Peteneras by Traditional Acoustic Guitar - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.1871960

I offer an arrangement for solo Flamenco guitar of the Flamenco palo (genre) Peteneras. According to researchers in Flamencology, Peteneras most likely originated in the Judea-hebraic quarters of the pre-reconquest population of Andalucia. The style is stately and slow moving. One of the most famous Letras (lyrics) for the Cante (song) describes the burial and funeral procession for a much loved practitioner of ‘the world’s oldest profession’ “La Petenera”. The folksong/poem “El café de Chinitas” recorded in the Spanish poet Frederico Garcia Lorca ’s ‘Canciones españolas antiguas’ is often sung in the style of Peteneras.

The Peteneras is based on an asymmetrical rhythmic pattern (compás) found in many Flamenco genres: a recurring twelve beat pattern of two 3/4 bars followed by three 2/4 bars. This gives rise to a repetitive; boom, da, da, boom, da, da, boom, da, boom, da, boom da, pulse through out the piece. The same rhythmic pattern is found in Leonard Berstein’s “I Want to Live in America” from West Side Story, but at a much faster tempo than in the Peteneras.

The arrangement is not particularly technically demanding and does not contain many features that could not be easily mastered by advanced intermediate students of Classical or Flamenco guitar. The four stroke tremolo is perhaps the only technique requiring special training for a Classical guitarist. I saw a video recently of a Classical guitarist playing a four stroke tremolo in Tarrega’s Recuerdos using only the index and middle fingers. This was the technique for the four stroke tremolo that my Flamenco guitar maestro Triguito used many years ago in Madrid. In the notation I have used the more common, index, ring, middle, index pattern for the four stroke tremolo.

Except where otherwise specified, the wavy arpeggio up-arrows are to be interpreted as a brushing over the strings with a soft rasqueado, starting with the little, ring, middle, and index fingers striking down over the strings followed by the thumb.

The Peteneras is a beautiful dance for a mature bailaora (female dancer). The short tremolos (four stroke 32nd notes) followed by an E major chord may be interpreted as ‘pitos’ (sharp snapping of the fingers) or ‘zapadeados’ (stamping with the heels) or even short rolls with castanets (although castanets are not usually used in authentic Flamenco dancing as they interfere with the dancers’ delicate and intricate hand gestures).

Classically trained guitarists should note the frequent use of the thumb in the higher registers, i.e. in the treble parts of the piece, especially when the thumb strikes up towards the base in a chord. Striking both up and down with the thumb (alzapua) is typical and unique for Flamenco guitar playing.

Due to its relatively straightforward slow moving rhythm and easy to follow melodic elements, the Peteneras is an excellent piece for classically trained guitarists who want to include an authentic Flamenco piece in their repertoire. The Peteneras is also a good introduction to the melodic and harmonic foundations of the more serious (jondo) genres (palos) of Flamenco. The melodies move in the framework of the phrygian mode and the harmonies in the so-called Andalusian cadence (A min-G maj/ G7-F maj-E maj).