Voz flamenca

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Voz flamenca

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edguerin

Posts: 1589
Joined: Dec. 24 2007
From: Siegburg, Alemania

Voz flamenca

Just happened across this link, which describes the different types of singers' voices.
You can click on the various boxes to hear an example

(I'm still having trouble really distinguishing some of the types though

)

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Ed

El aficionado solitario
Alemania

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 16 2013 15:22:14

bursche

Posts: 1182
Joined: Jul. 19 2007
From: Frankfurt, Germany

RE: Voz flamenca (in reply to edguerin)

It is so difficult to sing change your voice. I like the Laína voice in old Fandangos.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 16 2013 15:43:05

NormanKliman

Posts: 1143
Joined: Sep. 1 2007

RE: Voz flamenca (in reply to edguerin)

Parts of the text are from the Mairena/Molina book "Mundo y formas..." I've never found these terms to be useful insofar as having a greater appreciation of flamenco. Aside from the fact that they're entirely subjective, there's not really much to gain from categorizing voices in this manner. I doubt that most people would consistently coincide in categorizing voices as "laína," "redonda" and "natural." How would you categorize the voices of Juan Talega, Niña de los Peines, Tía Anica, Tío Borrico, Fosforito, Chano Lobato, Camarón, Terremoto, Chocolate, El Torta, Menese, Enrique Morente...?

Some observations:

Afillá: Obviously, the voices of Pansequito, Rancapino, Indio Gitano, Juana la del Pipa and Fernanda de Utrera are in this category. Pretty easy to recognize, as is the "falsete" category at the other end of the spectrum.

Cantaora: La Paquera, Rosalía de Triana, Aurora Vargas, Mariana Cornejo, Marina Heredia, Sara Baras... Seems to be a standard female voice.

Laína: Poorly defined term. Some understand it to mean "nasal" (like Aurelio de Cádiz) but the term probably comes from the word "ladina" which means several things, including sly, astute, mestizo and Spanish Jewish.

Redonda: The linked information states that La Serneta was Tomás' teacher. Unless I've missed something, there's no reason to think they even met. It might be a metahporical use of the word "teacher" (maestra) but I think somebody made a mistake involving a recording of Pastora, who was Tomás' older sister.

Voz natural/de pecho/gitana: According to Mairena, the first to sing with this kind of voice was Manuel Torre, and the old-timers didn't like it early in his career. If that's true, I imagine they were also not impressed by his habit of adding personal variations to classic cantes.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 17 2013 10:05:42

edguerin

Posts: 1589
Joined: Dec. 24 2007
From: Siegburg, Alemania

RE: Voz flamenca (in reply to edguerin)

quote:

I've never found these terms to be useful insofar as having a greater appreciation of flamenco

You're right there. I think it's a bit like in any other music, if you say "she's got a soft voice" or "a smoky sound" or "mellow" etc. etc.
You got me checking out Tomás' biography, and I came across this guy's blog, which has some really good articles.

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El aficionado solitario
Alemania

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 17 2013 12:18:40

Ricardo

Posts: 14831
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC

RE: Voz flamenca (in reply to edguerin)

To me there are only two extremes...scratchy voice and clear voice. The true scratchy voice is heard even by the person talking. Lot of people in spain, singers or not have that voice and it sounds good in flamenco. But a nice clear voice is not as popular anymore and I think that is too bad. A lot of singers put on a "fake" voice using their throat to imitate the scratchy sound to various degree. You can tell by hearing the person talk and the "scratchiness" is exaggerated when singing. People like Carmen Linares and Jose Merce do this thing. Lot of camaroneros too. (Whisper some lyrics but as strong as you can. Now add the actual voice while still whispering....something similar to that.)

I think it was interesting to see comments on the Qwaali vid with duquende and poveda. The qwaali guy was confused why the flamenco singers keep the voice or sing from "inside" rather than express outward. I took it to mean they use the throat to filter the sound rather than open the voice and sing clear as he himself does. Like they hold the sound inside too much. I would answer his question by explaining they are imitating the sound of certain scratchy voice singers of old or camaron etc. Every once in a while you get authentic scratched voice singers that sing naturally and sound like that, and more rarely in flamenco these days are singers that use their natural voice whatever it is. For sure, most flamenco singers are quite aware of the sound they are making because it is deliberate and studied to a certain extent, and achieving 'the sound" whatever it is requires a certain limited key range. Females for example should not be singing in such a low register as the males, but they need to inorder to get that sound they want. The sacrifice might be projection/volume in many cases.

Ricardo

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 17 2013 15:13:33