Recently (within the past year) a video has appeared where very prominent artists of the flamenco current join together to recreate a new style of cante, a tap dance, sponsored by a well-known beer brand. And they've given it a name: CALM DOWNThe intention is good, healthy, the result looks good. If it prospers as palo flamenco It doesn't depend on anyone. Time is the judge, and God will decide what the new style will be like.
In recent decades there have been attempts, with greater or lesser success, to create a new palo (or style, as there are those who find the term annoying, typical of the cards in the Spanish deck) to add it to the already rich and varied stylistic melting pot of flamenco. The gender flamenco, created more or less century and a half, has managed to incorporate very few new styles in recent decades; you can count on the fingers of one hand those that have managed to cross the "border" and become integrated as one more style among the many that already exist, confirming the flamenco as one of the richest musical and dance genres on the planet.
There have been attempts such as the iron mines of Fosforito and Valderrama, cante a daze emerged in the heat of the Festival Flamenco from Lo Ferro, the basket of Paco de Lucía, Cepero and Camarón, recorded by the genius of La Isla and an instrumental version by Paco, with his cante and corresponding lyrics, a sort of fandango with the guitar in the tone of a rondeña. Today, one hears, especially the catchy ritornello as a chorus, more than the cante Properly said, the galleys composed by Juan Peña The Lebrijano, cante over the slow air near the bulerías of Lebrija. Without cante, a truly essential element for a style flamenco be considered as such, we have the walkways of Pablo Martín Caminero or the galiana created by Adrián Galia, both styles modeled on the accents of the seguiriya and the soleá, though adding one or two beats, resulting in thirteen and fourteen beats respectively, instead of the classic twelve beats. All these well-intentioned attempts have met with varying fates, which we won't examine here, although it would be interesting to analyze them in that sense, perhaps in another article.
In all fairness, since Pepe Marchena created in 1930 the song titled My Colombian, which went from being a song cante, surely without intending it himself, we have only known new variants of various styles, namely: multiple natural fandangos, some soleá, seguiriya, various tangos, cantes de levante, malagueñas, tonás. Many styles, especially during the 20th century, have been nourished by variations from various artists. Some secretly created variations and attributed them to supposedly ancient singers in order to give them the seal of authenticity. The little lie that Morente al Gallina in relation to the creation of his seguiriya. Enrique told us: "If I told him it was mine, he wouldn't accept it, so I told him I had heard it from an old singer." Or the tonás created by the brilliant Antonio Mairena, of his own making, but it was not a plan to attribute them to himself, it would clash with his philosophy, at the antipodes of Marchena and his everlasting: cante from the master of masters. El Caracol, who was an inveterate creator but for him they were not his, as he confirmed to Velázquez-Gaztelu en Rite (minute 1:15): «I don't understand what they say now about cante"It's about so-and-so or so-and-so, I sing whatever comes to mind at the moment."
"Does sosegá have unique parameters or does it share them? Although it has just begun its journey, it remains to be seen whether it will make its way among the many styles of music. flamenco and a place is made. To achieve this, it's essential that not only the creators of the style cultivate it, but that other artists gradually adopt it and begin to sing, play, and dance for free.
What does a palo to be considered as such? Have a specific rhythm and beat? Yes, although many styles share a common rhythm and beat, such as soleares and cantiñas. Accompany yourself in a particular harmonic mode? Yes, although there are also many styles that are accompanied in the same harmonic mode, the tientos, the seguiriyas and the soleares are made in the same harmonic mode, the so-called Phrygian or flamenco, Mi's mode. Have a certain tempo? Yes, also, a specific style is usually performed at a specific tempo: slow, andante, fast. However, this parameter varies greatly, as some artists sing bulerías faster than others. Have a cante certain? Yes. This is, as I have already pointed out, the main parameter for us to consider a palo as a style flamencoto have a cante specific. However, the same style can have – and in fact many do – multiple variants. Thus, for example, there are dozens of seguiriyas and, while they all have the same time signature and rhythm, and are accompanied in the same harmonic mode, each one has a cante different, different melodies, some variants with respect to others. And so it happens with a good part of the palos flamencos. That is, the melody of the cante It is what ends up defining the variant of a style.
Does sosegá have unique parameters or does it share them? Although he has just started his journey, it remains to be seen whether he will make his way among the many styles of flamenco And it makes a place for itself. To achieve this, it's essential that not only the creators of the style cultivate it, but that other artists gradually adopt it and begin to sing, play, and dance "por sosegás."
The sosegá has a binary but very original rhythm, takes accents from the soleá and breaks the clave to build a unique rhythm, which it doesn't share with any other style. It's a good start to establish itself as a style. Does it have its own harmonic mode? No. What I've heard of sosegá is done in a mode flamenco or Mi mode, which makes it a “VIP candidate” to be integrated into the repertoire jondo. Do you have one or more melodies of canteIn principle, it seems so. That is to say, sosegá has the necessary elements for us to consider it a new style, but I insist, when it begins to be cultivated, sung, played, or danced by other artists, we will be able to consider it as such.
The rhythm of the sosegá is based on a 3-3-2 duple, the classic Cuban triplet derived from the tango pattern. The sosegá is counted 1-2-3 4-5-6-7-8, accentuating the 3, the 6, and the 8. But where does it begin? In my opinion, if in the soleá the strongest beat is the last 2, which is the first beat, here it's the 8. The strongest beat is on that last 8. That is, if it were written in sheet music, it would have to be done like this: 8-1-2 / 3-4-5 / 6-7…, and in 4/4 or 3/8 (8-1-2) + 3/8 (3-4-5) + 2/8 (6-7), a tango triplet, although very “slow”, of course. I think they got it right. Walk. Besides, everyone there is a monster, so… in terms of cante can become a palo.
As I say, the sosegá has a very specific rhythm and is surely one of the most successful parameters and can establish itself among artists and, based on that rhythm, consolidate singing, playing, or dancing "por sosegás." Time will tell.
