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To begin with, no need to panic, flamenco continues to be safe and sound in its ivory tower, Spain\u2019s majestic cultural expression enjoyed throughout the world. The fact is, except for \u201cBuler\u00edas\u201d, just like that, as a song title, no other piece on the recording even aspires to flamenco. It\u2019s more like a pseudo psychedelic voyage between vintage and freaky that seeks to jar perceptions with manipulated sounds, strange percussion, verses that can\u2019t be understood and the voice, frankly fascinating, of Rosal\u00eda. When \u201cBuler\u00edas\u201d finally sounds, it feels like flamenco immersion compared to the rest of the record.<\/p>\n
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What then are we to do with \u201cBuler\u00edas\u201d? Is it flamenco or not? In order to answer this question, we must first define flamenco, no easy task. Many specialists, with the best intentions and authority, would cite the obligatory presence of specifically flamenco rhythms (comp\u00e1s) and musical modes usually present to confirm a flamenco identity. However, a large portion of the flamenco repertoire is free-form, with no fixed rhythm, or else modal (lacking a fixed relationship between music and voice), while major and minor scales are the basis of most Western music. The so-called flamenco scale (Phrygian) also circulates outside flamenco, so there must be something more.<\/p>\n
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When music historians and scholars present pre flamenco material, perhaps culturally or geographically foreign, defending it as seminal, why does it not sound at all like what we know as flamenco? Where\u2019s the smoking gun? From whence or whom arises the flamenco attitude and personality that are missing in historic drawings and prints that show extreme daintiness which fails to reflect the flamenco concept? An important link seems to be missing, or perhaps we should not limit our investigation to the guitar. Can there be anything more flamenco than a martinete sung without accompaniment or marked rhythm?<\/p>\n
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