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xirdneH_imiJ -> Losing my flamenco virginity (Apr. 22 2011 16:08:38)
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last weekend i've lost my "real" flamenco virginity...there's a dancer whom i used to accompany in classes, then she moved to Madrid and is now a regular performer in tablaos, Casa Patas and the like...she had been working with another guitarist before, but she visited for a week and she's asked me to accompany her in two shows, one of them abroad, in Serbia...
she's also a singer, and a damn good one too, and one of her students, a serbian lady came with us, she also sings and dances...i barely had any time to prepare, i knew what palos we'd be performing, but i had very little experience when it comes to "real" flamenco, because i'm so used to hungarian dancers who perform on a low level and generally have no clue about the whole thing...
i was excited and nervous because i've never accompanied cante for someone who improvises, just sings whatever letra comes to mind, i only accompanied a guy who learns by copying and we rehearse everything to death...so the task was not a small one, we had to perform in two shows with practically no time to prepare...she came home two days before the show and we spent two hours practicing cante and another two dance...of course i knew the chords and had a general idea how to accompany cante, but i really didn't know "how" to listen...
so we had our first performance in Pécs, Hungary, and it went very well, there'll also be a video later...it was a theatre-like performance, people sitting and enjoying the music and dance, listening through my rondena etc...it was great...then we drove to Serbia, and the next day was really busy, we were to perform in a small jazz club, with about 30 seats...some tv guys were awaiting us and we did half our show for them, without an audience and then we had to give interviews...it turns out they'll be broadcasting it on different serbian channels throughout the year...the show itself turned out to be a huge success...for the small place, there were about 100-120 people standing up and enjoying it, although such was the noise levels, that i barely heard myself while playing the rondena, they got quieter for the second half...and the audience were 80% ladies and i was the only guy on stage, so i sort of had the "star" feeling afterwards :)...they even asked for autographs!
anyway, i feel i've learned more in these 3 days, then in my last 3 years...i came home and put on the cante-only tracks that i occasionally tried to play along with and suddenly everything's working, because i've learned how to listen and react to certain notes in singing...also, i felt very-very much inspired by a dancer who's fantastic and all these 10-15 minute each improvizations flew quickly, i didn't feel the time passing and i didn't feel it to be boring even if i didn't dare to take any risks with too difficult falsetas or chord progressions...i wish i could share the feeling with those who haven't experienced it yet...i feel like this was the first time i played some real flamenco and i would love to do it most of my life...unfortunately for me she's going back to madrid so the only chance for me to experience this regularly is if i move to spain myself which doesn't seem to be an option anytime soon...
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