Horror vacuum He calls him Aristotle"An artistic concept that describes the tendency to fill every available space in a work with details until the composition is saturated." It is characteristic of the ostentatious luxury of Byzantine art, Islamic decoration, or Baroque aesthetics. And art flamenco It has elements of all those eras. That's why one of its main characteristics is precisely the fear of emptiness. Let's see how it manifests itself in the cante, in the playing and also in the dancing.
Are they afraid? flamencoIs it the sound void? Indeed, their eagerness to fill every space compels them to leave no gap without sound, although, as I will discuss later, in the flamenco Silences are also of considerable importance, as in all genres of music. It is well known that ornamentation is one of its principal expressive resources, for example in the melody, through the numerous melismas that embellish the thirds of the canteThe singable melody in the flamenco It is not based on a tempered scale, but rather sprinkled with microtones that transform the flamenco range into a succession of sounds impossible to represent on a musical staff, a tonal richness characteristic of Eastern aesthetics established within a fully Western music, a true miracle of Hispanic culture, a reflection of a people who find their raison d'être in multiculturalism. flamenco In that sense, it is a tremendously baroque artistic expression. Listening to the cante Through seguiriyas, malagueñas, tientos or soleares, one can appreciate the constant melodic flow, a display of vocal mastery comparable to baroque opera, but in Andalusian.
For its part, The guitar is responsible for filling the empty spaces left by the canteLet's listen carefully to any canteLet's notice how the guitar, thanks mainly to the arpeggios, fills in the silences of the melody. canteThe guitarist fills the gaps, striving to avoid any sonic emptiness. Arpeggios, along with strumming, are the ideal way to sustain a chord. This right-hand technique allows the player to extend the duration of these chords, which form the basis of the accompaniment. cante and the dance. By unfolding the chords in time, the goal is achieved of filling every moment with sounds, fleeing from emptiness, banishing the dread produced by unjustified silence.
"The flamenco It is a tremendously baroque artistic expression. Listening to the cante Through seguiriyas, malagueñas, tientos, or soleares, one can appreciate the constant melodic flow. A display of vocal mastery comparable to Baroque opera, but in Andalusian.
The tremolo also supports "the cause"Another technical resource guitarists use to lengthen notes and fill the sonic space. The guitar, like the piano, is a stringed instrument—the former plucked, the latter struck—but the vibration of those strings gradually diminishes, and lacking the piano's sustain pedal, tremolo allows guitar sounds to be prolonged; another advantage of the so-called "upstroke" as opposed to the "downstroke," thumb and strumming. The guitarist flamenco, when it accompanies the cante or dancing, although even when he plays solo, he is always busy to fill the atmosphere with music, especially when it accompanies the cante which, after all, is a wind instrument, and the air must be managed, with all that this implies in relation to the topic at hand. And we must also include here the alzapúa, that technical marvel for stringing together triplets that is the envy of the "classical" players.
The percussion instrument aspect that dance and the palmas It also contributes to filling the environment with sounds. The horror of emptiness manifests itself in dance at various moments in a choreography. Perhaps the most obvious example is the syncopated footwork during the opening processions. The dancer creates these syncopated rhythms by filling in the gaps left by the heels. palmas clapping their hands in time. And the palmeros, that by folding them they are only fleeing from that void they are terrified of.
Even in the commotion we can appreciate this aesthetic phenomenon. The "olé" that is said on the only silent beat of the measure, on the last 2 of the dance count: 7-8-9-10-1-2In that last time, which is the first of the twelve-beat measure, we cheer as if we wanted to fill the only silent pulse of that measure, which is the hallmark of flamenco music.
And speaking of silences, it is important to highlight their significance in the flamencoLeaving the first beat of the measure silent, known as headless rhythm, provides the necessary oxygen for the music to breathe, because the rhythm flamenco It also has its escape valve, a moment of silence that, when well managed, leaves no one indifferent. Often, that silence represents the emotional peak of a cante, touch or dance. What would become of the flamenco Without those silences? After the cascade of sounds that unfold when interpreting this music and its dance, they become essential, as a necessary contrast in all forms of artistic expression, especially in those that fear emptiness. ♦
