Glossary of flamenco terms

This is a glossary of terms that relate to flamenco arts.

A

 * aficionado: one interested in flamenco ('afición' a liking for)
 * aflamencado: flamencoized
 * a golpe: A tap, it can refer to a particular footstep by the dancer or a tap on the guitar, but it can also just refer to any tap (i.e. tapping the table in compás)
 * alboreá: the Gypsy wedding song sung in the soleá compás
 * alegrías: festive compás of the cantiñas group; one of the cantes chicos
 * alzapúa: guitar-playing technique that uses solely the thumb
 * ángel: see duende
 * a palo seco: without accompaniment
 * apodo: nickname, which Gypsies receive for life
 * arranque: spontaneous outbursts of uncontrolled emotion that a performer may emit
 * a seco: playing the guitar rasgueado, with the fingers of the left hand damping the strings
 * atravesarse: for the guitarist - cutting corners and rhythm during a falseta, making the dancer's job difficult

B

 * babeio: repeated meaningless sounds such as 'bababa' in the middle of words
 * bailaor, bailaora: flamenco dancer (male, female), as opposed to 'bailarin', which is any other dancer.
 * baile: flamenco dance; other (non-flamenco) types are referred to as 'danza'
 * baile de mantón: a dance with a shawl
 * balanceo y vaivén: swaying of the body and hips. Balanceo is gentle; vaiven is violent
 * bamberas: song form for swings
 * bata de cola: dress with a train (literally: "gown [of/with] a tail")
 * bonito: "pretty"; in other words, not good flamenco
 * braceo: a dancer's use of the arms
 * bulerías: song form; an evolving rhythm that started about a century ago
 * bullanguero: festive; adjectival form of bulerias

C

 * cabal: final version of the siguiriya; literally, honest, exact, complete.
 * café cantante: prime venue for flamenco in the 19th century
 * cambio: change of key and lightening of tone to end a song
 * campanilleras: songs that originally came from a religious brotherhood who would go to prayers to the sound of handbells - hence the name, which means "bellringers"
 * cantaor, cantaora: flamenco singer (male, female); other singers are often called a 'cantantes'
 * cante: flamenco song; other (non-flamenco) songs are cantos
 * cante pa'adelante: literally, "singing from in front"; singing not done for dancers, often with the singer seated [pa = "por"]
 * cante pa'atras: literally, "singing from behind"; singing for dancers, often with the singer standing [pa = "por"]
 * cantes de ida y vuelta: songs brought back from Latin America
 * cantes de levante: songs from the eastern province of Grandada, Jaen, Almeria, and Murcia
 * caracoles: a song form which started as a street snail-vendor's song in Zarzuela (a popular Spanish form of operetta)
 * cartageneras: song form derived from the taranta, with a florid vocal line, more "artistic" and decorative than forceful and rough
 * castañuelas: castanets
 * cejilla: capotasto or capo, used by guitarists to raise tone of all strings; a mechanical 'barré'
 * chufla: any festive and frivolous song
 * cierre: close of a series of steps or a line of song
 * coba: flattery, often with something false in it
 * coletilla: a short form of estribillo
 * compás: a measure or bar; flamencos use the word to mean both (a) the name of the type of twelve-count and (b) the rhythmic skill of a performer
 * contratiempo: cross-rhythms; including syncopation and rubato
 * copla: verse of cante flamenco, as against the cuple of a (non-flamenco) canto
 * coraje: a way of performing that shows impetuosity or daring (lit. "courage")
 * corrido: ballad, or also a romance
 * corte: the way the singer ends a musical phrase
 * crótalo: Phoenician and Roman form of castanets
 * cuadro: a flamenco troupe

D

 * debla: a form of toná. It is an old song form, now seldom used
 * dejes: the way the singer ends a phrase
 * desgarro: literally "tear, rip"; wilderness, heartbreak
 * desplante: technically, a point in the dance that marks the end of a section. In fact, a high point, a climax in the dance at which the dancer pauses and the audience applauds
 * desplazamiento: see marcar


 * diapasón: the neck or fingerboard of the guitar
 * ducas, duquelas: Caló (Romany or Gypsi) word for "sorrows"
 * duende: literally, "spirit" of "demon"; suggesting possession. Flamencos may prefer the word ángel or el age

