Miguel de Maria -> RE: Young Scottish flamenco guitarist (Feb. 20 2006 14:29:21)
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It seems funny to me, but when people around here talk about compas, it seems they only mean bulerias? I mean, tangos is a very important part of flamenco, and it is in 4/4 too. So is tientos and rumba. Fandangos and others are in 3/4. There are other aspects to flamenco than 12 beat compases. And I think compas means the "rhythm", not "the rhythm of bulerias." Lots of people play music that is inspired by flamenco but is not flamenco. So what? Lots of people play music that is inspired by blues but is not blues--it's called rock. Lots of people play music inspired by jazz but is not--called smooth jazz. Who was it, Kenny G, who said, "Hey, I didn't kill anyone." The more I think about it, the sillier it is someone in his room banging out a solea from a Sabicas tab thinking he is somehow a more authentic musician than someone playing Florian's Novamenco, or smooth jazz, or rock. Give me a break! If you can accompany a dancer in a juerga, or play for a cantaor, then look down your nose all you can. Music is about execution and feel, being true to the nuances. If you have to sit there and talk about learning the 12 beat compases as if it somehow makes you a musician, then I'm not impressed. How does it sound, that's what matters. To me, this situation is analagous. Some guy from Belgium (or whatever) gets interested in American blues, and he gets a bunch of Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf records and learns them note for note. He works on it real hard and even learns quite a bit of English just so he can sing it better. He then looks down on and talks disparagingly about people who play blues-inflected rock such as Blues Traveler. Or, say the Rolling Stones. But the blues is a cultural phenomenon. To find someone who was not born and raised in the Delta and can sing and play the blues is a rarity, let alone someone who is white or is from another country. The same with flamenco--as Ricardo said, you can't separate one note from its cultural context. I say, unless you are totally immersed in flamenco, live and breathe it, don't go around disparaging guys like the Gipsy Kings or the American "nouveau flamenco" guys. It's just like some Belgium Howling Wolf wanna be who sings Delta blues with a funny accent making fun of rockers!
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