Great work Ricardo! Doing a show like that with minimal or no rehearsals would be very nerve racking. I imagine it would be virtually impossible to feel relaxed enough to live up to your own expectations and potential. You did great man! Thanks for sharing this video with us.
Thanks guys! Yeah of course after a couple of times you get to know the singer (and vice versa) and you loosen up and anticipate more, get away with some interesting things. Here I had to play it safe especially since she was the focus and I was not sure what she might throw at me. We actually performed again several days after this for the Spanish Ambassador at a private dinner, and it was a lot more comfortable for both of us as we could try more things and could hear better too! But that's how it goes...especially for someone like me who doesn't get these unique opportunities as often as I would like. So if I ever get a third shot at it, should be pretty good! [;)][:D]
Too bad my friend didn't get the Malagueña/Abandolao so Norman can tell us what those cantes where exactly. That was the one number we actually went over and was pretty tight.
Too bad my friend didn't get the Malagueña/Abandolao so Norman can tell us what those cantes where exactly.
They're not clearly squared away in my head, but I've got references.
This weekend, I went to a wedding where an excellent singer was actually singing inside the church (unseen from a balcony). I'd never seen that before and thought it was beautiful. She sang verdiales, malagueña del Mellizo, siguiriyas and other cantes that I asked her about afterward. I thought she did two series of cantes abandolaos but she said that the second time it was fandangos de Huelva! Guess I wasn't thinking clearly at the time, heh-heh.
So, I'm no authority on those cantes, but, I'll tell you what: If you find any recordings that are similar to what Esperanza did, post them here or send me copies and I'll have a go at it. I end up learning a lot that way.
Great work Ricardo! Doing a show like that with minimal or no rehearsals would be very nerve racking. I imagine it would be virtually impossible to feel relaxed enough to live up to your own expectations and potential. You did great man! Thanks for sharing this video with us.
Too bad my friend didn't get the Malagueña/Abandolao so Norman can tell us what those cantes where exactly
Maybe she did these with you?
Ok I checked out some malagueña compilations and stuff. What she sings there is similar, except the first cante was different. She sang "Busca la Flor Que Amaba...." a famous one because some folks call it Granaina (Porrina, Indio Gitano, Morente) and others call it Malagueña. The only thing she did different there from the original I remember was she skipped out on the F chord and gave me a G instead which I thought was weird, but I got it. (Funny that Porrina gives an F for the G chord!) The Abandolao she does in the video above was exactly what we did, same transition and melody (minus the funky buleria falseta!) and letra too I think. My investigation of compilations tells me that cante is called Jabera.
But she didn't stop like they do, we continued. The second abandolao is hard for me to ID. So many Verdiales sound the same with the same type of guide tones (she gives a Bb and I play F, then she goes down to F and I play C major, etc). The one most similar I found on Magna Antalogia was called "Verdiales de Coin" (i with an accent sorry), but man the are so many similar ones. Then the weird thing was she had me double time the tempo for a 3rd cante, which again is so similar to other verdiales, my guess was it was Juan Breva style.
If only Ethan was there to help me out when I needed it!![;)]
Oh, michel that buleria falseta is from Gerardo Nuñez, some funky trad stuff he teaches in the curso in Sanlucar. I put my own spin on it though.[;)]
Damn Ricardo -- you're living our dream (most of us anyway). Playing with one of the most respected singers without rehearsing and nailing it. Whew I got excited just typing that.
I love how you talk about it so matter-of-factly. As if going into double time with the singer on the fly is nothing. I'm still shaky going into a buleria de cadiz letra. :)
It sounds like it went more than just "pretty well." The video you posted is inspiring; thanks for posting that.
As a matter of technique, I'd forgotten how relaxed your wrist is when you play free-hand rasgueados. Is that principally a result of all the rumba playing you do, or is there another effective way to achieve that (beyond the normal rule of just trying to relax whenever practicing any kind of technique)?
