Zambras, danzas and other arabian whatnot

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Jon Boyes

Posts: 1377
Joined: Jul. 10 2003

Zambras, danzas and other arabian wh...

My duo partner Mark plays a piece called Zambra Mora as a solo spot which always goes down well with the audience.

You know the kind of stuff - drop D tuning, theatrics like drumming on the guitar, string bending and arabian scales to kick things off, then open strings creating a steady D drone to play eastern melodies over.

Whilst this stuff doensn't get me in the same way as a good bulerias, I decided to get a solo together as its quite fun and easy to play, quick to learn and audiences seem to lap it up.

Sabicas was obviously very fond of this style and recorded several pieces - anyone know if he invented it?

Just wondering what the rest of you guys thought of this stuff? Can it be considered flamenco at all? Any modern players done anything with it?

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Spanish Guitarist in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 5 2006 14:06:39

JBASHORUN

Posts: 1839
Joined: Jan. 23 2005

RE: Zambras, danzas and other arabia... (in reply to Jon Boyes)

Not sure its "Modern" as such, but El Nino Miguel plays one such Zambra called "Embrujo Y Magia" on his CD "Diferente". Its a good one.

Jb

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 5 2006 14:38:22

Jon Boyes

Posts: 1377
Joined: Jul. 10 2003

RE: Zambras, danzas and other arabia... (in reply to JBASHORUN)

Aha, right thanks for that.

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Spanish Guitarist in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 5 2006 14:52:12

Mark2

Posts: 1872
Joined: Jul. 12 2004
From: San Francisco

RE: Zambras, danzas and other arabia... (in reply to Jon Boyes)

I agree it can be a crowd pleaser-it seems to have fallen out of favor at the moment, but it's only a matter of time before some great guitarist reworks it. I think Serranito or M. Sanlucar recorded a pretty good one too that was transcribed in one of the Japanese books. That's the most recent one I can think of.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 5 2006 16:07:22

Romanza

Posts: 296
Joined: Oct. 24 2005

RE: Zambras, danzas and other arabia... (in reply to Jon Boyes)

I really love Sabicas' Danza Arabe although wouldn't call it flamenco, dont recall there being many flamenco techniques as such and certainly doesnt fit into any palos i can think of (unless i am talking rubbish which is quite possible!)

welcome back..

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 5 2006 16:16:47

Miguel de Maria

Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ

RE: Zambras, danzas and other arabia... (in reply to Jon Boyes)

Well, they used to dance zambras in Granada I believe. I think it was Carmen Amaya who was dancing zambras as a specialty. I could be misremembering things though.

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Arizona Wedding Music Guitar

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 5 2006 16:35:04

MarkMc

Posts: 121
Joined: Oct. 1 2005
From: Wilsonville, Oregon

RE: Zambras, danzas and other arabia... (in reply to Jon Boyes)

Hi Jon,

Paco Pena plays an awesome one off his album: "Flamenco Guitar Music of R. Montoya & N. Ricardo". So I guess it goes as far back as Nino Ricardo...

That one would definately be a croud pleaser.
(I power tabbed it out too. If you want it send me a PM or an email)

cheers!

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-MarkMc

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 7 2006 16:02:24

Miguel de Maria

Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ

RE: Zambras, danzas and other arabia... (in reply to Jon Boyes)

"Those were happy times, when, for a peseta, in the Bar del Manquet in Atarazanas [the heart of Barrio Chino], they served us real coffee with three lumps of sugar as we sat among a motley crowd of dockworkers applauding an impressive cuadro flamenco that we felt would someday make its mark on history. It was made up of Carmen Amaya "La Capitana", her aunt, Juana la Faraona, and exemplary model of gypsy beauty and unmatched in her zambras and farrucas, La Romerito, unique in her more stylized alegrías and sevillanas, and El Gato, with his serious masculine demeanor, accompanied on guitar by El Chino (father of La Amaya) and Manolo Bulerías. A group that, for a few glasses of manzanilla wine, would treat us to some extra performances outside of the regular program and thank us for our faithful attendance."

http://www.flamenco-world.com/artists/amaya/amaya4.htm

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 7 2006 17:34:02

jrabbani

Posts: 192
Joined: Jun. 28 2006
From: Los Angeles

RE: Zambras, danzas and other arabia... (in reply to MarkMc)

i may be wrong, but i believe tarrega has a danza mora piece...i think i have it in one of my books around here
so i guess that means it goes back to the 19th century?

juben

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 7 2006 18:17:04

Skai

Posts: 317
Joined: Sep. 12 2004

RE: Zambras, danzas and other arabia... (in reply to Jon Boyes)

The Tarrega transcription of the Albeniz's piano Danza Mora is more of Spanish classical.

