Guajiras do Brazil.Composed and perfomred by Antoine Boyer (Gypsy jazz guitar) & Samuelito (flamenco guitar).
This contemporary piece is inspired by the flamenco guajira fused with Gypsy jazz. It’s not common to see flamenco guitar and steel-sting guitar played together but these two artists have done an incredible job making this work. If you remember from a previous post, the guajira style of flamenco music belongs to a larger group of styles called Cantes de Ida y Vuelta (i.e., round-trip songs) that originated in either Spain or Latin America and moved between regions at least once. These songs were later “flamenco-ized” in Spain.
The guajira’s origin lies in a Cuban style of music called the Punto Cubano. What is particularly interesting about the Punto Cubano is that its original rhythm is almost identical to the flamenco guajira (although much faster) and the Punto Cuban’s lyrics were written in 10 octosyllabic verses — a poetic style dating back to 16th century Spain. The lyrical style was likely brought to Cuba from Spain, adopted by Cuban musicians, and then adopted and varied again by Spanish flamenco musicians post-1860.
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