Most versions of the tangos are for fun, pleasure and pure joy and are called chico (light, happy) songs and dances. The dance is generally sensual and exciting and more subtle than the Rumba Gitana, another flamenco dance with a similar rhythm.

Many scholars think that the rhythm and song entered southern Spain from Argentina through the port city of Cádiz along the Atlantic coast and ports on the Mediterranean coast. This type of flamenco song, which also includes the Rumba Gitana and the flamenco Guajíra, which originated in Cuba and Puerto Rico, are called cantes "ida y vuelta" or round trip songs. Others believe the song and dance form originated in northern Africa, later arriving in southern Spain.

The following verse refers to Triana, a neighborhood in Seville on the west bank of the Guadalquivar River, the city's traditional Gitano (Spanish Gypsy) quarter. Triana is considered one of the birthplaces of flamenco, and so much so that anyone baptized in the font at the Parish Church of Santa Ana is blessed with the gift of cante - flamenco singing:

Que bonita esta Triana - How pretty Triana is

Cuando le ponen al puente -

La banderita Gitana -

How pretty Triana is

when at the bridge

they place the Gypsy flag.

This second verse talks about a boat trip one can take across the Bay of Cádiz from the port of Santa Maria to the city of Cádiz (Cai is the Gypsy abbreviation for Cádiz). Cádiz is called the "little cup of silver" because the air is suffused with ultra fine sand blown in from the North Coast of Africa, which gives it a silvery glow.

Although now a small resort town, El Puerto de Santa Maria is significant in American history as the starting point for ships sailing to the New World. You can still see the fountain where ships took on water for the voyage. Columbus' flagship, the Santa Maria, was named after this small town.

Mañana me voy pa' Cai

Salgo del Puerto Santa Maria

¡Ay! mira que en el vapor

Pa' contempla' esa bella bahia

Tacita de plata...Reina del salero

Con este cante por tango yo

Quiero decirte lo que te camelo

Que si que si, que no que no

Que este Gitano me lo duermo yo

I'm leaving from Puerto Santa Maria

Just see how in the little boat

you can gaze at this beautiful bay

Little cup of silver, Queen of gracious style

With this little tango song,

I want to tell you how you captured me.

Yes or no?

I'm going to sleep with this Gypsy.

The song is in 4/4 rhythm and is broken down by dancers into four beat phrases. The rhythm is performed by stamping or holding count 1 in silence, while counts 2, 3, and 4 and clapped. Often, the "and" count between counts 2 and 3 is also clapped.

Dance phrasing and sequences:

As well as footwork and marking steps, dance steps also include hip rolls and beautiful arm and hand gestures. The verses - letras - are usually broken up into several sequences, for example; the first line of a song may be sung, and the second line doesn't follow for several compás while the dancer performs footwork sequences, marking steps, and long calls or cues - llamadas or desplantes. Mimed gestures are often performed in this dance, which is similar in feel to the bulerías.

Although there are many variations, the following is a traditional dance structure:

1. Guitar Falseta/Temple - guitarist's introduction of the song/tempo/mood; the singer's introduction.
2. Salida/Llamada - entrance and call/cue from the dancer (which calls in the singer).
3. Letra - 1st verse, broken into sections (where dancer inserts footwork or a desplante - a longer cue).
4. Guitar Falseta - dancer can interpret with choreography or palmas.
5. Letra - 2nd verse, similar to the 1st
6. Escobilla - short or long footwork section
7. Llamada (final cue going into the exit) and Salida (exit), also called the Cierre if the dance finishes on stage.

Katerina Tomás © 2004

The Tientos are slow, melancholy, profound songs and dances connected to Tangos. The rhythm is in 4/4, similar in most ways to Tangos, where the first beat is held silent by the dancer or accented with a gólpe (a foot stamp) and the other 3 counts are clapped (the guitar heavily accents count 1). A variation in the palmas claps the "and" count between counts 3 and 4, and this is slightly syncopated.

