By now, you all know I love talking about comp\u00e1s, probably the most misunderstood element of flamenco, and one which conditions every interpreter and follower of this art-form.<\/p>\n
It takes more than 12 (or 8) beats to make comp\u00e1s, just ask Popeye the sailor. When he sings his song about spinach, it\u2019s easy to detect the familiar mixed comp\u00e1s, with measures of threes and twos.\u00a0 But does it feel like buler\u00edas?\u00a0 Is it buler\u00edas? If not, what\u2019s the reason?<\/p>\n
Rule number one, my rule: If it needs to be detected with a magnifying glass, it\u2019s not comp\u00e1s. Comp\u00e1s should be user-friendly, not a dysfunctional experiment in how to throw everyone off. It can be surprising, but always in a good way, like \u201cwow, what clever phrasing!\u201d, not a in bad way like \u201cwhat just happened?\u201d.<\/p>\n
Recently, a talented young guitarist explained to me that it\u2019s now considered \u201ccool\u201d to make something that\u2019s in comp\u00e1s sound as if it\u2019s not.\u00a0 I don\u2019t get that.\u00a0 Comp\u00e1s is the glue that keeps us all connected, even when the guitarist, singer, dancer or djemb\u00e9 player seem to be doing their own thing.\u00a0 It\u2019s the umbilical cord that unifies the music and dance maintaining the coherence, while at the same time providing a \u201csafe\u201d space for doing creative, exciting and artistic things.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s look once again at comp\u00e1s guru Diego Carrasco<\/strong>. Why is his comp\u00e1s more interesting than someone else\u2019s?<\/p>\n The expansive, indescribable Diego knows the rules of the game, and he pushes them to the limits, always calculating diabolically well to abstract the essence without hurting the structure.\u00a0 Even rigid traditionalists instinctively get his message. At one of Diego\u2019s performances some years ago, the much-admired and missed flamenco investigator Pierre Lefranc, who was sitting next to me, asked if this was \u201cthat fusion stuff\u201d people talk about.\u00a0 After brief meditation, I told him it was the opposite of fusion; instead of adding possibly dubious elements, this was the elimination of the superfluous, leaving flamenco naked for all to see.\u00a0 Not martinete, no, but the sheer force of the comp\u00e1s machine.<\/p>\n Comp\u00e1s broadcasts flamenconess and liberation. It\u2019s an eloquent lingua franca hot-line to the essence, with a deceptively simple insinuated sway that takes no prisoners. We are gently but firmly escorted down the great flamenco highway by gifted interpreters like Diego, and you don\u2019t look back even as the voice in your head recalls Pierre saying: but he doesn\u2019t do anything the way it\u2019s supposed to be!<\/em>\u00a0 The seducer seduces. There\u2019s no stopping the infinite fiesta between the ears of this crusty old fox who has the serene presence of great artists.<\/p>\n Different eras have dealt with flamenco rhythms in a variety of ways.\u00a0 For the most part, comp\u00e1s has become more measured and mathematical in recent decades, in part due to the way recordings are meticulously fine-tuned by recording technicians after the fact, a process made easier when notes fall cleanly into place.\u00a0 This is not necessarily a good thing.\u00a0 When I listen to the creative free-wheeling comp\u00e1s of earlier singers like Fernanda de Utrera or T\u00edo Borrico, it seems like they were on to something that\u2019s missing in today\u2019s interpreters.\u00a0 You can tell they never contemplated counting the beats, and probably didn\u2019t consciously relate lines of verse to measures of comp\u00e1s in the mathematical way that has become popular. \u00a0You occasionally hear young singers berate older, more instinctive ones for what they consider singing out of rhythm.\u00a0 However, it was an eclectic approach with wrap-around comp\u00e1s that gave their singing freshness and life with each interpretation.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By now, you all know I love talking about comp\u00e1s, probably the most misunderstood element of flamenco, and one which conditions every interpreter and follower of this art-form.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":18879,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-estela-flamenca"],"yoast_head":"\n