A listening guide
Six palos to listen for
A plain-English guide to six flamenco palos, soleá, siguiriya, tangos, martinete, farruca and the fandangos, for a first night at the theatre.
Reserve your hour ↗Quick answer
Every flamenco piece belongs to a palo, a named form with its own rhythm, mood and history, and Wikipedia lists over fifty. A show moves through several in turn. Six worth knowing are martinete, soleá, siguiriya, tangos, farruca and the fandangos. The venue says the cast changes every week, so no palo is guaranteed on your night, but these six turn up often enough to be worth recognising.
What a palo is
In Wikipedia's definition a palo, or cante, is one of flamenco's traditional musical forms. Each is identified by features such as its rhythmic pattern, its mode, its typical motifs and the stanza of its lyrics. The concept is popular rather than rigorous, and palos are often grouped by mood: the gravest form the cante jondo, the deep song, while the lighter ones are cante chico. A flamenco show strings several together.
Martinete
Martinete is sung without guitar, so the voice carries everything, and palmas or light percussion may mark the rhythm. The venue's blog says it is one of the oldest forms, linked to the blacksmiths' forges of Andalusia, where the beat of the hammer on the anvil shaped the work and the songs. Dancers use it too, and the absence of a guitar at the start puts the focus on the body.
Soleá
Soleá is one of the serious forms. Wikipedia places soleares and siguiriyas among the palos most strictly associated with Romani music culture, and links cante jondo with the suffering and marginalisation Romani people experienced. It runs on a twelve-beat cycle. A slow, weighty song over a steady guitar rhythm is the kind of thing to listen for.
Siguiriya
Siguiriya also has twelve beats, but its strong beats fall in other places. Wikipedia explains that counting a soleá from its eighth beat gives you the siguiriya rhythm. It belongs to the cante jondo group. The composer Manuel de Falla called the gypsy siguiriya the song type of the group, in the words that Federico García Lorca recorded in his 1931 lecture.
Tangos
Flamenco tangos are not Argentine tango. Wikipedia says they are a distinct Andalusian form, and the Instituto Andaluz del Flamenco puts their early growth in the Cádiz and Seville area. The palo is lively and in a four-beat rhythm, and it is counted among the basic styles.
Tientos and the four-beat family
Wikipedia groups flamenco forms by rhythm, and says the tangos group comprises most of the forms in a four-beat pattern: tangos, tientos, farruca, garrotín, rumba and tanguillos. Tientos are a slower, more syncopated cousin of the tangos that recalls the habanera rhythm, and singers often begin with a suite of tientos and finish with stanzas in tango rhythm. If a piece seems to slow and then lift, that may be the reason.
Farruca
The farruca is usually classed as a lighter, more stylised form, and it grew into a vehicle for dance and solo guitar. Wikipedia dates it from the late 1800s into the early 1900s and links it traditionally to masculine styling and sharply marked footwork, though women dancers have transformed it, and Carmen Amaya is named among those who made well-known versions. Sources disagree on its geographic origin.
The fandangos
The fandango family includes the malagueña and the granaína. Wikipedia says fandangos were immensely popular dances in Spain and Ibero-America in the 18th century and became a flamenco palo at the end of the 19th. Some members, such as granaínas and malagueñas, are rendered in free rhythm, so there is no fixed beat to count. They are nowadays often sung as free songs.
How to listen
Do not try to name each palo. Listen instead for three things: whether there is a guitar at all, whether the rhythm feels like twelve slow beats, four lively ones or no beat at all, and whether the mood is heavy or light. The cast shapes the programme, so enjoy what arrives. The venue's blog says that knowing a palo's history deepens the pleasure of each performance, and this guide is a start.
Frequently asked questions
How many palos are there?
Wikipedia counts more than fifty. A single show uses only a handful.
Will these six appear on my night?
Not necessarily. The venue says the cast and performance change from week to week.
Sources