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Do You Speak Spanish?
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srshea
Posts: 833
Joined: Oct. 29 2006
From: Olympia, WA in the Great Pacific Northwest
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 RE: Do You Speak Spanish? (in reply to sam_m)
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Obviously, the deeper your understanding of Spanish language and Andalucian culture is, the deeper your understanding of flamenco will be, but I would say that language fluency is certainly not a prerequisite to enjoying or thoughtfully appreciating flamenco. There are scores of opera fans out there who probably don’t know more that three or four words of Italian, and they get along alright.
The argument that you need to know Spanish to truly appreciate flamenco, taken to one extreme, becomes something along the lines of “Well, if you can’t speak Spanish you’ll never really be able to appreciate cante, so don’t bother.”, which certainly has an unfortunate effect if it discourages people from exploring and listening to flamenco as broadly as they might otherwise.
If you can get a hold of those, unfortunately rare, cds that have the letras in both Spanish and English, then you’re set: you can listen and follow along and cross-compare the Spanish and English and actually get an understanding of what’s being said. But even if you only have the letras in Spanish I think it can still be really interesting and instructive to read along as you listen and see HOW the words are sung, see how certain lines or words are repeated and mixed around, see how certain syllables are stretched or shortened or elided from verse to verse. Even without understanding the content of the lyrics you can still get a satisfying and edifying listening experience in paying attention to the form and the style and the structure of the way letras are sung. A lot of letras are really short, often just a verse or two of four or five short lines, and it’s really interesting to see how such a small handful of words are dealt out through a five, or ten minute performance.
And of course you can still just listen to cante without doing any of this, without understanding a word of what’s being said, and still enjoy and be moved by it.
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Date Dec. 4 2008 9:48:11
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gj Michelob
Posts: 1531
Joined: Nov. 7 2008
From: New York City/San Francisco
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RE: Do You Speak Spanish? (in reply to rolly)
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Rolly, I find the addition of some middle eastern, Moorish variations to Flamenco to be hypnotizing. Your idea is certainly an entertaining project you ought to pursue.
Lara St. John, the renown violinist, issued her new CD “re: Bach” blending a formal execution of Bach’s violin work with percussions. The third track, “Goldberg2”, has an Arabic yelling/singing over middle-eastern flavored percussions, accompanying Bach’s familiar counterpoint. The result is quite pleasurable and “sexy” (as we would describe it in fashion) piece. I suppose it would be a phenomenal combination to have Arabic poetry sang over flamenco guitar, and perhaps a percussive base.
Also, without daring the current political climate, I suggest that music may mediate some of the cultural gap that seems to separate the West from the Arab-countries. This could be a fine start to bridge the gap.
Saludos, amigo –es un dia de sol(ea) caliente in Los Angeles –too bad I am to leave it in the afternoon for colder Venice.
ciao
_____________________________
gj Michelob
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Date Dec. 10 2008 6:52:43
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And as far as accompanyment goes, it could help to know better when a letra is ending or when a jaleo would be appropriate, but it's usually enough to listen to how the letra is being sung to find the right chords. 
,,, not solely because of flamenco and to understand the Cante, but because i always liked the language. 
....anyway what I'm talking about is also from our folklore some from Syria and some from the Arabian Gulf .In the gulf thay have songs called -Oh ya mal- thay sung it before they found the petrol.... it talks about the beuty of the sea and the desert ...and the hard day work in the sea in collecting pearls..and how danguras it was ..so they were miss thair families while the diving season.. 