Question about Cante Accompaniment por Bulerías

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Scott

Posts: 20
Joined: Jul. 29 2010

Question about Cante Accompaniment p...

I have been curious about the nature between the chord changes and the melody of the cante. Specifically, regarding situations that are not written for an album or a live group performance, both scenarios where the chords are obviously predetermined and known. So, for example, a guitarist and singer sitting down and effectively improvising a bulerias together, assuming that is something that even happens enough to validate this question. Are the chord changes, e.g., going to D min on beat 10, or transitioning into a cycle of 12 vamping C7, decided on intuition or feel in response to the singer's melody? Or, are there typical cante melodies, perhaps individual to each cantador or region, that an experienced ear will hear and know which chord should follow? Is it a combination of the above or something completely different? Thanks for any insights.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 15 2021 17:00:49

Ricardo

Posts: 14806
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC

RE: Question about Cante Accompanime... (in reply to Scott)

It is a combination...please check the cante accompaniment thread and on page 1 I load a track. You can see how Jason Mcguire deals with it at the bottom, and I also demonstrated two versions some years later on page 23. Taking a cue from how we did it, try it yourself.

http://www.foroflamenco.com/tm.asp?m=124692&p=1&tmode=1&smode=1

Edit:sorry I just realized Jason’s version has expired. Well you have my two examples and some other folks that tried it and comments about it. Also in my post on page 23 I link to a discussion about half compas. The camaron example “otra Galaxia” on page 3 is a lot more advanced, but I did a take of it on page 4. The original has no chords but my version shows one way it could be done. A different player might have a different idea. Sometimes the cantaor has a specific harmony in their head and will inform the guitarist in rehearsal about it, however, most often substitutions are totally fine and expected so long as the guitarist closes letras correctly with the singer. Funny to note that on Tomatito’s album “soy flamenco”, he and Paco de lucia actually do something similar to what I do with that camaron track...they pull a few letras from that track I mean, put their guitars under it like I did.

_____________________________

CD's and transcriptions available here:
www.ricardomarlow.com

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 15 2021 21:42:44

orsonw

Posts: 1934
Joined: Jul. 4 2009
From: London

RE: Question about Cante Accompanime... (in reply to Ricardo)

Also see this thread for more discussion of accompaniment of the Cepillo bulerias Ricardo uploaded. Including letra on page 2 and various attempts at accompaniment and discussion of mistakes etc...

Working out what to play along to a recording is artificial but it is one way of developing an 'experienced ear'. The real goal is to be able to accompany a live singer without knowing exactly where they are going before hand, and being able to respond to anything they do.

http://www.foroflamenco.com/tm.asp?m=285237&mpage=1&p=&tmode=1&smode=1&key=juerga

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 15 2021 22:25:12

Morante

Posts: 2179
Joined: Nov. 21 2010

RE: Question about Cante Accompanime... (in reply to Scott)

I always thought that I could not accompañar bulerías. I prefer soléa y seguiraya. Once I went to a Peña de Jerez, invited by a socio. He said bring the guitarra. I said, yo toco mal por bulería. He said don´t worry, there will be otro tocaor. Mentira!

There were 5 gitanos of the Peña. All wanted to sing bulerías so I had no choice. I played por bulería for at least half an hora, knowing that half compas is muy de Jerez. When everybody was tired, one of the cantaores said "Que compás tienes". I said "I only listened to the cante, giving the tonos, but not even thinking of the compás. When the palmeros made a remate, yo tambien."

Así aprenden los flamencos, desde la barriga de la mare.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 15 2021 22:40:21

Scott

Posts: 20
Joined: Jul. 29 2010

RE: Question about Cante Accompanime... (in reply to Scott)

I had not seen those threads, nor had I even thought about practicing or testing myself with cante tracks (with palmas, of course). That is a fantastic idea. Thanks for the links.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 16 2021 20:19:12