Tientos Lyrics - the letras:

Singing the tientos is challenging, as is all cante jondo (flamenco deep song). As the term implies, these songs are serious and deeply felt. The second sung verse of tientos is "mas valiente", or harder than the first. Musically, tientos and all flamenco songs employ a variety of challenging techniques, including Melismas (a decorative series of notes) at the ends of phrases, and quejios (cries, such as the ¡Ay! heard throughout the song).

The first letra here suggests liturgical roots in the personal conversation between the singer and his God about being ill-treated by a lover. The 2nd letra gets a more democratic twist when the singer speaks with the President about the same problem:

Le re le le le le leee le re...

Hablo con mi Dios y le digo -

¡Ay! que me párece mentira -

Lo que tu hace conmigo - How you had treated me

Y entre las parede escribe - It's written on the walls

Yo hable con el Presidente - I spoke with the President

¡Ay! si el querer, es un delito -

Que Dios, me mande la muerte -

Salida/Temple

Le re le le le le leee le re...

I spoke with God and I told him

How it seemed a lie

How you had treated me

It's written on the walls

I spoke with the President

If love is a crime

then God should condemn me to death.

Dance phrasing and sequences:

The dance incorporates lovely hip gestures, braceo (arm work), muñecas/rosas (hand gestures), and marcando (marking steps). These are combined to create choreography for both of the letras (verses), and to a falseta section (section performed with dancer and guitarist only) that occurs after the 1st verse. Choreography often matches or rhythmically compliments the syncopated rhythm of the guitar.

Although there are many variations, the basic dance structure of the tientos is as follows:

1. Guitar introduction: The guitarist sets the basic tempo and key.
2. Temple: the singer sings fragments, called estribillos (le le, la, etc.) to get into the key, pulse and mood of the piece.
3. The dancer's llamada - the call - the guitarist goes into double time here. The dancer generally performs footwork.
4. Letra - 1st verse - the singer sings the first verse, and the dancer interprets this impressionistically and rhythmically. After the 1st line of the song, the singer takes a break - the respira - and the dancer usually inserts footwork here, called a contestación or a remate.
5. Guitar falseta - a short melodic phrase that the dancer interprets lyrically.
6. Escobilla - the dancer's 1st prolonged footwork section. This ends with a remate (a finish) and a llamada (the call) to bring in the 2nd verse.
7. Letra - 2nd verse - like the 1st verse.
8. 2nd escobilla - the dancer's final long footwork section, before going into:
9. The macho. It is common for a flamenco song to end in a faster song/rhythm, usually tangos. The traditional ending for Tientos is the tango Triana.

Katerina Tomás © 2004

The song [cante] bulerías are reported to have developed at the end of the 19th century, most likely a creation of singer Loco Mateo (c. 1832-1890, Jerez de la Frontera), who concluded his specialty, the soleares, with a remate por bulerías (ending). Others believe that the cante bulerías were developed from earlier songs, including shorter, lighter versions of the soleares, called the soleariya, and the alegrías. Some think that the bailes bulerías may have developed from earlier, similar though more ancient dance forms, including the jaleos and bamberas.

The word bulería is probably derived from burlería, the root word of being burlar, meaning, "to make fun of." Like the soleares, the musical scale of the bulerías is in the Phyrgian mode but in the key of A.

The bulerías are considered by flamenco aficionados [experts] to be flamenco's most flexible form: constantly changing, spontaneous, humorous, and a favorite festival dance. Generally speaking, the dance is most frequently performed in cuadro flamenco or at a flamenco juerga [fiesta, party, splurge]. In most contemporary settings the bulería is performed at a fast pace, often at a rhythmic level exceeding 220 or more on the metronome. Besides this rapid tempo, the compás [rhythmic structure] for the bulerías is identical to the soleares [see Figures 1 and 2].
In traditional cuadro flamencos, the bulerías is presented with each dancer performing a short variation and returning back into the cuadro flamenco formation as another dancer enters the performance area. In bulerías, dancers often try to technically "out-dance" one another, dance teasingly about each other, spoof the audience, have fun, or dance one's mind. Intricate combinations of palmas [rhythmic hand clapping] and jaleo [shouts of encouragement] provided by the other performers, and often by knowledgeable aficionados [experts] who are not performing on stage or are in the audience often accompanies this dance.

