This post is to introduce the discussion forum for the Alegrias. The idea of these individual palos discussions is to create an organized archive so questions, advice, audio or video demo clips, tab or music notation, etc., can readily be found in the future. Discussions can be on guitar, vocal, or dance as long as they relate to that palo. If you have a palo you want to discuss that isn't yet posted, please email or PM any moderator.

I having been working on putting together an Alegrias that uses some of Diego del Gastor's falsetas. I have to figure them out by ear because I don't have any tab for the ones I like most. I find my hands are not strong enough for the repeated ligatos. I can do them and in compas, but it is buzzy and dead sounding when I recorded my attempt at mixing falsetas from Diego del Gastor and Juan Serrano with some of my own. I hope my nerve damaged hands can get a little stronger so I can record it for your appraisal. My main concern is compas and having the feeling the Alegrias should have.

Anyone else working on an Alegria that has thoughts or recordings to share? I worked on the tab that Tomas had posted a few months ago and found it helpful in getting the rhythm.

I hardly ever get a chance to play flamenco with a dancer. Here's a photo of one of the rare occasions I could:

I play with a couple of other guitarists weekly and we play flamenco mainly as guitar program music. We try to be always in compás, but with Alegrias we are frankly confused. So much of the terminology seems to revolve around the singer/dancer.... when to do a llamada, desplantes, etc. Any advice about how to structure various aspects of the Alegrias into a guitar-only performance that is in keeping with the tradition?

Hola Tom

Yes I have a video on my youtube page called how to play alegrias for baile.
The first parts are to simple for you but you might find some of it helpful.
I think that flamenco has customs not laws so all can be changed to find what is good for you and your dancer.
Click to my youtube from home page of my site below.

Un saludo

Tomás

Oh and I just remember that also I have a performance of Alegrías which is very simple and obvious in all the sections.

Tom_from_CT wrote:I play with a couple of other guitarists weekly and we play flamenco mainly as guitar program music. We try to be always in compás, but with Alegrias we are frankly confused. So much of the terminology seems to revolve around the singer/dancer.... when to do a llamada, desplantes, etc. Any advice about how to structure various aspects of the Alegrias into a guitar-only performance that is in keeping with the tradition?

Tomás and others certainly know more about this than I do, but based on attending many live performances long ago in Spain I think the strict structure of traditional alegrías dance does not apply where there is no dancing. Where there was no dancing, stanzas seemed to be freely combined, sometimes even with stanzas from other cantiñas, in any way desired.

-Bob

Tom,
Tomas has a fine performance of "alegrias de cadiz" on youtube, where you can see the different parts of baile and some great falsetas before the dance. I also agree with Bob regarding Alegrias for solo guitar. For cante, there is usually no "lento". But of course you can put a lot of different rhythmic patterns into your solo to invoke dance. A good example is Sabicas' alegrias "campanas andaluza" from his "flamenco puro" recording in A major (see similar video below with typical changes in tempo and finish por bulerias). If you're looking for a relatively easy to play alegrias solo Juan Martin's Alegrias en Mi (which borrows heavily from Nino Ricardo) is not a bad example, and you can spice it up with additional falsetas. And then there is Paco Pena's La Romeria (also in E major) from Toque flamenco, which also has a "lento". I believe it does not have the classical escobilla, but you can of course add it yourself.
Roland

This is terrific feedback! Thank you all. I'm learning a lot, and will pass this on to my flamenco buddies.

Tom, In regards to your question about adapting an Alegrias composition for solo guitar that might be used for dance accompaniment, Juan Martin in "El Arte" 1 page 46 to 49 has a good example. It has falsetas for all the changes in speed that a dancer might require, but these can be put together as a solo piece. It might be a nice one for your group to work on because it is simple. I think some confusion comes because dancers these days are mostly structured and choreographed and not improvisational and cannot dance to a guitarist playing an Alegrias as they feel it. If a singer is present, my opinion is the dancer and the guitarist must adapt to the singer. The singer sets compas and emotion and the others fall in line. Now with just a guitarist and dancer, I think it comes down to whoever is more skilled and understanding of flamenco as to who rules.