Flamenco: the blues, Spanish style, through body and voice

Good things come from Jerez, Spain: the bulls, the sherry, the flamenco.

"It's said the first cry of flamenco was born of Jerez de la Frontera," said Maria Bermudez.

Bermudez's show is intimate flamenco, the kind you see in nightclubs in Spain as guitarists, dancers and singers perform Gypsy songs and dance the taconeo — the staccato footwork that goes with the rhythms of the music.

The palmeros — professional hand-clappers — beat out intricate rhythmic patterns, including a fast, 12-beat time signature.

"This style of flamenco is pretty much like what you would see if you came to Spain and you spent some time in the south, where flamenco was born," said Bermudez.

Bermudez brings Sonidos Gitanos ("Gypsy Sounds"), her troupe of seven dancers and musicians from Spain, to perform tonight at the Edmonds Center for the Arts.

Pedro Carrasco opens the show with his famous falseta, a melody often played by guitarists in Spain. Gypsy violinist Bernardo Parrilla is next and stays onstage most of the time, performing flamenco rhythms and melodies.

Dancer Rafael Campallo completes the trio of guest artists who open the show. He dances a joyous "Alegrias." The cantes, the singing that is the basis of flamenco, is regional, and "Alegrias" was born in Cadiz, a port city in Andalusia. The letras, or verses, sing about fishermen, boats, sea breezes and the lure of love and romance.

"My focus in these shows is about a singular expression for each artist," Bermudez said. "Each artist has their own personal expression when it comes to flamenco."

Bermudez compares the music of authentic Gypsy flamenco to the blues in the United States. Gypsies also had their share of persecution, "and duende [soul] comes from that history, the racism, the persecution," she said. "Through all of that comes the cry, the cry of flamenco. Bernardo's violin playing sounds like that."

During Gen. Francisco Franco's fascist dictatorship, big, state-approved flamenco shows were allowed, she said. Gypsy-style flamenco was not.

"You'd go into the bars during that era, and it would say, 'No flamenco allowed,' " said Bermudez. "Flamenco's come a long way. It's now done in stadiums. There's so much done out there now; it's hard to find music without a Spanish guitar lick."

The emotions that flamenco deals with run the gamut — loss, betrayal, anger and complete joy.

Just as there is a lighter side of blues, "You have to give a lighter side to performance — the resolve at the end of the cry," said Bermudez. "You can't be crying all the time."

Diane Wright: 425-745-7815 or dwright@seattletimes.com