitar
The guitarist does more than accompany. The guitar supplies the compás, answers the singer, cues the dancer and plays solo passages, the falsetas. Listen for rasgueado, the rolling strum, and for golpes, taps on the soundboard that turn the guitar into a drum. Flamenco players rest the thumb on the soundboard and use the fingers above the string they are playing, which gives a harder, more percussive sound than a classical guitar.
The singer
Cante is the vocal side of flamenco. UNESCO notes that it is sung by men and women, preferably seated, with no backing singers, and that the lyrics are short and simple while covering grief, joy, tragedy and fear. The voice bends and ornaments notes in ways a piano cannot match, which is why the singing can sound strange at first and then hard to forget. Watch the singer's hands and breathing as well as listening.
The dancer
UNESCO describes baile as a dance of passion and courtship that ranges from sadness to joy. The technique is complex, with male dancers traditionally using heavier footwork and female dancers gentler, more sensual movement. Modern flamenco is built on lightning-fast footwork, and dancers may use props such as castanets, canes, shawls and fans. In a small room you hear the feet as clearly as you see them.
Palmas, calls and the room
Rhythmic hand-clapping, palmas, and calls of encouragement, jaleo, are part of the music. Common calls include olé and así se baila, meaning that is the way to dance. Wikipedia describes flamenco as a participatory art with no passive audience, since the audience claps and sometimes sings along. In a seated theatre you can join with applause at the end of a piece or a particularly fine passage, and keep the calls to the artists.
How to watch
Pick one thread at a time. Start with the guitarist's right hand, then switch to the dancer's weight as it drops into the floor, then to the singer. Notice when the cast changes pace: flamenco often moves from slow and tense to fast and loose within a single piece. The cast changes from night to night, so you cannot prepare for specific performers, but you can prepare to listen.
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