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Flamenco palos, explained
Soleá, alegrías, bulerías and siguiriyas: how to tell the main flamenco palos apart by mood and rhythm, so an improvised show is easier to follow.
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A palo is a flamenco style, and Wikipedia counts over 50. At an improvised show you cannot know the order, but you can learn to hear the mood: solemn for soleá, festive for alegrías, fast for bulerías and deep for siguiriyas. Rhythm is carried by hand clapping called palmas, and Wikipedia says compás, the word for rhythm, demands far more precise interpretation than the English word suggests.
What a palo is
Wikipedia says palos, formerly known as cantes, are flamenco styles, and counts over 50 different ones. A palo fixes a rhythm and a mood; the singer, guitarist and dancer then work inside it. That is why an improvised show still has shape: the performers agree on the palo and the compás, then improvise within it. Knowing even four palo names is enough to follow most of what a small tablao offers, and none of it needs prior knowledge of Spanish.
Cante, toque and baile
Palos live inside the three arts that UNESCO lists: song (cante), dance (baile) and musicianship (toque). Wikipedia notes that the flamenco guitar is a specific instrument for the genre, and that the singer is called a cantaor. In a small room the three arts interlock, and a palo is the shared agreement that holds them together. Once you know the palo, you know roughly what the singer, guitarist and dancer expect from each other.
Soleá
Wikipedia ranks the soleá among the most basic palos, probably from the Romani community of Cádiz or Seville. It runs on a cycle of twelve beats, and the article says its lyrics are generally serious, matching a solemn musical air. If a piece feels weighty and unhurried, with the singer at the centre, it is worth listening for the soleá's character, even if nobody announces the name.
Alegrías
Alegrías means joys, and the palo is the bright counterpart. Wikipedia says it belongs to the cantiñas, which it describes as the songs of Cádiz par excellence, and that the form seems to derive from the Aragonese jota, which took root in Cádiz during the French occupation. Its melody is festive and suited to dancing, which is why it often features dancers in the foreground.
Bulerías
Wikipedia calls the bulería a quick rhythm on a twelve-beat cycle and ties it to Jerez's Romani families in the 1800s. It adds that the form often closes a flamenco gathering, and began as a fast, upbeat ending to soleares or alegrías. A lively, clapped closing number may well be one, though at an improvised show nobody can promise it.
Siguiriyas
Wikipedia places siguiriyas in the cante jondo category, the deep song of flamenco, and calls the style deep, expressive and among the most important in flamenco. It says each measure has 12 counts and that the palo is purely Romani, or Calé, in origin. Cante jondo means deep song in Spanish, and the article describes it as an unspoiled form of Andalusian folk music. Expect intensity rather than brightness.
Palmas, jaleo and duende
Wikipedia says the compás is carried by hand clapping, the palmas. Jaleo, in its words, is the clapping and calling-out that urge performers on, often with words such as olé directed at the singer, guitarist or dancer. Duende is a Spanish word for a heightened emotional state in performance, linked with flamenco and shaped as an idea by the poet Federico García Lorca. Duende is a name for the moment a performance lands, not a feature you can book.
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