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Merengue de Cordoba ~ Merengue de Cordoba, vol. 2: Acompanamiento al Cante ~ VHS & 2 Music Books
In this long-awaited video and book package, Merengue de Cordoba, one of the most experienced Flamenco guitar teachers in Andalucia, presents a thorough introduction to the art of accompanying the Flamenco cante. With the help of Churumbaque, a young, knowledgeable singer from Cordoba, the two demonstrate and explain many different cantes. For each, Merengue teaches a guitar introduction, the chordal accompaniment of the cante per se, and a falseta for playing between letras, or verses. The guitar parts are fully notated in one book, while chord charts for each cante appear separately in the second book. The package consists of a two-hour video (American VHS format/Spanish commentary), a 253 page book containing translations of all spoken commentary from the video into English, French and German, and transcriptions of all guitar parts in notation and tablature. You also get the letras to all the cantes with translations, and a useful glossary, again in four languages. A second book (60 pages) contains chord charts for the cante portions of the forms taught in the video, and is especially useful for learning to follow the various cantes. Well produced, essential material. Covers Ronde–a, Malague–a, Fandango de Huelva, Fandango de Cala–a, Fandango Natural, Granaina, Taranta, Taranto, Tientos, Tangos, Tangos de Malaga, Tanguillo, Alegrias 1, Romera, Caracoles, Alegrias 2, Petenera, Sevillanas, Rumba, Garrotin, Guajira, Colombiana, Solea, Ca–a, Polo, Bambera, Solea por Bulerias, Bulerias, Seguiriya, Liviana, Serrana, and Fin de Fiesta.
MdC vol 2 is a good reference to have because they go through a wide variety of examples, though not a lot of detail or explanation. I'm not sure it covers all forms, but it does cover more individual forms than any other book I've seen.
I like the Oscar Herrero cante accompaniment series which at the moment only covers Solea and Alegrias. It has sections that are minus the guitar accompaniment, so that one can practice the accompaniment and train their ear to catch the tonos. It's not as good as the real thing, of course, but this is as close as one is going to get to it. At least you'lll get an idea of what's involved, ie: maintaining the compas, listening to the tonos, changing chords at the right time, and interjecting falsetas between the letras. Comes with video and practice CD. Not sure if it's available in DVD yet. If it is, that's the way to go.
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