Accents [12] 1 2 [3] 4 5 [6] 7 [8] 9 [10] 11
Learn first Lesson 10: Six-eight time
Bulerías is the fastest and most playful of the 12-count palos. It took shape in Jerez de la Frontera in the nineteenth century as a quick ending added to soleá or alegrías, and it still often closes a performance or a gathering of flamenco artists.
Its accents are those of the soleá, 3, 6, 8, 10 and 12, but bulerías is almost always counted from 12, so the cycle opens on an accent: 12 1 2, 3 4 5, then 6 7, 8 9, 10 11. That is why it is usually written as a bar of 6/8 followed by a bar of 3/4, with every accent on a beat of its bar, and this page uses that layout with one click per count. Guitarist Paul Bosauder suggests the count from 12 keeps the accents, chord changes and closes in the same places as in soleá, which makes moving between the two easy. Many dancers and players also feel bulerías in halves of six counts.
| Pattern | Count |
|---|---|
| Accents | [12] 1 2 [3] 4 5 [6] 7 [8] 9 [10] 11 |
| Accent on 7 | [12] 1 2 [3] 4 5 6 [7] [8] 9 [10] 11 |
| Basic palmas | · 1 2 · 4 5 · [7] [8] · [10] 11 (· = silent) |
A common variant moves the accent from 6 to 7, giving 12, 3, 7, 8 and 10. In their mathematical study of flamenco rhythms, Díaz-Báñez and colleagues call this the modern bulería pattern, and the basic palmas pattern in Lola Fernández's piano method stresses 7 and 8 and leaves 6 silent. Studio Flamenco says there is no fixed rule for when to accent 6 or 7, and that an accent is a change in the sound of the clap more than in its volume.
The basic pattern in exercise 4 leaves 12, 3, 6 and 9 empty and fills the counts around them. Fernández notes that palmeros also clap every count, and that two or more of them often double the pattern with its contratiempo, the claps on the offbeats in between. Palmas here are palmas claras: sharp claps of two or three fingers into the open palm.
Bulerías is fast. Jonathan Richter gives 160 to 275 beats per minute, a commercial flamenco metronome offers 140 to 260, and percussionist Miguel Reyes treats 190 as a slow tempo for a typical bulería. Slower forms such as soleá por bulerías sit between soleá and bulerías. Practise well below performance speed and raise the tempo only when the pattern is steady.
The usual mistakes are starting on 1 out of habit, hurrying the three pairs of the 3/4 bar, and accenting both 6 and 7 in the same compás. Let 12 be the strong arrival each time round.