E

 * escobilla: literally "broom"; the section of a dance in which the bailaor/a does an extended zapateados
 * escuela bolera: a graceful and balletic form of the old bolero; dance in 3/4 time popular in the last century
 * estampa: look, appearance by the stance, positioning, form, and dress
 * estribillo: short phrases sung repeatedly at the end of a song; the last section of a dance done with singing, where the cantaor/a sings while the baile is danced; see 'coletilla'

F

 * falsetas: solo passages on the guitar, short melodies played at the start and between verses of a song
 * fandangos: an old family of song forms; thought to be of Moorish in origin; very popular in the early/mid 20th century
 * farruca: folk song adopted from northern Spain (Galicia), now above all a dance; once "only performed by men"
 * figura: a star; a performer who has achieved a name and fame

G

 * gachó: Caló (Gypsy or Romany) word for non-Gypsy (compare payo)
 * gancho: literally a "hook"; by extension, anything that gets to you, that "hooks" you
 * garra: literally "claws"; guts, force
 * garrotín: song adopted from northern Spain (Asturias)
 * gesto: tapping the face of the guitar with the second and/or third finger while playing
 * granaína: form of Fandango in free rhythm that in many ways stands apart, from Granada
 * guajira: an ida y vuelta song; now meaning "girl", word from Yucateca, a native language of Cuba
 * guasa: joking in bad taste, rustic trickiness
 * guitarrero: guitar builder

I

 * ir con tiento: to move slowly

J

 * jaberas: form of Fandango from Malaga
 * jalear: to stimulate a performer, to encourage with words and/or palmas
 * jaleo: vocal encouragement given to performers, when the audience calls out such phrases as ezo!, arsa!, olé!, toma!, vamo
 * jarana: "spree" when a group enjoys themselves doing flamenco
 * jipio: a cry (such as ay) used by the singer to find his pitch or simply put into the middle of a song
 * jondo: the Gypsy pronunciation on hondo (deep); formerly applied to the song forms, but now used often to describe a manner of singing
 * juerga: a lively flamenco party, often with only cante a golpe.

L

 * letra: copla of a song taken at its literary value; section of a dance when the cantaor/a is singing the lyrics, doing the tercios
 * ligado: in guitar, sounding the note with the fingers of the left hand only
 * llamada: literally "call"; the opening of a dance

M

 * macho: usually a three-line verse used as remate to the siguiriya; usually in a major key
 * malagueñas: song form characterized by its sad, elegiac tone. The city and province of Malaga are considered the home of the flamenco fandango
 * mutis: the exit made off the stage by the bailaor(a)s
 * marcar: to mark time, done by bailaor(a)s, usually while the cantaor(a) is singing; 'marcajes'; see desplazamientos
 * martinetes: songs of the blacksmith, can be performed to the rhythm of hammers beating an anvil; in compás similar to the siguiriya
 * melisma: series of notes sung on a single syllable of the coplas. To the ear unaccustomed to it, the sound may seem like unmusical wailing
 * milonga: a type of folk song from the Río de la Plata area of Argentina, where it is still very popular
 * mineras: best described as watered-down tarantas
 * mote: see apodo
 * mudanza: see punteado

N

 * nanas: lullabyes

O

 * oposición: refers to the asymmetry of flamenco; e.g., in dance, if the arms are going one way the face will look the other

P

 * Palillos: flamenco name for castanets
 * palmas: hand clapping. It is intricate art, requiring skill and knowledge of compas.
 * palmas altas: percussive effect performed with the fingers of the right hand on the left palm, resulting in a sharp sound; also called palmas claras and palmas agudas
 * palmas sordas: muted clapping done with cupped hands (often by the singer); also called palmas graves
 * palmero: performer of palmas
 * palo: song form; literally, a suit of cards. Palos fall into two main categories: those done in free rhythm (sin compás) and those done in rhythm (con compás)
 * paso: step or a series of steps
 * payo: sometimes thought to be the Calo (Romany or Gypsy) word for non-Gypsy, but in fact prison slang for an easy mark, a sucker. The Calo word for non-Gypsy is gachó
 * pellizco: literally, "nip, pinch"; that quality (usually in a dancer) that turns you on
 * peña: flamenco club
 * peteneras: Legendary or real, la Petenera was a girl from Cadiz, notorious for her beauty and hardness of heart. A 19th century writer mentions hearing 'peteneras' sung in a voice that conveyed "inexplicable sadness."
 * picar: to pluck on a guitar
 * pitos: finger snapping
 * playero: lamenting
 * por arriba: on guitar - in the hand position for the key of E
 * por medio: on guitar - in the hand position for the key of A
 * punteando: steps and movements that are not part of the zapateado, including 'paseo' (walking steps) and 'mudanzas' (more complicated movements, lit. "variations")

