When I was a kid and I lived in the countryside, in Palomares del R\u00edo, I used to listen to the caretakers of the vineyards and farmhouses singing at night. They would sing\u00a0fandanguillos, campanilleros, sevillanas<\/i>\u00a0or\u00a0soleares<\/i>, almost always without accompaniment, but\u00a0a cappella<\/i>, or like we say in flamenco,\u00a0a palo seco<\/i>. Some of them were three or four kilometers away, but I could hear their voices strong and clear, because they had a technique which is becoming lost: projecting their voices, like a sling.<\/p>\n
The professional\u00a0cantaores<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0cantaoras<\/i>\u00a0who sang in bullrings or summer cinemas, before sound amplifiers existed, also used that technique. I talked about this one day with the\u00a0cantaor<\/i>\u00a0Manolo Fregenal, from Extremadura, who always had a soft but sweet voice, and he told me that without that technique it was impossible to sing in a bullring before three or four thousand people, like happened in the\u00a0Opera Flamenca<\/i>\u00a0period (1930s \u2013 1950s), when even an elderly Chac\u00f3n, well past his prime, was able to reach his public without any problem, even as he didn\u2019t have Vallejo\u2019s high pitch or Manuel Centeno\u2019s powerful voice.<\/p>\n
This technique has become lost because now we have voice amplifiers, so it\u2019s no longer necessary. Yet, in several occasions we\u2019ve seen how a\u00a0cantaor<\/i>\u00a0had to stop a recital in a\u00a0pe\u00f1a<\/i>\u00a0due to technical problems with the amplifiers or the sound system. Just imagine being in a summer festival, in open air, in a two-thousand square meter venue with two thousand spectators. Although there are notable exceptions that we all know, in general,\u00a0cantaores<\/i>\u00a0are losing their voices.<\/p>\n
Nowadays, having a great voice is not considered very important, unlike in the 19th century or in the above-mentioned\u00a0Opera Flamenca<\/i>\u00a0period. When Chac\u00f3n was asked one day about what were the three main qualities that a\u00a0cantaor<\/i>\u00a0should have, he replied without hesitation: \u201cVoice, voice and voice\u201d. Evidently, a\u00a0cantaor<\/i>\u00a0must have a great voice to become a big star, and it doesn\u2019t necessarily mean it has to be a loud voice, but a voice of good quality. Tom\u00e1s Pav\u00f3n had a great voice but he wasn\u2019t renowned for having a powerful voice, rather for having a voice with many qualities: he had a good start, he could link the verses with astonishing ease, he never messed up the melody, not even in the most difficult\u00a0cantes<\/i>, and he had an incredible ability to sustain a note. That\u2019s why he was a genius, of course.<\/p>\n
Caracol had a great voice, too, although it was different. His voice was small, but hoarse, \u201cafill\u00e1<\/i>\u201d or \u201cgorda<\/i>\u201d, which made it seem as if he had a big voice. Valderrama had one of the most complete voices of his time, with unique qualities: tune, balance, melodic quality, and he was able to create very unusual tunes. He was another genius, without a doubt. Just like Antonio Mairena, a\u00a0cantaor<\/i>\u00a0with very unique singing qualities in those days.<\/p>\n
One day we\u2019ll discuss more voices and tell some anecdotes about certain\u00a0cantaores<\/i>\u00a0and their voices. You probably know the one about Rancapino in Carmona, where the mayor refused to pay for his recital because he thought he became hoarse for partying the whole day. The master told him: \u201cNo, sir. I\u2019ve been singing hoarse since I was a kid\u201d.<\/p>\n
Translated by P. Young<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nowadays, having a great voice is not considered very important, unlike in the 19th century or in the above-mentioned Opera Flamenca period.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":6436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-archivo"],"yoast_head":"\n