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Posts tagged #12-beat

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Compás

The 12-Beat Compás Explained

Why flamenco rhythm sounds the way it does

Flamenco is built on three rhythmic families: simple binary, simple ternary, and a 12-beat cycle that exists almost nowhere else in Western music. Here is how it works, and why beat one isn't always where you think it is.

#12-beat #palmas #baile #guitarra

By Diego Morales

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Palos

Seguiriyas: Cuando el Flamenco Llora

The deepest of the deep

Seguiriyas is the bottom of the well. It is what flamenco sounds like when it has nothing left to perform with — when there is only grief, and someone to sing it.

#gitano #jondo #12-beat #cante #jerez

By Lola Vega

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Palos

Alegrías: El Sol de Cádiz

The festive cantiña of the Atlantic coast

The same 12-beat structure as soleá, the same accent pattern — but in major key, brighter, and full of references to the Virgen del Pilar and the Ebro river. The reason: alegrías comes from a war.

#cádiz #12-beat #baile

By Carmen Ríos

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Palos

Soleá: La Madre del Cante

The mother of all flamenco singing

If flamenco has a foundational palo, it is the soleá — slow, dignified, twelve beats counted from one, and the structural template from which alegrías, bulerías and the cantiñas family all eventually grew.

#gitano #jondo #12-beat #sevilla #baile #cante

By Lola Vega

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Palos

Bulerías: El Corazón de Jerez

The fastest, freest palo in flamenco

Twelve beats, accents on three, six, eight, ten and twelve — bulerías is the rhythm flamenco gatherings always end with, and the one that demands the most from every participant.

#gitano #jerez #12-beat #baile

By Lola Vega

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