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My duo partner Mark plays a piece called Zambra Mora as a solo spot which always goes down well with the audience.
You know the kind of stuff - drop D tuning, theatrics like drumming on the guitar, string bending and arabian scales to kick things off, then open strings creating a steady D drone to play eastern melodies over.
Whilst this stuff doensn't get me in the same way as a good bulerias, I decided to get a solo together as its quite fun and easy to play, quick to learn and audiences seem to lap it up.
Sabicas was obviously very fond of this style and recorded several pieces - anyone know if he invented it?
Just wondering what the rest of you guys thought of this stuff? Can it be considered flamenco at all? Any modern players done anything with it?
Posts: 2008
Joined: Jul. 12 2004
From: San Francisco
RE: Zambras, danzas and other arabia... (in reply to Jon Boyes)
I agree it can be a crowd pleaser-it seems to have fallen out of favor at the moment, but it's only a matter of time before some great guitarist reworks it. I think Serranito or M. Sanlucar recorded a pretty good one too that was transcribed in one of the Japanese books. That's the most recent one I can think of.
RE: Zambras, danzas and other arabia... (in reply to Jon Boyes)
I really love Sabicas' Danza Arabe although wouldn't call it flamenco, dont recall there being many flamenco techniques as such and certainly doesnt fit into any palos i can think of (unless i am talking rubbish which is quite possible!)
Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ
RE: Zambras, danzas and other arabia... (in reply to Jon Boyes)
Well, they used to dance zambras in Granada I believe. I think it was Carmen Amaya who was dancing zambras as a specialty. I could be misremembering things though.
Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ
RE: Zambras, danzas and other arabia... (in reply to Jon Boyes)
"Those were happy times, when, for a peseta, in the Bar del Manquet in Atarazanas [the heart of Barrio Chino], they served us real coffee with three lumps of sugar as we sat among a motley crowd of dockworkers applauding an impressive cuadro flamenco that we felt would someday make its mark on history. It was made up of Carmen Amaya "La Capitana", her aunt, Juana la Faraona, and exemplary model of gypsy beauty and unmatched in her zambras and farrucas, La Romerito, unique in her more stylized alegrías and sevillanas, and El Gato, with his serious masculine demeanor, accompanied on guitar by El Chino (father of La Amaya) and Manolo Bulerías. A group that, for a few glasses of manzanilla wine, would treat us to some extra performances outside of the regular program and thank us for our faithful attendance."
RE: Zambras, danzas and other arabia... (in reply to MarkMc)
i may be wrong, but i believe tarrega has a danza mora piece...i think i have it in one of my books around here so i guess that means it goes back to the 19th century?
RE: Zambras, danzas and other arabia... (in reply to Jon Boyes)
The Tarrega transcription of the Albeniz's piano Danza Mora is more of Spanish classical.
And yes I agree, the zambra by Nino Ricardo that Pena plays on that album is the most haunting and beautiful, especially the tremolo section. To me, that zambra is unbeaten by any others.
No hitting of guitar bodies here though. It comprises of just melodies over the bassline and an amazing tremolo section. No theatrics but just simply excellent music.
RE: Zambras, danzas and other arabia... (in reply to Skai)
Thanks for the suggestions. I have that Paco Pena album somewhere on cassette and now i can't find the damn thing anywhere Shame as it was full of old school goodies IIRC.
A more recent rendition of zambra was recorded by El Viejin, under the title A los niños que sufren and which appears in the 2nd volume of transcriptions from his CD Algo que decir. I am about to start learning it because it has been transcribed for 2 guitars, solo or for 3 guitars - you get to choose.
Zambra to me always seemed kind of cheezeball, but so have a few other toques that just weren't getting a lot of attention. I think the reason many of us aren't as enamoured of Zambra or whatever the case may be is that the more modern guitarists have neglected to compose within them, so it really is just a lack of creativity and attention given the particular toque.
As my repertoire grows, I plan to try to compose some cool things in some neglected areas for fun, but I think I need to have a really strong understanding of them to do it. So it awaits my attention for another several months.
I plan to learn the Paco Peña one since I bought the transcription (thanks to Koella). I will then work at changing it little by little until I have a grasp at what works within it.
I think Zambra could be a real crowd pleaser with some due attention and creativity.
I play a third one at gigs which I think is from Sabicas that my first teacher taught me - easy to play and it always goes down well, I'll record and upload it if I get the time. I think I've already posted one of these; hopefully I'm not repeating myself too much.