R

 * rasgueado: on guitar, a drumroll effect created by using the backs of the fingers, i.e., the fingernails, striking the strings one after another (held back by the thumb)
 * remate: way of ending a song, either by raising a pitch, changing to the major, or simply speeding up, in a strong decisive manner
 * roas: Sacromonte form of the alboreá (wedding song)
 * romances: songs (ballads) in a form of toná, now when done with a guitar, it is usually played in a soleá rhythm
 * romeras: songs of a girl traveling on a pilgrimage
 * rumbas: a song form influenced by Cuban rumba

S

 * Sacromonte: a hillside in Granada with cave dwellings, in which Gypsies used to live. It was one of the heartlands of Gypsy flamenco, with a style all its own
 * salida: start of the baile (literally, going or coming out)
 * saeta: a song of passionate devotion to Christ or the Virgin, often aflamencao
 * sevillanas: non-flamenco song that has been flamencoized in various ways due to its popularity, including the hand and arm movements of the dancers
 * siguiriyas: heart of cante jondo (deep song). It expresses anguish, lament and despair, and has been described as an outcry against fate and the quintessence of tragic song
 * soleares: As song, the soleá lies at the heart of flamenco, together with siguiriyas and toná. As dance, it stands alone—at least for women
 * son: all sound accompanying the flamenco song: guitar, palmas (clapping), pitas (finger snappin), knuckle tapping
 * sonanta: flamenco slang for guitar
 * soniquete: literally, "droning"; it is applied to performers being what-jazz-players-call "in the groove"

T

 * tablao: the venue for a tourist-oriented flamenco show
 * tablas: literally, "boards"; the stage on which the dance is performed; tiene tablas means "to be an experienced performer"
 * tangos: probably the oldest flamenco song form in a simple rhythm of 2/4 time, as reflected in the time beaten by the palmeros; not the same as "el tango argentino"
 * tanguillos: songs of Cadiz; festive, light, sometimes mocking, and always suitable for Carnival
 * tapa: the face of the guitar
 * tarantas: a mining song of free rhythm and by far the hardest to sing, demanding tragic intensity as well as unusual control, both vocal and artistic, in the melismas
 * templar: to tune
 * temple: tuning or temperament
 * temporeas: songs of the farm - harvesting and threshing songs
 * tercio: a short section (musical phrase, line of verse); lit. "third"
 * tientos: a song form, similar to the tango
 * tocaor, tocaora: guitarist; from "tocar" (to play)
 * toná: oldest flamenco, gypsy-Andalusian song, probably from romances or corridas
 * toque: guitar playing
 * torsión y convulsión: stages, usually in the soleá, wherein the dancer reaches a more or less ecstatic state
 * trémolo: on guitar, playing high notes with the fingers (or bass notes with the thumb) in quick succession (back and forth) to make a continuous sound
 * Triana: the traditional Gypsy quarter of Sevilla, now yuppified

V

 * vibrato: repeated meaningless sounds uttered during the song, such as jajaja, but unlike babeo, not within a word
 * vito: Andalucian folk song and dance in fast 3/8 time (non-flamenco)
 * voz afillá: hoarse voice like that of El Fillo, a 19th-century singer; this quality is also known as rajo

Z

 * zambra: (a) a form of Sacromonte tangos, (b) a noisy fiesta originally of the Moors
 * zapateo, zapateado: the form of "tap" dancing peculiar to flamenco; from zapato [shoe]
 * zorongo: an old song and dance in 2/4 time (not flamenco), revived by Federico Garcia Lorca; also called 'zarongo'