Hola David
I am not sure if I exactly understand what you ask but I hope this is helpful.

We say:
Yo toco música followed by the type of music so this becomes Yo toco música flamenca.
Music is female so the type of music must obey that gender even if flamenco alone is masculine as in ‘el flamenco’.
So to add more information:
Yo toco música flamenca con guitarra flamenca.
We say ‘con’ meaning with not ‘en’ meaning on.
We often say: ‘yo toco con una Tsiorba/Gerundino’ etc.
Or “Yo estoy con Tsiorba” meaning I play guitars as a usual thing with Tsiorba, this is what I always do. Here the ‘Yo’ is Ok because I am emphasising my position when comparing with others.
Next we have the instrument that is the guitar which is feminine and then the type of instrument which obeys the feminine.
If you wish to give more information on type of guitar you can say:
Yo toco música flamenca con una guitarra flamenca negra/blanca/rubia.
In general we tend not to use the personal pronoun ‘Yo’ hence:
“toco música flamenca con una guitarra flamenca negra” might be OK.
However in such a long sentence we would not usually say ‘una guitarra flamenca negra’. It feels like too much.
Such expressions as una negra or una/blanca rubia are used usually in isolation as in:
Qué bien que suena esa negra.
This is meant to distinguish the guitar from blanca and make it clear that the type of guitar is important.
Nonetheless although you can still hear such expressions in reality they are becoming less frequent amongst flamenco people in Spain.
We even tend to say una flamenca de ciprés or una flamenca de Palo Santo, not using the word guitarra because we are talking amongst people who know any way.
I hope this might be some help.

Saludos


Tomás

Tomas, I am wondering why we call a Solea por medio that evolves into a Bulerias, a Solea por Bulerias, but a Bulerias that ends as a Alegrias is called Bulerias con Alegrias. I do a fun piece I put together that starts as a Bulerias then goes into a Solea por medio then finishes as a Bulerias. How would this be labeled? Bulerias por solea por Bulerias?

I frequently end Alegrias with Bulerias, as it was customary long ago. But instead of calling it "Alegrias con Bulerias," I have always called it "Alegrias con paseo de Bulerias."

davinort wrote:Thanks for the information, but not quite what I was after. Let me try again. Which of these sentences is grammatically correct?

I play a flamenco blanco guitar.
I play a flamenca blanca guitar.

(Presumably negro/negra will follow the same construction).

Hola David


The second “I play a flamenca blanca guitar” is correct and yes ‘negra’ is correct but not ‘negro’.
First we establish the gender of the object and then all other considerations such as more information on that object obey that gender.
As guitar is la guitarra and hence feminine all other information must be feminine too.
Saludos
Tomás

Manos Lentas wrote:Tomas, I am wondering why we call a Solea por medio that evolves into a Bulerias, a Solea por Bulerias, but a Bulerias that ends as a Alegrias is called Bulerias con Alegrias. I do a fun piece I put together that starts as a Bulerias then goes into a Solea por medio then finishes as a Bulerias. How would this be labeled? Bulerias por solea por Bulerias?

Hola Sam
Sometimes I am not sure why so many names are used in flamenco.
In Spain it has been said that one of the reasons for so many different names is because at one time flamencos were insecure and wanted to receive greater respect so they tried to sound like academics.
I think that Soleá por Medio and Soleá por Bulerías are two different palos even if you can rematar por medio with por Bulerías.
About the Alegrías I really do not know.
Sorry I don’t know more
Saludos

Tomás

Tomas, My understanding is por means by and con means with. Perhaps the use of Bulerias con Alegrias means a Bulerias is played then immediately following, keeping compas, is an Alegrias. Maybe the use of por means the palos are more intertwined and become a palo of their own, however that doesn't really fit the meaning of "by". To me "por" means a palo is played as if it were another. My question is does por have more meaning than just by? It seems to me using a Spanish word for "as" would make more sense. Solea as Bulerias or Solea played as if it were a Bulerias or Solea ya que Bulerias. With my ignorance of the Spanish language, this gets very confusing. When I can play it without killing half the notes, I will record my Bulerias-Solea por medio-Bulerias falseta combination and get your opinion on what to call it. Perhaps it is really just a Bulerias.

Prominent Critic wrote:I frequently end Alegrias with Bulerias, as it was customary long ago. But instead of calling it "Alegrias con Bulerias," I have always called it "Alegrias con paseo de Bulerias."

That sound sperfect to me.

Manos Lentas wrote:Tomas, My understanding is por means by and con means with. Perhaps the use of Bulerias con Alegrias means a Bulerias is played then immediately following, keeping compas, is an Alegrias. Maybe the use of por means the palos are more intertwined and become a palo of their own, however that doesn't really fit the meaning of "by". To me "por" means a palo is played as if it were another. My question is does por have more meaning than just by? It seems to me using a Spanish word for "as" would make more sense. Solea as Bulerias or Solea played as if it were a Bulerias or Solea ya que Bulerias. With my ignorance of the Spanish language, this gets very confusing. When I can play it without killing half the notes, I will record my Bulerias-Solea por medio-Bulerias falseta combination and get your opinion on what to call it. Perhaps it is really just a Bulerias.

Hola Sam
Yes these are interesting questions and I guess that there is a point when any language does not completely say what people mean.
Certainly Soleá por Polo or Soleá apolá does mean a Soleá in the style of Polo.
Soleá por medio means a Soleá played in the medio tonality and thus taking different feeling to the usual Soleares por arriba.
Yes I think you are right about Bulerías con Alegrías and is a little similar to Granaína y medio which is not media Granaína. The first version is Granaína then follows a media Granaína but the second is a media Granaína all the time.
I guess that it is an attempt to put into words the different ways in which we experience and variety of flamenco spontaneously as we create it.
I blame the flamencólogos!!!!!!!!!!

Saludos


Tomás