Flamenco Rhythms on Frame Drums
The DVD is created by El Espina, Murat Coskun and me.
During my studies on flamenco dance, I came across very old pictures which show flamenco dancers using a headless tambourine. Whether alone or in a group, the headless tambourine had its place. For reasons unknown to me, this accompaniment has been forgotten.
The castanets, which don't actually belong to flamenco, but to Spanish folklore, have been adopted instead of the headless tambourine. However, the desire to accompany one's own dance lead to the castanets benevolently being integrated into flamenco.
As I get a lot of joy from the frame drum, I set myself the goal of getting this great percussion instrument back into the conciousness of flamenco.
The novella of Prosper Mérimée, where the gypsy Carmen dances with her frame drum (pandero), also inspired me in this. In many cultures, we see that women accompany themselves with some kind of percussion instrument.
As flamenco has a variety of different rhythms, it is a challenge for every dancer to accompany themselves with the most diverse of rhythms. This was one of the reasons why, with El Espina, I wrote 5 instructional books for clapping (palmas) in flamenco. Clapping was the first accompaniment in flamenco.
The cajón has become the second accompaniment. It is an accompanying instrument which the dancer Manuel Soler introduced to flamenco. He played so well, so clearly, precisely and creatively that he motivated many thousands of percussionists to play this 'box' = cajón. However, the cajón was not enough for me personally.
Thanks to the happy event of meeting Murat Coskun I was able to become acquainted with different frame drums and concentrated more on this percussion instrument. I hope that as a result of this first DVD, flamenco dancers and percussionists will learn to love the frame drum.
Here some previews:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgNJ7xhZGP4
40€ including shipping in Europe
40€ plus 20€ shipping costs overseas for 1-3 DVDs