Ain't No Sunshine

The original tune. Just because it's so damn cool.

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In Defense of Dance Music

What did Bach,  Beethoven, Chopin, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Paco de Lucia all have in common? They all were composers, gifted performers and improvisors, and they all wrote dance music.

Sometimes when listening to a Bach fugue, one of Chopin's nocturnes, or one of Duke's suites, it's hard to imagine that these talented composers had ever bothered to sit down and write some dance music. Yet a large part of their repetoire was music made for dance.

Bach had the (German) allemande, (Spanish) sarabande, (French) courante, minuet and (English) gigue (jig). Beethoven had sonatas, string quartets, symphonies and the vigorous eccossaise. Chopin had the (Polish) mazurka, barcarolle, and polonaise. The music of Duke and Count Basie was meant to swing. There were dances like the fox-trot, slow waltz, jitterbug and variations of latin dances. Paco, of course, plays flamenco. The very word flamenco not only implies the song and the guitar, but the dance also.

It's interesting to note how much all of these musicians have in common. It's interesting to see how important dance was in the creation of their art. The dance is such a large part of the fabric of human society. Our perception of dance has evolved and today there are more styles of dance than ever.

Try to remember the next time you sit down to listen to some Baroque, or a classical symphony, or a Romantic piano piece, a jazz ballad, a spirited tango or a pumping house track, that they were all intended for much the same purpose. They were meant to move you...literally.

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Song forms in Flamenco

Alot of people get confused by some of the forms found in flamenco becuase they seem so different to western ears. Most of us are used to pop, rock and country music where the separate sections of the song are a lot easier to distinguish.We're used to hearing an intro, followed by a verse and a memorable chorus.

Flamenco is a lot like blues where the form uses a repeating form over and over and the musicians create variations on the basic form. Unlike blues where the form is often a number of bars (usually 12), flamenco is built around sequences of beats.These various sequences of beats are the basic element of rhythm in Flamenco and are referred to as 'compas'. Each compas is a recurring pattern of accented beats which gives the regular pulse of the rhythm its movement and form.

These compas make up the various styles or 'toques' in Flamenco. Each toque has its own characteristic pattern of beats and accents (its compas) and it also has its own kinds of key and harmonic structures. The toques have different regional origins and their names reflect this. The toques of central importance are: Soleares, Seguiriyas, Alegrias, Bulerias, Tangos and Fandangos.

Here is a video showing you how to properly count a Bulerias; one of the more popular forms. The basic compas of Bulerias is made up of sequences of 12 beats with accents on 3, 6, 8, 10 and 12:

1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12

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Complete Rumba Flamenca

One of the best videos on rhumba rhythm I've seen. I don't do it exactly like this but brilliant never the less.

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CD Release

Working on the finishing touches of the CD and trying to finalize some of the graphics. Still haven’t decided on the cover photo even though we’ve uploaded a cover for album art. For now we’re going to stick with the cover that we’ve put online until we’ve made the final decision.

There a quite a few extra tracks from the sessions that we’re going to upload over the next little while. Most of them just didn’t fit the vibe of the CD but were great tracks otherwise. We also have a couple of downtempo tracks that we’re going to upload for your enjoyment.

Hope you enjoy them!

More Networks

We've set up a couple of new accounts on some social networks. The list is growing all the time so it's getting hard to keep track of it all. Here are some links to some of the new pages that we've set up.

Come by if you can and add us as a friend or just say hello.

imeem
iLike
Ning
Purevolume
Friendster

Thanks for visiting!

Goals for '09

Here it is:

- release a couple of singles and remixes (we’ll be asking for your vote on which tunes make it on the CD)

- CD release early spring

- a couple of local shows

- summer tour

There it is. It doesn’t take much space but there’s a lot to do. All of the new material will be uploaded here for your final approval. Let us know it we’re doing a good job or not!