Ricardo -> RE: Singers,dancers and guitarrists point of view about flamenco. (Apr. 18 2005 9:25:32)
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This topic is something I have thought a lot about over the years, and I agree or identify w/ everyone's thoughts so far (even the ones that seem to conflict). Just want to add a bit of my point of view. I have met actually a couple of dancers who DO actually like SOME flamenco guitar CDs. True, they are few. I think it would be great if the singers and dancers were into the guitar, to the same degree the guitarists are "into" the cante and baile. But it is not really necessary. There are good guitarists who only play for cante. There are plenty of dancers who say they are "into" the cante, when they really don't know much about it except for some reason they need it to fit in this one little space in their super long choreography. For guitarists, there is a very different way to play depending on whether you specialize more for cante accomp, or baile accomp. Cante soloists are different than singers who specialize in singing for baile. The solo flamenco guitar may contain elements of both accomp styles, but it is the "instrumental" version. Instrumental music vs vocal music is and always has required a longer attention span from the listener. Unless it is background music, or people are dancing to the music. Vocal music makes more of a connection w/ the listener, because of the lyric. Dance is a visual spectical, though flamencos also make percussive sounds ie, "music". That is more appealing to the masses. People who can listen to instrumental music for extended periods, I mean really LISTEN, would have no trouble w/ listening to a flamenco guitar CD all the way through. But a foreignor who doesn't speak Spanish could more easily get bored by cante. Even if you do speak Spanish, cante is an aquired taste because of the singing style. So that is why it seems strange to the outside world, why the guitar has the role it does in flamenco. But solo flamenco guitar music, in terms of guitar music IN GENERAL, is SUPER complex and advanced. ANY guitarist from any genre can recognize this. Even a simpler flamenco guitar stylist (soloist) is still considered on a high level by the rest of the world's guitar players. This makes it even harder to listen too, but also harder to understand why it is not put on more of a pedastal, especially in Spain. How can Paco de Lucia, Manolo Sanlucar, Sabicas, whoever, sit there and back up a singer or dancer when he has composed master pieces that Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chick Corea etc, would marval at? Worse, how could a flamenco dancer/singer say that some of those master works, BORE them? You see, the outside world looks at flamenco guitarists as composers, the singers/dancers as interpretors. Poverotti vs Beethoven. But in the flamenco world, the guitarist is an accompanist whose only "composing" is needed for "give me a little falsetta here-no that is too long..." or "go all out and do a self indulgent guitar solo so I can change my costume". So the flamenco guitar soloists brought up in this envirionment have a lot to express, some of them are real monsters on the instrument. Supreme virtuosos, master composers, but are not really respected like that. The respect comes from knowing how to support and accompany well. Moraito said accompanying was easier than solo playing, because the soloist has a big responsibilty of communicating to the audience directly. The accompanyist can hide in the back and do his job. My own tastes are at present like this: Cante, I prefer old style, pre Camaron. Jerez style mainly. Baile, I like Post Carmen Amaya, but the Yerbabuena stuff, tons of cortes is too much for me. I like the rhythm fast and tight, but like a wave people are riding. I don't mind worked out stuff, but I like poly rhythms. Imagine a guitar solo where the cajon played the rhythm of each falseta instead of keeping a beat and doing fills. It would get annoying fast. Guitar: I prefer the modern style players starting from Paco. I like the rhythm to be real even tempo w/ synchopation. For me, M. Sanlucar's stuff is the most advanced, requiring a long attention span. Very sophisticated. I like the advanced rhythmic stuff, but the harmonically outside stuff is too much for me-Canizares, Nueva Escuela, etc. I love the rhythm, but not the way they are deliberately avoiding the cadence. I want more "phrygian", more resolution. Ricardo
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