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I have a tendency to include references, appositions, and other errata in my text as I write. As I realize that not everyone cares for such digressions, however, I generally "hide" them in scripts. To access this "additional information," just click on the boldfaced text. To expand all errata at once (brave soul!), click here.

 

 

 

Flamenco Dance Accompaniment for Guitarists

This article series discusses how to prepare the principle song forms commonly demanded of dance accompanists. It is broken up into five sections:

• Part I: Accompaniment Basics
• Part II: Sevillanas
• Part III: Alegrias
• Part IV: Soleá
• Part V: Further Afield

 

Part IV: Soleá

16 January 2011

Soleá: What and Why?

Soleá is one of the foundational forms of flamenco music; it is often described as the "mother of the cante (flamenco song)." The word soleá (which can be used interchangeably with soleares) is a gypsy corruption of the Spanish word soledad, which translates in English to "solitude" or "loneliness."  When sung, the lyrics of the soleá usually take up themes of romantic tragedy, desolation, and death. Keeping this in mind as you play will help you capture the appropriate mood for soleá: cheerful it is not.

As an accompanist, you will want to be familiar with soleá because of its prominence in the flamenco dancer’s cosmos. Because soleá often includes slow, sensual cante jondo (deep song) passages and rapid zapateado (footwork) sections, it affords the dancer the opportunity to display both profound emotion and blazing footwork.

Author's caveat: This article inevitably represents my playing experience and the style in which musicians and dancers in my area perform. As such, I want it to be clear that I’m not presenting this information as an “absolute” explanation of how alegrias works, but simply as one way (and in my experience a common way) that it can be performed.

The examples that follow are for a traditional soleá por baile ; a full PDF of this arrangement can be found here.

Structure and Compás

Soleá is generally played in the key of E Phrygian (which contains all naturals, like C major, but which begins and ends on E). Though there are certainly common components to soleá for dance accompaniment, unlike the sevillana and, to some degree, alegria, there is no “standard arrangement” for soleá per se.

Keeping the above in mind (i.e. that the arrangement I’m presenting here is an arrangement, not the arrangement), here are the parts of the soleá por baile accompaniment piece I have put together:

1. Introduction & Temple
2. First Copla & First Falseta
3. Redoblao
4. Second Copla & Second Falseta
5. Escobilla
6. Transition to Buleria and Ending
   
   
   

You should experiment with moving these pieces around and fitting them to each other in new ways. As with the alegria, sections can be rearranged, doubled, or eliminated altogether.

Though it is played much slower than the alegria, the compás of soleá is based in 12s and, like alegria, is accented on the 3, 6, 8, 10, and 12 beats. It can be counted like this: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12. The examples given here (and in the PDF transcription) are blocked out in 12 beat phrases, starting on 1:

In developing this article and its accompanying score, I have used as source recordings soleás by Jose Menese & Melchor de Marchena and David & Alfredo Largos (both of which can be found on the accompanying CD to Robin Totton’s Song of the Outcasts), the soleá accompaniment arrangement found on the Solo Compas por Soleá disc, the solo guitar recordings of Sabicas and Juan Habichuela, and accompaniment I have provided for La Peña Flamenca de Seattle under the direction of Rubina Carmona.

To load and play a full video of this soleá, click here.

 

The Details

As was the case with the alegria example, the goal of this article is to help you move beyond simply stringing falsetas together and learn how soleá dance accompaniment works as a whole. What follows is a section-by-section description, with musical examples, that will address the details of playing soleá for dancers. In some cases I have included illustrations directly in the text, but remember that all of these examples are drawn directly from the score -- the letters next to the section subheadings correspond to rehearsal letters in the sheetmusic/TAB.

1. Introduction

Guitar Intro (A)
This introductory falseta is a well-known Sabicas melody. I play it here very libre – which is to say that I let the melody dictate where the tempo is “strict” and where it is “flexible.” This will be a theme that continues throughout this arrangement; you might think of the tempo of soleá as something that pushes or pulls, depending on where you are in your accompaniment or arrangement.

Following the introductory falseta proper at bar 17 is a remate which introduces one of two rasgueado techniques I use in this arrangement. This triplet rasgueado is typical to soleá and is played with the index and ring (or index and pinky) fingers. The overall effect is one of a “mess of notes” which approximates a continuous tone in the same way that tremolo does. If this is your first encounter with this kind of rasgueado, be sure to relax your fingers and concentrate more on the evenness and consistency of your playing than on the exact number of finger strokes in a phrase. You also want to keep your touch light; you should strive for continuity and articulacy, not volume.

Temple (B)
As with alegría, the temple in soleá is where the singer “clears his or her throat” and gets ready to sing. In soleá the temple usually sung with a series of “ai-ai-ai” syllables. In this arrangement, I have substituted a guitar progression common in soleá. The rasgueado here is played in the same way as the remate in bar 17 above. As with the alegria, the remate at bar 49 works to “tie off” this theme and return us to soleá marking compás (bars 53 – 60).

 

NB: If the picado in bars 46 and 47 is beyond your ability at the moment, drop a few notes and play the passage as eighth notes. Speed comes with time.

In this sense, some of what I’ve labeled “llamada” here might be more properly termed “entre-copla” or “marking” compáses; for simplicity’s sake, however, I’ll risk the misnomer.

2. First Copla & Falseta

First Copla (C)
As with the alegria, the copla in this arrangement is used to lengthen the chord progression and give the soleá substance and a sense of movement. These are the chords you might play in a traditional cante accompaniment. Bars 61 through 68, which move through a standard Am ⇒ G ⇒ F ⇒ E progression, could accompany the first tercio or line of cante. Bars 69 through 72 are the contestation, or the guitar’s “answer” to this line, after which a second tercio, at bars 73 to 76, is sung (or, in this case, played). Bars 73 through 80 are the cambio, represented here by a change in the chord progression which moves through G7 and C before finally resolving back through Am, G, and F to E. In this first copla the cambio is repeated twice – this is typical for a soleá letra.

First Falseta (D)
The first falseta in based on a tremolo passage Juan Habichuela plays in “A Mi Luis” (found on the excellent disc De La Zambra Al Duende). Following the falseta are two compáses of remate which follow the Am to E chord progression described for the tercios above, but in much shorter form (i.e. in the space of a single compás). This compressing (or expanding) of progressions is a key (and easy) way to create variety in your playing. Different amounts of time spent on or spent moving between chords provides a break from strict repetition and creates distinct opportunities for embellishment (as you can see in these examples).

3. Redoblao (E)

Redoblao in this context basically means “double-time” -- and it is a chance for the dancer to break out of soleá’s characteristically slow pace and show off some fancy footwork. In solo guitar work, redoblao is not all that common. A dancer will likely miss it, though, if it’s not part of your accompaniment repertoire. The changes and rhythm are fairly straightforward here. Do note, however, that while the time doubles, the tempo remains consistent at around 90 beats per minute: you’re doubling time, but not actually speeding anything up. This is important to keep in mind as you close the redoblao at bar 145 and return to single time: maintaining a clear sense of where your redoblao playing fits in with the twelve-beat structure will help you make this transition cleanly (and – more importantly – in compás).

NB: When actually working with a dancer, your redoblao sections will likely be much longer than this. How many repetitions you play depends on how the dancer chooses to build his or her footwork – this is definitely a case where the dancer “leads.” As you stretch out redoblao it’s a good idea to begin thinking through possible variations in chords, accents, and embellishments – this tends to go a long way in keeping things interesting.

 

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