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Estimated flamencologists (perhaps mostly guitarists), Can you help me specify some of the features of modern flamenco harmony? There are some borrowings from jazz (altered chords [maj 7, min 9 etc], occasional ii-V-I progressions), some exploration of standard Phrygian tonality in new guitar keys (e.g., D# Phrygian), but I’m more interested in the new chordal patterns and progressions that are unique to, and increasingly common in, modern flamenco—perhaps such as the use of different Phrygian cadences, keys, within a single piece (as in “Zyryab”). I hear people such as Chema Vilchez, or even PdL in certain songs, using very idiosyncratic, intricate chord progressions, but many of these may be one-time events, not necessarily representative of broader trends in any sort of modern ‘mainstream.’ On a larger scale, I’m interested in the ways in which an original and unique jazz-flamenco harmony may be emerging (rather than fusions that seem to be harmonically based clearly in just one or the other). I’d appreciate any thoughts.
Posts: 15242
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: modern flamenco harmony: specifics? (in reply to Steelhead)
Specifics reveal certain things, but interms of "trends" or generalizing about the genre, there is often confusion about what is truly modern or jazzy interms of HARMONY. In most cases, it is the delivery that projects the specific modern or jazzy sound, not the literal chord voicing. Indeed, one can find most of the same usage of cadence in the oldest guitar recordings (Montoya's day) and typical flamenco voicings of players from all periods, still in used by modern players. Sometimes it can be the open tuning coupled with fairly normal old fingerings that produce exotic sounding chords. Getting into specifics will take some time.
If you want to start with Zyrab, understand the base of that tune, first of all, comes from Mahavishnu's Meeting of the Spirits.
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