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RE: If falsetas are supposed to carr... (in reply to metalhead)
quote:
If falsetas are supposed to carry the cante melody
Falsetas are not "supposed" to carry, or even be based on cante melodies.
They are "supposed" to be little instrumental interludes BETWEEN the letras of the cante, while the singer takes a breath or rest.
But they CAN be based on or "carry" cante melody/ies... especially in a solo with no singer present... but it's not compulsory!
There's also a difference between "inspired by the cante", "based on the cante" and actually playing a cante melody... IM (spontaneous, off-the-cuff and possibly ill-thought out) O.
Posts: 15821
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: If falsetas are supposed to carr... (in reply to metalhead)
quote:
ORIGINAL: metalhead
If falsetas are supposed to carry the cante melody then how did he compose the one at 1:42 . Please explain
good question. Not sure who claimed falsetas all do that, but it is not really incorrect. What needs clarification is that one need not express the actual literal melody in the mind (there are in fact examples of this anyway such as the famous levantica by Ramon Montoya in his Rondeña solo) on the fingerboard, but one can HAVE a melody in mind to realize a formal structure of a falseta. By that I mean, we can think of the new original instrumental melody and its harmony as following the structure of a letra or an extracted line of verse, etc., as needed. Like a counter voicing plus the bass. Typically doing this under a singer's actual melody would be very distracting so traditionally we simplify counter voices to simple basic chords, with the IMPORTANT chords being the cadences points (punctuating the text lines). We express these chords with rasguedos and compás.
Since we don't have that with falsetas, we can be more sophisticated with the idea that we are following the "invisible" melody which, if you wanted, could be inserted right on top of the falseta in compás. So we normally think of "variations on a theme". If you followed the Regino Sainz de La maza thread, guaradme las vacas was a specific letra and melody, Romanesca is the "song form" generally that this ONE letra is based on (hence two names in sources), and what the vihuela solo represents in tabs are the "differencias" which are like variations on the general form and its melodies, without needing to express them overtly. Hence flamenco Letras, Palos, and falsetas represent the same tradition.
So in your example of Paco he is in Por medio bulerias. While there are tons of different buleria melodies and forms that can be exploited, the general basis is the Soleá form. Again there are too many options of melody structure to use as basis for the falsetas. Paco knows them ALL, based on his recording history with different singers, or has at least dealt with them. I can't say whether he knows when he is following a specific one, but for sure he is following an intuition BASED on those structures, in his falsetas ALL the time. Based on what I KNOW about the cantes this falseta is exploiting, two aspects of the cante.
1. He first plays a descending melody that implies the harmony moving from C7-F, then Eb-Bb. What is that? The melodies of a soleá typically rise and fall in the mode with the rising themes suggesting the move from A-Dm (often Bb can replace the Dm under the descending three notes F-E-D, or the simple climb up from A to D, this is in like 80% of solea cantes first sung lines). The descending portion of cantes lead us to the Phrygian cadences Bb (or Gm) to A major. The special case of a descending melody is when we do the "cambio" or the penultimate line of verse. It is that C7-F major in the context of A phrygian that is so colorful.
So that is literally what paco is doing, but then his cadence back to A (Eb is replacing F7-Bb, and he lands the Bb as appropriate) is suspended or held off right away by holding on that Bb. The next phrase he does is based on a different structure.
2. The soleá macho (Joaquin 3 and related styles) is unique conclusion of cante that breaks the normal form by repeating the first line of verse with different harmony. This melody will start you off in Dm, then take us back to A, and finally resolve on Dm on the repeat. After this, the cambio and conclusion as normal (and these can repeat as a double line unit) finishes the form. This form is essentially what happens in this falseta next.
So after that brief expression of a random "cambio" phrase, he climbs up the scale to resolve in Dm. (1:50-56 is the climb up). His decent to A phrygian at 2:03 is actually the set up to cadence BACK to Dm, exactly like the Macho (2:05). Next the cambio and conclusion are realized together by a sequence:C7-F (cambio 2:08), F7-Bb, to Bb7-A (conclusion 2:10), this whole phrase repeats together, exactly as the cante would. He adds a tag like an "answer" to that "letra" from 2:16-2:20, which is a chromatic style replacement for the basic descending cadence to A phrygian.
So if you familiarize your self with the various cante forms you might start hearing these simple musical structures at work in seemingly complex falseta variations.
Posts: 15821
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: If falsetas are supposed to carr... (in reply to devilhand)
quote:
Folk songs and flamenco cante have no chorus.
false. It is called the "estribillo" in Spanish.
quote:
Falseta is a hook between coplas.
If "hook" means "optional interlude" then yes...if not then no that is not correct. A palo can be performed with zero fasletas if the singer links together all the letras back to back.
quote:
I like cante but sometimes I say
Don't bore us. Get to the falseta.
This is an uninformed opinion that approaches the level of insulting those who are not ignorant of the art. Keep these to a minimum please.
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