I was looking at guitars recently at strings by mail. One of the guitars I was looking at had a video at the bottom, they all do so you can hear them. The performer in this video played classical, flamenco and fingerpicking. I've had a light interest in flamenco music and dance but not enough to want to learn but it was like God flicked a switch and I had this intrigue to want to learn about this. Let me tell you, the more I am understand this art form the more I see the beauty and power in
it!
History
It seems to be that Flamenco was born from a mixture of three cultures; Arabian, Gypsy and Jewish. It sprang up from the area of Andalusia, Spain. The people who started playing it was the oppressed and poor, it was their outlet. It wasn't very popular until the 1860's. Cafe Cantante (Cafe singer) where opened. They sold drinks and the sort but they were popular for the dancing and music!
It began to fade by 1910 but artist were still playing and dancing and bringing new styles to the art.
Three in one
I didn't know this side of Flamenco when it comes to the dancer, the singer and the guitarist. If it's just the guitarist playing they just play. If there is a singer and guitar player the singer leads, so the guitarist must follow what rhythm the singer wants (Also if you want to keep it to it's traditional form you would not be playing by any written music, everyone passes it down or makes it up on the spot!) then if a dancer joins in the mix the singer and guitarist can follow the dancer or the singer.
Cafe Cantante Siglo
Wrapping it up
That was some of the things I learned about flamenco and of course there is loads more! Here is a link to a website I found the intreseting facts about Flamenco!
classicalguitarmidi.com
Here is one performance with the rhythmic clapping, tapping and guitar.
Here is a video of a woman dancing the style of Guajira.
I hope you learned a little more about this beautiful art form and that it encourages you to dig deeper!
May Adventure take you by the hand and lead you.