And yes I agree, the zambra by Nino Ricardo that Pena plays on that album is the most haunting and beautiful, especially the tremolo section. To me, that zambra is unbeaten by any others.

No hitting of guitar bodies here though. It comprises of just melodies over the bassline and an amazing tremolo section. No theatrics but just simply excellent music.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 9 2006 14:38:57

Jon Boyes

Posts: 1377
Joined: Jul. 10 2003

RE: Zambras, danzas and other arabia... (in reply to Skai)

Thanks for the suggestions. I have that Paco Pena album somewhere on cassette and now i can't find the damn thing anywhere

Shame as it was full of old school goodies IIRC.

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Spanish Guitarist in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 9 2006 15:11:20

Paleto

Posts: 243
Joined: Jul. 29 2003
From: San Diego, CA

RE: Zambras, danzas and other arabia... (in reply to Jon Boyes)

I believe Zambra has been around for a long time.

Read this link:

http://www.esflamenco.com/palos/enzambra.html

Paco Peña played one a long time ago which he recorded and appears on the Fabulous Flamenco CD which is really 18 pieces shown here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fabulous-Flamenco-Paco-Pena/dp/B000007UCC/sr=1-1/qid=1160690277/ref=pd_bowtega_1/202-1140545-6342217?ie=UTF8&s=music

A more recent rendition of zambra was recorded by El Viejin, under the title A los niños que sufren and which appears in the 2nd volume of transcriptions from his CD Algo que decir. I am about to start learning it because it has been transcribed for 2 guitars, solo or for 3 guitars - you get to choose.

Zambra to me always seemed kind of cheezeball, but so have a few other toques that just weren't getting a lot of attention. I think the reason many of us aren't as enamoured of Zambra or whatever the case may be is that the more modern guitarists have neglected to compose within them, so it really is just a lack of creativity and attention given the particular toque.

As my repertoire grows, I plan to try to compose some cool things in some neglected areas for fun, but I think I need to have a really strong understanding of them to do it. So it awaits my attention for another several months.

I plan to learn the Paco Peña one since I bought the transcription (thanks to Koella). I will then work at changing it little by little until I have a grasp at what works within it.

I think Zambra could be a real crowd pleaser with some due attention and creativity.

-Anthony

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 12 2006 22:04:18

aloysius

Posts: 233
Joined: Apr. 7 2005
From: Adelaide, Australia

RE: Zambras, danzas and other arabia... (in reply to Jon Boyes)

Here are two of my own Zambras:

www.aloysiusleeson.com/Assets/Almah.mp3

www.aloysiusleeson.com/private/alba.mp3

I play a third one at gigs which I think is from Sabicas that my first teacher taught me - easy to play and it always goes down well, I'll record and upload it if I get the time. I think I've already posted one of these; hopefully I'm not repeating myself too much.

- Aloysius

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 16 2006 12:47:44

Romanza

Posts: 296
Joined: Oct. 24 2005

RE: Zambras, danzas and other arabia... (in reply to Jon Boyes)

Jon, thought you might like to see this Paco Pena vid, noticed it on the side of a post in the upload section

(called Amancer Arabe)

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 19 2006 21:52:05

bahen

Posts: 378
Joined: Mar. 4 2006

RE: Zambras, danzas and other arabia... (in reply to Romanza)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Romanza

Jon, thought you might like to see this Paco Pena vid, noticed it on the side of a post in the upload section

(called Amancer Arabe)

Does anyone have the tab for this?

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 22 2006 17:51:01