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Posts: 1956
Joined: Dec. 2 2006
From: Budapest, now in Southampton
Losing my flamenco virginity
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...
Posts: 2697
Joined: Jun. 7 2010
From: The South Ireland
RE: Losing my flamenco virginity (in reply to xirdneH_imiJ)
This sounds really great, look forward to seeing the video clip whenever you can. As they say "one learns to play , by playing " if you know what I mean, this has got to be the best experience. I think I would have liked to have seen it myself Bravo
Posts: 1956
Joined: Dec. 2 2006
From: Budapest, now in Southampton
RE: Losing my flamenco virginity (in reply to rombsix)
Pécs was fine, most people in the audience were flamenco people there as well and they seemed to enjoy it a lot, they clapped us back several times for more fiesta...but they were very laid back compared to the temperamental serbs :) this performance was the more difficult because i was very unsure of everything what we would be doing so i really concentrated to see/hear the signs when to play something else...i usually remember everything after i come off stage, but now i can't recall anything but the emotions i felt...and i'm pretty content with that to be honest...
Posts: 5
Joined: May 6 2010
From: Kaposvár, Hungary
RE: Losing my flamenco virginity (in reply to xirdneH_imiJ)
Hola Ricsi! Congratulation! I was in the audience in Pécs and I can say that it was a great show. You performed well, since you were fully together with the cante and baile. It was my feeling that you had been performing many times before so I was surprised to read your first post. I really enjoyed the show. I hope Maria is back soon and the group forms up again. If so I'll be there. I can imagine your big success in Serbia. Ole!
RE: Losing my flamenco virginity (in reply to xirdneH_imiJ)
Cool Richard! Sounds awesome! What you've found is the kind of break I hope for too in regards to playing flamenco. Well, I'm taking baby steps.. beginning to get more gigs and it's really cool what it does to my playing.. I don't take many risks on stage, but it's still like strapping an extra booster rocket to the normal learning pace.
How was Serbia? I haven't been there for more than a decade.. Hope that will change soon. I want to go to the Guca Trumpet festival.
Posts: 1956
Joined: Dec. 2 2006
From: Budapest, now in Southampton
RE: Losing my flamenco virginity (in reply to mrMagenta)
i haven't seen much, and i've not even seen much of Novi Sad, but what i have seen i liked a lot...even if it's really close, it's a very different place than Hungary...it was a very positive experience overall...
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.throw any tvs out the hotel window ? 
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