Flagday, Well, flamenco is this strange beast. First, the performers have to be inspired. Then the audience starts to get excited and begins giving the performers audible encouragement in the form of "jaleo" (the short things people shout out at musically appropriate moments in a performance). Then the performers get more inspired, and there is more jaleo and so on until things build to a practically orgasmic finish. This was the last number that this duo performed that night, after about 45 minutes of performing. Fandangos are typically short--3 or 4 line verses--with a pause for guitar solo between. Their brevity means that it is really easy to whip up the intensity, since each fandango is about 1 minute or so long and each ones climaxes in its last line. They also lend themselves to the singer playing around with the lines in terms of the music and the words to take advantage of whatever inspiration strikes. They can be pretty free-wheeling (obviously within the fairly strict confines of flamenco) and resemble jazz solos in how especially nimble performers can take traditional verses and make them their own. Also, no flamenco singer ever sings the same line the same twice. The idea is that you have this basic repertoire and you use that as the basis for adding personal touches as the moment dictates. There is always a give and take between a singer and a good guitarist, and between the performers and the audience in a good performance. There is a saying in flamenco that an educated and enthusiastic audience is absolutely essential to draw out the best performances in flamenco. Malaga is one of the original places where flamenco began, so they know their flamenco. Camaron and Tomatito probably came on after 4 or 5 hours (yeah, you read that right) of flamenco, so the audience was already in an altered state of conscious. Then, their flamenco god took the stage with his faithful disciple, and the quasi-religious experience of a Camaron performance began. All of Camaron's performance in Malaga that night is available on YouTube, though I'm not sure of the sequence. (I saw it originally on a pirated copy of a copy of a copy of a VHS tape 10 years ago.)

your flamingo came in a bit too late for me, as i have already set my mind on american idol and i am cheering my gay mate, adam lambert to crown the title! haha

hey, it's wonderful music is reli incredible! thz for sharing, marie =]