What are the three parts of flamenco?

The three parts, and the palos

What flamenco is made of

• el cante the singing — The vocal expression of flamenco, usually sung seated. Elsewhere in Spanish, singing is el canto.
• el toque the guitar playing — From tocar. Played with the fingernails and with taps on the soundboard; long since more than accompaniment.
• el baile the dance — The bailaora or bailaor marks the rhythm with feet, hands and the whole body.

Some palos — the styles

• la soleá soleá
• la bulería bulería — Its twelve-beat compás is hard even for many musicians.
• la seguiriya seguiriya
• las alegrías alegrías
• los tangos tangos — Nothing to do with the tango of Buenos Aires.
• la saeta saeta — Sung without guitar from a balcony to a Holy Week statue.

What keeps time

• el compás the rhythmic cycle of each palo
• las palmas hand-clapping
• el cante jondo the oldest, deepest song: pain, death and love — Jondo is Andalusian for hondo, deep.

• Flamenco has three parts: el cante (singing), el toque (guitar) and el baile (dance).
• There are many styles, called palos — soleá, bulería, seguiriya, alegrías, tangos — and each has its compás, a rhythm marked with hand-clapping.
• The saeta is a flamenco song without guitar, sung from a balcony to the statue as a Holy Week paso passes; the music stops while it lasts.
• UNESCO inscribed flamenco on its Representative List of intangible cultural heritage in 2010; its page lists castanets, hand-clapping and foot-stamping among its sounds.

El flamenco tiene tres partes: el cante, el toque y el baile.

Flamenco has three parts: the singing, the guitar playing and the dancing.

Hay muchos estilos, que se llaman palos: soleá, bulería, seguiriya, alegrías, tangos.

There are many styles, which are called palos: soleá, bulería, seguiriya, alegrías, tangos.

Cada palo tiene su compás, un ritmo que se marca con las palmas.

Each palo has its compás, a rhythm that is marked with hand-clapping.

De pronto la música se calla, y desde un balcón alguien canta una saeta: un cante flamenco sin guitarra, dirigido a la imagen.

Suddenly the music falls silent, and from a balcony someone sings a saeta: a flamenco song without guitar, addressed to the statue.