Considered an adopted palo rather than "blood" flamenco by many. It is a Spanish folk dance. Simple versions are great for beginners to have fun with.

http://www.esflamenco.com/palos/ensevillanas.html

I like Sevillanas because it seems to bring back memories of old Spain in all the good ways I mean.

Maybe folk, maybe not flamenco, maybe just a cousin of flamenco but ‘muy andaluz’.

I am teaching some of my students Sevillanas at this time and so I upload to YouTube wednesdayguitar from time to time to help them. Very simply very basic Sevillanas. I hope that may be of some help.

Saludos

Tomas

Sevillanas is obviously flamenco. If anything it is more flamenco than flamenco. (my dearest sevillana could you lessen your grip around my throat? I think they have got the message.)

On a total off subject I have just booked my air tickets for the festival of bagpipes in my beautiful pueblo de Candas, Asturias. A hot barmy July night, midnight, and the pipes drone into action, a lump forms in the throat, the drums roll, ............... You have to be there to feel it

Tomas and Nigel, Here is a Sevillanas I use to play. I haven't practiced it for years, so it is full of dead notes, etc and sounds bad, but I recorded it for fun this morning instead of working on my Bulerias and Alegrias. I liked your wed class Sevillanas video Tomas. Nice and clean with a distinct melody and rhythm. Yes, your Wednesday class videos are a great help. I doubt my Sevillanas clip will remind you of old Spain or grab Nigel around the neck, but maybe inspire others to post their playing of their favorite Sevillanas. after all to do worse than I have is a challenge. I use to play 8 Sevillanas in 6 different keys, all simple stuff. This one is my favorite Sevillanas keys and melodies, maybe I will work on it again and clean it up.

Sal plays some traditional Sevillanas and has the tab to them on his website.

Sevillanas are not generally considered flamenco. (Ak a flamenco if he or she considers them flamenco) For various reasons- which include 1.a bit of racism (walk around a town feria and look in teh casetas -see whose dancing them. Respectable middle class gache They like other folk seguidillas are more "acceptable" to gadche)
2 Hey guys- "flamenco" is a SOLO art. With small exceptions- ONE dancer showing his/her stuff. IT is ego, It is Viva yo! That is one thing tht differentiales flamenco form folk music
That said, let me mention two posible excepitons
1 Go to Youtube and watch EL Pali sing his slow sevillanas
2 Listen to Diego del hasstor's brothe's sevillans now rerded on CAL-the second album of Son de la Frontera

Jacinto wrote:Sevillanas are not generally considered flamenco. (Ak a flamenco if he or she considers them flamenco) For various reasons- which include 1.a bit of racism (walk around a town feria and look in teh casetas -see whose dancing them. Respectable middle class gache They like other folk seguidillas are more "acceptable" to gadche)
2 Hey guys- "flamenco" is a SOLO art. With small exceptions- ONE dancer showing his/her stuff. IT is ego, It is Viva yo! That is one thing tht differentiales flamenco form folk music
That said, let me mention two posible excepitons
1 Go to Youtube and watch EL Pali sing his slow sevillanas
2 Listen to Diego del hasstor's brothe's sevillans now rerded on CAL-the second album of Son de la Frontera

Attitude about Sevillanas

I can never understand the recent bad blood towards Sevillanas.
Some years ago Paco de Lucia recorded a Sevillanas on a record Almoraima and at that time it was considered most advanced and worthy of respect in flamenco circles. In the Saura movie he also performed a Sevillanas with Manolo Sanlucar and again much respect.
Flamenco guitarists have always included Sevillanas and almost all flamenco guitarists have included one or two pieces with castanets.
Personally I believe that it is a little difficult to really know everything all about what flamenco is and where it originates and where which piece originates, Yet I would say that sometimes I do wonder if it genuinely necessary to know all those things.

I also want to say that there seems a lot of bad blood against traditional Andalucía folklore in the form of Sevillanas and castanets etc and this often comes from the same people who support the inclusion in flamenco of other instruments such as of wind instruments and percussive instruments and often used to add a texture and feeling which is not Andaluz.

I mean it seems that often the less purists are the first to criticize an expression which is a feeling of Andalucía and if not strictly flamenco certainly a cousin or a friend of flamenco.
Sevillanas to my personal opinion as castanets are more a friend of flamenco than maybe electronic instruments, variety of percussive instruments and most significantly a selection of moods and feelings that seem to my ears to originate in the expression of the most beautiful music of the USA particularly jazz and maybe blues.
These musics are so beautiful and I respect them so much yet I do not find them in reality flamenco of Andalucía.
Also I want to say about what Jacinto said about the people of the casetas that I do not feel positive or negative towards another person because of their social economic class and I do not think that the love of flamenco is exclusively something of economically disadvantaged people. I imagine that quite a few of the Americans on this foro may have a stronger economic level than some of the andaluz making flamenco but I would not say that the Americans are not genuine in their feeling.

Saludos cordiales

Tomas

Tomas, I agree completely. Castanets may not be traditional gypsy and something not used at informal jueras, but they are traditional staged show flamenco and IMO more acceptable than any other rhythm instrument we see used today. The pure way was using tables to pound on. Of course the first and basic form of flamenco rhythm keeping is hand against hand. Dancers use shoes pounded on stages and as with Carmen Amaya on occasion a giant tambourine. The castanets added an extra sound and something a dancer could do while dancing. Since handwork is part flamenco dancing, the castanets fit in nicely with the form. You are right that the critics of castanets many times are defenders of the the Paco de Lucia school of jazzamenco where some of the rhythm instruments and electronics used are about as much flamenco as the bagpipes.

I think the bad blood against castanets was started by dancers that could not master this fine art. Castanets played correctly are not easy. I think the modern guitarist playing jazzed up flamenco palos found disfavor with the castanets because they don't work with their jazzy sound and interfere with their lightening picatos and take the focus off their high technique.

Personally I prefer the gypsy way of using tables and palmas and also the traditional all flamenco guitar techniques that focus on expression of the music rather than technique. I don't care for the jazz sound using flamenco palos, but that is my preference. While I don't prefer castanets, I still think of them as all flamenco.

If I was in your area, I would definitively come and watch your performances as I find your videos very entertaining and all flamenco.

The Sevillanas is as much flamenco if not more than the Taranta which is so popular with guitarist since it isn't a strict compas palo. Many modern critics of Sevillanas and castanets also hate cante and palos like Siguiriyas, but don't have the courage to bash cante and the darker palos, because it would expose them as the non flamencos they are.