Declan Zapala delves into the vibrant world of Nuevo Flamenco with six exercises and a short bulerías to uncover the explosive possibilities in your fingers.
ON VIDEO
The unmistakably lively and fierce sound of Flamenco music has its origins in the southern Andalusian region of Spain, and is seen as such an important cultural phenomenon that it was recently inscribed into the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. And rightly so. Flamenco music is not just a single style of music, but rather a rich and far-reaching tapestry of different styles of dance (‘baile’) married with poetry and song (‘cante’), and musicianship (‘toque’), with a long history shaped by artists and performers not just in Spain, but also the Caribbean, Latin America, and Europe. The presence of traditional Flamenco spills out into many areas of every day Spanish life, from weddings and parties, to concerts and festivals. Dances such as the Fandango, Seguiriya, Farruca, Soleá, and Sevillanas to name but a few all fall under the umbrella of Flamenco, but because each has its own histories and luminaries it is impossible to speak of any one artist as a representative of the phenomenon as a whole.
Despite this, the late great Cadiz-born Flamenco guitarist Francisco Sanchez Gomez, better known as Paco de Lucia, took Spain and the world by storm when he modernised Flamenco throughout the 70s and 80s. He did this by championing its musical traditions while making it more accessible to a wider audience by creating original music with musicians from multiple genres including classical and jazz. It was not unusual for de Lucia to appear at international jazz events as well as Flamenco festivals. The style that Paco brought about through his development of Flamenco eventually became known as Nuevo Flamenco (‘New Flamenco’).
At the heart of all his successes de Lucia was a master technician of his art, an incredibly prodigious guitarist with an almost superhuman aptitude for virtuosity on the instrument which gained him the accolade of one of history’s greatest guitarists. One of his preferred Flamenco styles was the bulerías which is considered one of the more advanced presentations of the Compas (rhythmic sets).
This month I have set about scratching the surface to unlock some of the technical and musical mysteries of de Lucia’s approach to this style, with six exercises of varying complexity, all of which are accessible at their slower 120bpm tempos. These are followed by a short bulerías-style composition, Bulerinho, which ties together all six exercises. As always, start slowly, and don’t forget to breathe! Olé!
NEXT MONTH Declan arranges a classical guitar version of the carol, Deck The Halls