Codified movement phrases have developed over time in the bulerías and are an integral part of this dance. Because there is also flexibility within this structure, the bulerías is widely interpreted by flamenco dancers and choreographers.

In most traditional flamenco dance performances, and often in theatrical, choreographed flamenco dance performances, the bulería baile is a structured improvisation. This structure is necessary to direct the singer [cantaor] and the guitarist [tocaor] into the various "set" sections of the dance. The "set" sections, which provide a skeletal framework for the dance, include:

1. The entrada/salida [entrance];
2. The opening llamada [movement "call" to the singer and guitarist];
3. The opening dance variation – the “letra”;
4. The desplante/llamada [breaking movement "call"];
5. Marcando or an escobilla. Dancers can also repeat #2, 3 and 4 to lengthen the dance, and then go to #5.
6. The closing llamada ["call" to the singer and/or guitarist]; and
7. The salida, often also called the cierre [exit/finish].

The improvisational aspects of the bulería baile occur mostly in the variations. These are the moments when the dancer can choose any sequence of flamenco steps, including marking steps [marcando], footwork on the beat [zapateado en tiempo], footwork off the beat [zapateado en contra tiempo], arm gestures [braceo], totally improvised steps [pellizcos], palmas en compás [on the beat], and palmas en contra tiempo [off the beat].

At the beginning of bulerías it is important for the dancer to "call in" the singer and/or guitarist with a movement llamada, or if a song is already in progress, to enter at an appropriate time (for example, on the 2nd half of a compás). All of the performers know exactly when this section of the dance is being performed because of the movement and musical cues built into the structure of the guitar playing [toque], singing [cante], and dancing [baile]. The opening llamada of a bulerías is otherwise personalized by the dancer, allowing for many movement and rhythmic variations.

However, the dance movements for the desplante, a type of llamada, have become codified over time through decades of theatrical and festival flamenco dance performances. Therefore, all flamenco performers instantly recognize the opening moments in a desplante. Desplantes are incorporated into many 12-count flamenco dances, but are most recognizable in the bulerías because variations between desplantes are usually short, quick, and direct. Because of the structure of bulerías in general, and the quick tempo at which it is performed, professional flamenco dancers and choreographers often use the term desplante as a "catch all" phrase to describe what is actually the desplante and the movement variation that follows it. It is thus important to separate and examine the desplante, and the movement variation that follows it more closely.

The clearly recognizable sections of the bulería baile described above and the heavy accents of the bulería compás, provide a skeletal framework for the dance. As previously described, the heavy accents for bulerías, and for many other 12-count phrased flamenco dances, including soleares and soleares por bulerías, fall on counts 12, 3, 6, 8 and 10. Contemporarily, count 7 often takes the place of count 6 as an accent in all these flamenco rhythms, especially in the bulerías:

Soleares compás cycle: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Bulerías/Soleares:

Twelve-beat/count cycle with heavy accents

12 1 2 3 4 5 6 (7) 8 9 10 11

In traditional flamenco settings, bulería is also counted as two sets of 6 counts each, with the accent falling on count 12 and 6:

Bulerías as two sets of 6 counts each

12 1 2 3 4 5 - 6 7 8 9 10 11

In the above cycle, counts 12 and 6 are often held silent.

The accents are performed by the palmistas [persons who perform rhythmic handclaps], bailaors (as), [dancer(s)], or cantaors (as) [singer(s)] as gólpes [strikes] or palmas [hand claps]. The tocaors (as) [guitarist(s)] perform the accents as gólpes on the surface of the guitar. In professional flamenco performances, these constitute the basic accents upon which all the flamenco performers rely. However, there are many variations of palmas. For example, if two palmistas are accompanying the performance, one may clap on the beat as the other claps off the beat (on the "and/&" beat: 1 & 2 &, and so forth). Both palmistas may perform the heavy accent with stamps on one foot. When a dancer performs a section including footwork, the palmistas will usually assist with palmas secas that are loud, and performed with three fingers striking the other hand. During a quieter section of the dance, particularly if accompanied by a singer, the palmistas will probably perform palmas sordas, which are softer sounding palmas performed with cupped (muffled) hands.

© Katerina Tomás 2002/2004