Andalusian flamenco in a small Seville tablao
Friday in a small Seville tablao: someone wants to know why the song comes first, and hears guitar, a twelve-beat soleá, dance, and shouts of olé.
El flamenco andaluz
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About this article
What you'll learn
Present tense and flamenco words: cante, toque, baile, compás, soleá, jaleo, and duende.
On Friday night in a small tablao in Seville, a friend who sings in a Cádiz peña says the song is the heart of flamenco. The narrator stays to test that, through guitar, a twelve-beat soleá, dance behind the voice, and a final olé.
After reading
Article learning block
Phrases, words, grammar, and quick practice from this text.
Phrases for training
Add useful phrases to SRS or mark them as already known.
El flamenco es un arte tradicional español
newflamenco is a traditional Spanish art
Ser states what something essentially is. Note the word order: the adjective tradicional comes after the noun arte, as adjectives normally do in Spanish.
A ready sentence pattern for describing any art or tradition.
Nació en Andalucía, en el sur del país
newit was born in Andalusia, in the south of the country
Nació is the past (pretérito indefinido) of nacer, to be born. Spanish says that an art or a city is born, just as English does. The preposition en marks the place.
Useful for saying where something or someone comes from.
El flamenco tiene tres partes: el cante, el toque y el baile
newflamenco has three parts: the singing, the guitar and the dance
These are the three standard parts of flamenco: el cante is the singing, el toque is the guitar playing, el baile is the dance. Toque comes from tocar, to play an instrument.
Three words that let you talk about flamenco like someone who knows it.
El cante es el corazón del flamenco
newthe singing is the heart of flamenco
Del is the contraction of de + el. Spanish has only two contractions, del and al, and both are obligatory. Corazón is used here in its figurative sense, as in English.
A natural way to say what matters most in something.
Los tablaos son locales con espectáculos todas las noches
newtablaos are venues with shows every night
The plural of tablao is tablaos. Careful with local: in Spanish un local is a business premises, a venue, and not an adjective meaning local.
Lets you understand and ask about flamenco venues in Spain.
Las peñas son clubes de aficionados
newpeñas are clubs of enthusiasts
Una peña is a members' club built around a shared passion: flamenco, a football team, a village festival. The plural of club is clubes. Un aficionado is a fan or amateur, not a professional.
A very Spanish institution with no exact word in other languages.
Key words
Vocabulary that carries the school-day topic.
Cante, flamenco singing
cante
flamenco singing
In flamenco the singing is called el cante, not el canto, and the singer is el cantaor, not el cantante. The form cantaor keeps the Andalusian pronunciation of cantador, with the d dropped.
The word that names the oldest part of flamenco.
Baile, dance
baile
dance
El baile is dancing as an activity; la danza is the more formal or classical word. The flamenco dancer is el bailaor or la bailaora, again with the d of bailador dropped.
Core flamenco vocabulary, alongside cante and toque.
Tablao, a flamenco venue
tablao
a flamenco venue
Un tablao is a place with a small wooden stage where flamenco is performed, usually every night. The word comes from tablado, a wooden platform, with the d dropped as in cantaor and bailaor.
The word you look for when you want to see flamenco in Spain.
Palmas, rhythmic clapping
palmas
rhythmic hand claps
Las palmas are the rhythmic claps that hold the compás together. The noun is feminine: la palma, las palmas. Dar palmas means to clap in rhythm.
Explains the sound you hear behind every flamenco song.
Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity
Patrimonio Cultural Inmaterial de la Humanidad
Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity
Unesco keeps two different lists. World Heritage (Patrimonio Mundial) is for places: monuments, cities, landscapes. Intangible Cultural Heritage is for living practices: music, dance, cooking, festivals. Flamenco has been on the second list since 2010.
Telling the two lists apart is worth knowing before you use the phrase.
Grammar in context
Patterns from the text worth noticing after reading.
Ser in the present: es
El flamenco es un arte tradicional español
flamenco is a traditional Spanish art
Ser in the present: soy, eres, es, somos, sois, son. Es is the third person singular. Ser covers identity and lasting qualities; estar covers states and location.
The first verb you need in order to say what anything is.
Past tense: nació
Nació en Andalucía
it was born
Nacer in the past (pretérito indefinido): nací, naciste, nació, nacimos, nacisteis, nacieron. The written accent on nació carries the stress, na-CIÓ. Almost the whole article is in the present, so this one past form marks the historical sentence.
The tense for saying when something started.
Las palmas: feminine, and agreement
Las palmas marcan el compás
the claps mark the rhythm
La palma is feminine, so the article is las and not los. Nouns ending in -a are usually feminine and the article must agree: las palmas, las manos, las letras. Marcan is third person plural, agreeing with the plural subject.
Article and noun have to agree; getting it wrong is the most audible beginner mistake.
Hay plus a plural, and adjective agreement
Hay elementos gitanos, árabes y judíos
there are Gypsy, Arab and Jewish elements
Hay is the impersonal form of haber and never changes: hay un elemento, hay elementos. The adjectives do change: elementos gitanos, árabes, judíos, all plural to match the noun. Árabe ends in -e and takes only -s.
Hay is fixed but everything after it must agree, and that split is what trips beginners.
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