Welcome to one of the most active flamenco sites on the Internet. Guests can read most posts but if you want to participate click here to register.
This site is dedicated to the memory of Paco de Lucía, Ron Mitchell, Guy Williams, Linda Elvira, Philip John Lee, Craig Eros, Ben Woods, David Serva and Tom Blackshear who went ahead of us.
We receive 12,200 visitors a month from 200 countries and 1.7 million page impressions a year. To advertise on this site please contact us.
RE: Good flamenco books (in English)... (in reply to metalhead)
For the price of the book you could subscribe to the website Flamenco Explained - everything is there with an explanation of how palos work. If you studied it for two months carefully you’d be about where a person is after a weekly lesson for two years
Posts: 15242
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: Good flamenco books (in English)... (in reply to metalhead)
quote:
ORIGINAL: metalhead
So I'm looking for some good books in English that explain various palos, ways of playing compas, etc. Not looking for techniques and all
Most of what I have read is superficial, and even books in Spanish don’t always get it exactly right, in terms of nuts and bolts. I had to learn on the job for 20 some years, just like Sabicas said, before I really understood, and I am still learning new things when I work with artists from Spain. The best website in English is Norman Kliman’s www.canteytoque.es and although it seems singularly focused on core palos (solea, siguiriyas), as a resource I have learned more there than anywhere else outside of the job itself (getting paid by dancers to orchestrate shows with singers). The website info about cante comes from research done by the Soler brothers, along with Mairena’s input, and is one of the few that a I endorse as their classification of song melodies has logic and validity IMO.
Probably you just want to learn what to do with your fingers on the guitar rather than all that cerebral stuff, but honestly I tell you there is a relationship, and any player doing things physically “correctly” understands a lot of that stuff too. It is very hard to learn flamenco in your bed room with books and videos, but not impossible. You should get a teacher/mentor of some sort so you can get feedback.
RE: Good flamenco books (in English)... (in reply to Ricardo)
It's not a good thing to discourage someone like that. If I'd the money and opportunities to hire a tutor, I wouldn't have asked for help on a forum. Good for u that u learnt all the cerebral stuff
RE: Good flamenco books (in English)... (in reply to metalhead)
Ricardo wasn't being discouraging, he gave you some reality from a particular vantage point. Did you look at the website he mentioned?
If you still hope to track down books then double-down on your question, say what you found lacking at the website. Maybe a recommendation will appear. Or you could find some candidates (they are out there) and list them and see what people say.
RE: Good flamenco books (in English)... (in reply to metalhead)
Flamenco Explained and Samuel Moore websites are probably what you need. The FE book is very good indeed.
However, if you can't get to a tutor in person, a few online lessons to make sure your techniques and posture are ok and played with minimal tension will be helpful. Ricardo, Kai, Grisha ...
RE: Good flamenco books (in English)... (in reply to metalhead)
quote:
So I'm looking for some good books in English that explain various palos, ways of playing compas, etc. Not looking for techniques and all
I wonder what you mean by "techniques and all" as opposed to "ways of playing compas" cuz in my head technique IS the way of playing (Manolo Sanlucar said, "without technique you can't play anything"), so "ways of playing compas" will involve technique....
I would suggest Oscar Herrero Paso a Paso volume 4, the first one on Solea (DVD+book). The whole of that DVD is devoted to Soleá compás. It takes everything apart, demonstrates and explains different ways of expressing the compás, llamadas, remates etc. etc. You can apply the way it is broken down, demonstrated and explained to pretty much any other palo. There are further volumes on Soleá, falsetas and then cante accompaniment, and then more volumes on Alegrias. The first 3 volumes of the series cover technique, including the techniques you need to play compás...
Also Herrero did a 5 volume book series which covers Solea, Siguiriyas, Tangos, Bulerias and Fandangos, but I don't like it so much for several reasons, one of them is because the audio is not provided for all of it.
Also, I have to say that I don't see flamenco as something you can learn intellectually from a book that "explains" it and that's it, you've got it, away you go.... I think that stuff has it's place, but the real learning is in hours and hours of listening, and comparing the things you have learnt to the things you hear, noticing the things that are the same, the variations etc. etc. and going to find a local dance class and sitting playing compás for them, and applying the things you've learnt - anything you learn from a book you will have to figure out how to actually apply it in the "real world" of playing... and if you can find a singer then accompanying them too.
Printable Version
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread