Guitar Experiment

Fernando Perez shares his discoveries and comments about the similarities between Flamenco, Arabic and Persian Music.
This is part of a video series for those wanting to know more about playing in the guitar styles of music from World Traditions.
In this case we deal with different ways used to play Flamenco, Arabic and Persian music in the guitar. The relationship between Alzapua played with thumb technique and the pick or plectrum used in Middle Eastern adn oriental instruments. The possible origins of using rasgueados (strumming) on the Flamenco guitar, etc.
More about World Music Guitar, music albums, educational resources, etc, at:
www.fernandoperezguitar.com
#worldmusic #arabicmusic #guitar #guitarlesson #ethnicmusic #ethnomusic #guitarmusic #musicscale #persianmusic #flamencomusic #flamencoguitar

[@haroldguthrie2496]

Wow, very informative, masterfully played.

[@FernandoPerezGuitar]

Thanks Harold! Glad to hear so. As a matter of fact I thought my speech was not too lucid. I had just waken up and recorded the video with the idea in my head but afterwards I felt I didn't explained it too well.

[@picksalot1]

The Britannica online says: "The roots of flamenco, though somewhat mysterious, seem to lie in the Roma migration from Rajasthan (in northwest India) to Spain between the 9th and 14th centuries."
Long ago, I came across an interesting picking technique called "Dedillo" used on the Vihuela around the 1500's. It is usually described as alternating back and forth with the index finger alone, apparently not supported by the thumb. It was used on fast scale runs. There is a nice YT video on the Yasunori Imamura Channel that shows it nicely performed in the Luys Milan Fantasia No. 11.
I enjoyed your video. Thanks

[@FernandoPerezGuitar]

Hey! Yes, more than the roots of Flamenco it could be roots of the poeple who became the gypsies.
You can still see that nowadays. I lived several years in Rajasthan. There you can find the different desert peoples like Langas, Manganiyars, etc. It is quite amazing how close they look to European gysies. Their attitude is somehow similar also. However, when it comes to the music they stay quite far from being similar to Flamenco. Perhaps the main similarity would be them approaching rhythm as a cycle. Not linealy like Europeans. But again, this rhythm cycles is quite an Eastern thing. You will find that starting with Eastern European people and their Horos. Then Arabs, Turkish, Persians (this one sto a certain extent since their rhythmic tradition goes around poetry metric), Afghans, etc.
Personally I would not say that Arabs where responsible for much of Flamenco music. Or not as much as people say. But they are part of the influences. As well as Persians, Kurdish, etc.
I believe it is more about ways of thinking and approaching a string instrument. After all we are all human beings and in how many different ways would a person try to strike music out of a given string instrument?
It is difficult to put in words. I would say that Flamenco musicians have more of the collective musical subconcious from Arabs and Persians than any other music style born in the Western world. This is exluding Eastern Europe.
And yes! I do know abou t "Dedillo" (meaning 'finger' in Spanish). I do have a mentee who is a professional antique music artist. He plays Vihuela, Thiorba, etc. He showed me several techniques which proved pretty much where things in teh guitar come from. It is so interesting and fun to discover. It is just like going backwards meeting family and ancestors. I like to call it "Time Travel". hehehehe...
Thanks a lot for taking the time to comment. I sincerely appreciate it.
If you are interested in these type of subjects you have plenty more in my website: www.fernandoperezguitar.com