The art form
How to follow a flamenco show
A first listening guide: cante, toque, baile, compás and jaleo, what each does in a flamenco show and how to follow them from your seat.
Reserve your Palau Dalmases seats ↗What flamenco is
In 2010 UNESCO placed flamenco on its list of intangible cultural heritage, describing it as an art that fuses song, dance and musicianship. Its heartland is Andalusia in southern Spain, with roots in Murcia and Extremadura. It is closely tied to the Gitano community, which played an essential role in its development, and it is handed down through families, social groups and flamenco clubs. A show in a city like Barcelona presents that tradition on a stage.
The cante: the song
The song is the centre of flamenco. UNESCO notes that it is sung by men and women, preferably seated and without backing singers, and that its lyrics are brief, simple and sincere, carrying emotions from grief and fear to joy. The singer is called a cantaor or cantaora. Flamenco songs are organised into palos, styles defined by rhythm, mode and origin, and there are over fifty of them. The most serious are grouped as cante jondo, or deep song.
The toque: the guitar
The guitarist is a tocaor, and in flamenco the guitar has long gone beyond simple accompaniment. A guitarist sets the tonality, the rhythm and the tempo with a short introduction, then accompanies the verses of the song and plays falsetas between them, short melodic phrases that serve as interludes. Flamenco guitarists often cross their legs and hold the neck nearly horizontal. They also use the guitar's pickguard as a percussion instrument, which adds to the rhythm under the dancers.
The baile: the dance
UNESCO describes the dance as one of passion and courtship that ranges from sadness to joy, with a complex technique. Footwork, called zapateado, literally a tap of the foot, is one section of many dances. Some dances follow a set shape. One classic form from Cádiz passes through an entrance, a walk-around, a silence, a livelier section and then the footwork. You do not need to know the structure to enjoy it, but listening for the silence helps.
The compás: the rhythm
The rhythmic cycle is called the compás, and it is the framework that holds a flamenco performance together. Many palos count twelve beats, with the accents placed in different positions, which is why one palo can sound so different from the next. The lively dance form from Cádiz counts twelve beats at a brisk pace. The bulerías, a fast twelve-beat form that began among the Romani people of Jerez, often ends a flamenco gathering with vigorous dancing and clapping.
Palmas and jaleo
Handclaps, called palmas, and the shouted encouragement known as jaleo are part of the music. Castanets, handclapping and foot-stamping are the percussion that UNESCO lists alongside the guitar. The cries of olé that performers call to each other are a sign of encouragement, and the word's origin is debated. Federico García Lorca wrote about a mysterious, hard-to-define charge in a performance that he called duende, which flamenco performers and audiences still talk about.
How a short show is built
A typical flamenco recital with voice and guitar is a series of pieces in different palos rather than a sequence of separate songs. Each piece is a set of verses, called coplas or letras, with guitar interludes between them. The guitarist opens with a brief introduction that sets the tonality, the rhythm and the tempo, and then the singer comes in. In a performance of under an hour with dancers, expect two or three contrasting moods, from slow and weighty to fast and light.
Where the tablao comes in
A tablao is a place where flamenco shows are performed, and the word also names the wooden platform on which a dancer dances. Tablao venues developed during the 1960s throughout Spain, replacing the cafés cantantes, the night bars where flamenco entertainment became a profession from the mid-19th century. Today a tablao may be a small room with a drink, a cave, a theatre or, as at Palau Dalmases, a historic palace.
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