Tangos starter. . .
Tangos is often a much easier flamenco palo for American beginning students get a grip on. To start with, tangos has a basic pattern of four beats, making it super-familiar for those of us who grew up with American pop & rock (and folk, country, etc.). Basic tangos (or tango) accents look something like this: (1) 2 3 4 where the 1 is silent or very subdued, and the accents are on the 2-3-4. The basic compás here is two groups of four, typically expressed a cuadrado (square,
Bulerías starter . . .
Bulerías was my first real challenge in flamenco, both because I started with it, and also because it's a 12-count (starting on 12 . . .), which is often a very unusual beat pattern for people to wrap their heads around if they've never been exposed to it. Each basic compás is twelve beats, typically with five accents. Why "typically"? Well, like all flamenco palos, or forms, there is a variation for every family, neighborhood and town. The standard version is: 12 1 2 3 4
