Soleá

The tradition & historical record

Soleares (plural of soleá, pronounced [soleˈa]) is one of the most basic forms or palos of Flamenco music, probably originating among the Calé Romani people of Cádiz or Seville in Andalusia, the most southern region of Spain. It is usually accompanied by one guitar only, in phrygian mode "por arriba" (fundamental on the 6th string); "Bulerías por soleá" is usually played "por medio" (fundamental on the 5th string). Soleares is sometimes called "mother of palos" although it is not the oldest one (e.g. siguiriyas is older than soleares) and not even related to every other palo (e.g. fandangos family is from a different origin) ¹

When singers sing soleá, as with most palos, they normally choose different "coplas" (stanzas), with different melody, and combine them according to the inspiration of the moment or to a previous plan. Even if the singer has a previous plan, it is often altered on the spur of the moment. These stanzas are independent in subject matter from one another. The content of the lyrics is generally serious in nature, as appropriate to the solemn air of the music. They often have a sententious tone and convey a feeling of intimate pain. Sometimes despair, more typical of seguiriya, can also appear. However, it is difficult to generalize: sometimes a less serious stanza can turn up in the middle of other serious ones, and irony is frequent. The stanza of the soleá has three or four lines. In four-line stanzas, the second and fourth line are in assonant rhyme, while the first and third are free. In three-line stanzas, the assonance is between the first and the third. ¹

Soleá is one of the flamenco palos with the highest number of traditional songs, and it is particularly appreciated by knowledgeable artists and audiences. It is very demanding for singers, as they have to strive to be creative and, at the same time, respectful of the tradition, and they have to succeed in finding a good balance between melodic and rhythmic sides, both extremely difficult. It demands great vocal faculties, and the singer should achieve a balance between passion and restraint. The melody of a soleá stanza usually stays within a limited range (usually not more than a 5th). Its difficulty lies in the use of melisma and microtones, which demand great agility and precision in the voice. It is usual to start a series of soleares with a more restrained stanza in the low register, while continuing to more and more demanding ornaments in a higher register. The series is quite often finished with a stanza in a much more vivid tempo in the relative Major mode. ¹

The metre or "compás" of the soleá is one of the most widely used in Flamenco. Other palos have derived their compás from the soleá, including Bulerías por soleá, the palos in the Cantiñas group, like Alegrías, Romeras, Mirabrás, Caracoles or, to a certain extent, Bulerías. It consists of 12 beats, and could be described as a combination of triple and duple beat bars, so it's a polymetre form, with strong beats at the end of each bar. The basic "skeleton" of the soleá rhythm, thus, follows this pattern: ¹

(Each number represents a beat. Blue squares mean weak beats, while big brown dots are strong beats.) Nevertheless, this is just an underlying structure, like a foundation, a kind of grid where flamenco artists creatively draw the rhythm by means of subdivisions, articulation, and less commonly, syncopation and accent displacement. The first example of "palmas" is a very common, simple pattern: ¹

Notice that palmas are often (though by no means always) silent during beats 4 to 6, even if beat number 6 is a "strong one". This is specially true when no dancing takes place: the main interest there is the singing (or playing) and too much percussion can take attention away from the music. Those beats though are often marked when there is dance, or when performing other palos in the same metre like Alegrías or Bulería por soleá. ¹

Soléa develops in (altered) Phrygian mode "por arriba" (fundamental on the 6th string), with the III degree of the mode altered to a major 3rd when resolving to I. To adapt to the singer's vocal range, guitarists can use a "cejilla" (capo) to play in any key while preserving the known chord positions. Modern guitarists often play soleá using other chord positions or even changing the tuning of the guitar to experiment with new sounds, especially in solo instrumental pieces. The typical flamenco progression iv, III, II, I (an altered Phrygian cadence) is heard several times during the development of the song. In E altered Phrygian, the progression would be Am, G, F, E (the E chord should be Em in a diatonic Phrygian cadence, but its diatonic third – G – is altered to a G♯). A usual progression with a four-line stanza is the following: ¹

first line: E7, Am, transition to 2nd line: Am, G, (or F, G) 2nd line: F, E 3rd line: G7, C (or C7) 4th line: Am, G, F, E, F, E And a usual progression with a three-line stanza: ¹

first line: E7, Am 2nd line: G7, C 3rd line: Am, G, F, E, F, E ¹

Soleá guitar style is easily identified by its metre and Phrygian mode, but also by a series of characteristic phrases. A guitarist, when playing soleá, will combine: ¹

"llamadas" (the "call") on the I degree of the Phrygian altered cadence (in E, E major) "compas" (the standard accompaniment figure) "falseta" (plur. "falsetas"), melodic ideas played between different stanzas. All sections have an even number of "compas" and are comparable in duration. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Soleá”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

Soleá is musical form and a style of flamenco music, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 3 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²