Flamenco glossary

The three arts

Three words cover the arts: cante for the singing tradition, baile for the dance, toque for the art of the guitar. UNESCO's flamenco record and Wikipedia both use them. Many palos are sung unaccompanied, while others have guitar, and some are danced while others are not. UNESCO adds that toque has grown well beyond simply accompanying. Between them the three arts make up a show: a singer, a dancer and a guitarist, in whatever balance the artists choose that night.

Palo

A palo is the style a piece is cast in, each with a rhythm, a mood and a tradition of its own. Wikipedia's article on flamenco treats compás as the repeating rhythm that belongs to each palo. Three palos matter for a guitar show: alegrías, from Cádiz, with a twelve-beat cycle; bulerías, a fast twelve-beat rhythm from Jerez; and siguiriyas, a style of the cante jondo family on tragic themes. Which palos appear on a given night is the artists' decision, and no venue can promise one.

Compás and palmas

Compás is the beat pattern that repeats. Wikipedia says no other Western style of music asks for such precise interpretation. With no guitarist present, palmas, which is handclapping, or knocks on a table can carry the cycle. In a small room the palmas are easy to hear and easy to follow. They are not decoration; they are the rhythm made audible, and a good listener learns to hear where the cycle turns.

The guitar's own terms

Falseta is the word for a short melody of the guitar's own, played between sung verses by the tocaor. Rasgueado is strumming with outward flicks of the right-hand fingers, picado is single-note scale work, alzapúa is a thumb technique and golpe is a percussive tap on the soundboard. The golpeador is the tap plate that protects the wood, and the cejilla is a capo, commonly used to set the key to the singer's range. Wikipedia's article on the flamenco guitar is the source for all of these.

Read next: Flamenco guitar basics

Cante jondo

Cante jondo is the category of deep song, and Wikipedia places siguiriyas in it, calling the style deep and expressive, with lyrics on tragic themes such as imprisonment, death, love and religion. The name often comes up in talk about flamenco's most serious songs. A show does not need to include any, and a programme that moves from bright palos to deep ones is a matter of the artists' plan, not of a rule.

Dance words

A danced alegrías must contain six sections, according to Wikipedia: the salida, or entrance; the paseo, or walkaround; the silencio, a quiet passage Wikipedia compares to an adagio in ballet; the castellana, an upbeat section; the zapateado, which is footwork; and a closing bulerías. If a dancer joins the show, you may be able to follow those sections with the glossary in your head.

Words on the door and the wall

Calle is street, plaza is square and barrio is quarter, so Barrio de Santa Cruz is the Santa Cruz quarter. La Casa de la Guitarra means the guitar house, and the venue describes itself as a cultural centre with a museum of the guitar. Knowing these few words makes the venue's own pages easier to read, and gives you a head start on the introduction that comes before the show.