Originally Posted by: chris moodNo, Passion Grace and Fire is not Flamenco. There are certian things that must be present within a song for it to be considered flamenco. one of the most important things is "compas", a specific rhythmic cycle that repeats itself, usually every 12 beats.

There are many specific song forms in Flamenco: solea, rumba, seguiyiras, seville, bulerias, etc, etc,...each one of these song forms contain a specific "compas".

Within this 12 beat cycle we have "accented" beats. these would be the equivilant of "down" beats in western music. A common compas is to accent beats 3, 6, 8, 10, & 12 of the 12 beat cycle. Count from 1-12 and clap on the aforementioned beats (3 6 8 10 12), this is the basis for flamenco.
So, to use another analogy: Flamenco without "compas" is like Latin music without "clave", technically it is not that music, but only in the "style" of.

I recommend checking out any of Paco de Lucias recordings with the sextext, it blows away the stuff he did with John and Al. The anthology cd's are a good place to start.

Yeah that´s exactly what I noticed when I bought my first flamenco CD two days ago (paco de Lucia - Entre dos aguas). Rhythm (accents,...) is really important and makes this genre so distinctive. I think I´ll learn to play flamenco one day or maybe earlier than I think, because I realized how much I enjoy this music, but now I first have to reach my goals