Jeleo - what and when...

[Black Sheep]

The first real Flamenco concert I went to I experienced the calls and cheers by the musicians as they played. And then reading a book the author said that they were not as random or spontaneous as you might expect. He said in fact that a call at the wrong instant could get you evicted from the room - but he didn't say when the calls were appropriate. I suspect that they punctuate the compas at the point where the compas count starts again (in a Bulerias for example, on the 12 or 6 count)...

My question is a) apart from recognising a particularly fine piece of playing, is there a specific time for a call and b) what do they call apart from that great Flamenco Ole (with the accent on the first part, not like the bull fight Ole where the accent is on the 'e'.)?

[Chiste de Gales]

I don't know when the right time is, but I have a theory on participation:

Don't try to guess when you can join in. Learn by observing at live
performances. When you can figure it out during that scenario you'll
know you are ready when people call out at the precise times you
are expecting.

Or- after the show you could just ask those people.

[falseta]

When I was at one of the New World Flamenco Festivals I got to sit in on one of the classes with Juan del Gastor. Afterward I got to talk to Juan del Gastor for a while and ask several questions for an article on Falseta.com. Several students of the class had asked similar questions trying to derive the precise moment for compas, accents, etc. while playing guitar...

So I asked him what his thoughts were on the subject... What he said was simple and to the point... Have fun! Juan expressed that not enough students of Flamenco "play" with the music, sounds and rythems of Flamenco... His exact words if I recall correctly where "jugar con flamenco como un nino juega" translated "play with flamenco like a child plays" in other words have fun. Juan del Gastor really emphasized enjoying Flamenco and playing with it in order to deeper understand it.

Sometimes if we get to concentrated on one thing we may miss the big picture.

Hope that makes sense. Go to several shows, have fun, emmerse yourself and go with the flow. You will pick it up much faster than if you try to pick it apart and technically disect the exact moment for all things.

[Black Sheep]

Thank for the reminder. I do sweat a bit too much on details...

I have a story that relates. A friend of mine knows a Flamenco guitarist who moved from Seville to Sydney, Australia where he took to surfing like he was born on a board. Someone asked him what he liked about it and he answered along the lines that surfing was like playing a Bulerias... once your on the wave, it's a great ride, with twists and turns and re-entries. I can see the analogy.

[Bob Weisenberg]

I loved the Juan del Gastor story. He was exactly like that way back in 1972 when I had the luck of living in Moron when Juan, Diego, Augustin, and Dieguito were all still there!

Bob W.