Bulerías: Jerez's party rhythm

A rhythm before it is a song

Wikipedia describes the bulería as a fast flamenco rhythm made up of a 12-beat cycle, with emphasis falling in one of two general patterns. It can be thought of as a bar of 6/8 followed by a bar of 3/4, which the article calls a hemiola. You do not need the arithmetic to enjoy it. What you will hear is a pulse that keeps turning over on itself, with the clapping, the guitar and the feet all circling the same twelve beats.

Where it began

In Wikipedia's account the bulería was born in the 1800s among Jerez's Calé Romani, first as a quick, cheerful closer for soleares or alegrías. Jerez's tourist office goes further, calling the city the birthplace of flamenco, especially of the bulería. That is a local claim, but the two accounts point the same way, which makes a visit to Jerez a good moment to learn to hear the rhythm.

How it is sung

Sung, a bulería runs to three or four eight-syllable lines, Wikipedia says, and the article separates slower styles from a frantic one. Wikipedia adds that the style is among the most popular and dramatic of flamenco's forms. Since it began as a lively ending for other palos, it is the style most closely tied to a gathering's last, loosest stretch.

How it is danced

Dancing a bulería asks for strength in the feet, which tap out intricate patterns with the toe, heel and ball of the foot, as Wikipedia puts it. The same article says dancers usually count the cycle in six rather than twelve. For a watcher it means the footwork carries much of the speed, so the feet are worth keeping an eye on as well as the arms.

Santiago and San Miguel

Writing for DeFlamenco, Pierre Lefranc says Santiago fires off apparently inexhaustible salvoes of bulerías, while San Miguel seems to lean towards the more austere bulerías por soleá, the kind played to be listened to. He is describing Jerez's two best-known flamenco barrios, and the contrast is a useful one: the same rhythm can be a party in one street and a quiet, serious song a few minutes' walk away. La Guarida del Ángel stands in San Miguel.

Read next: San Miguel, a flamenco barrio

Why it closes the night

Wikipedia says the bulería is among the most popular and dramatic of the flamenco forms and often ends any flamenco gathering. Lefranc adds that in Santiago bulerías seem to have replaced even the sung romances and the alboreas at Gitano weddings. The palos article groups bulerías with tangos as fast and festive, in contrast to the solemn cante jondo of soleá and seguiriyas. A one-hour tablao show cannot promise a bulería on the night, but the sources suggest it is the style to listen for.

Bulería among the other palos

Wikipedia's article on palos groups bulerías with tangos as the fast and festive styles, apart from the solemn cante jondo of soleá and seguiriyas, and says bulerías are not bound to the 12-beat soleá scheme but can also bring in 6-beat and 3-beat sections. Lefranc's phrase bulerías por soleá names the slower, more serious variant. For a listener, the useful point is contrast: a programme can pass from something grave to something quick, and the difference is plain even if you know no names.

Listening in practice

Casts and programmes change, so go without a checklist. Listen first for the pulse, then for how the guitar and the clapping settle into it, then for the way the singer or dancer moves against it. You do not need to keep count. The venue's site names bulerías among the styles at its tablao, alongside soleá, seguiriyas and alegrías, but it does not promise any one of them on a given date.