Guitar, palmas and cajón

The guitar and its role

The guitar-playing part of flamenco is called toque, and Wikipedia says players are known as tocaores. UNESCO says the guitar long ago outgrew a purely supporting role. The venue's site says two of its seven house artists are guitarists, so a first night at the tablao is a good chance to listen to how the guitar answers the singer and the dancer instead of simply backing them. Wikipedia adds that flamenco guitar technique, toque, differs from classical playing in posture, strumming patterns and technique.

How a flamenco guitar differs

Wikipedia presents the flamenco guitar as a close cousin of the classical guitar, built with a lower action, a thinner top, a smaller body and lighter bracing. Nylon strings are usual. The result is livelier and grittier, and a plate often shields the wood from the finger taps known as golpes. Wikipedia calls the tone bright, percussive and dry, with less sustain.

Heard over the boards

Wikipedia says volume has traditionally mattered to flamenco guitarists so that the guitar carries over the dancers' nailed shoes. It also notes that string buzz, frowned on in classical playing, is sometimes used on purpose as an expressive effect. At a tablao, where the stage sits a few steps from the tables, the guitar's attack and the dancer's footwork share the same small room, which is part of what gives the form its closeness.

Palmas: the clapping

The venue names palmas alongside song, guitar and dance as part of its show. Wikipedia calls hand-clapping the basis for improvisation in flamenco, and UNESCO counts castanets, clapping and stamping among the art's instruments. Watch the clappers as well as the soloist; Wikipedia lists handclaps among the elements that flamenco weaves together. Wikipedia lists hand-clapping, occasional body slapping, castanets and the cajón among the instruments of rumba flamenca.

The cajón, from Peru

Wikipedia describes the cajón as a box-shaped percussion instrument originally from Peru, played by slapping its faces, that has made its way into flamenco. It says the guitarist Paco de Lucía brought one to Spain after a short 1977 visit to Lima, and that the cajón appears in rumba flamenca. Whether one appears on stage on a given night is for the artists to decide.

Read next: Flamenco palos to listen for

The voice

UNESCO treats cante as the vocal side of flamenco, performed by men and women, ideally seated and without backing singers, and says it can carry grief, joy, tragedy, rejoicing and fear. The venue says its seven house artists include singers, so the voice is part of every night. Wikipedia notes that flamenco combines song, guitar, dance, compás, handclaps and footwork, so the voice is one thread among several.

The tablao itself

Wikipedia explains that tablao is an everyday form of the Spanish tablado, meaning floorboard, and that the word covers both the place where flamenco shows happen and the platform a dancer stamps on. It adds that drinks are usually on sale, with tapas or a full meal sometimes available. At El Toro y La Luna the ticket page offers show only or show with dinner, so the platform and the table are both part of the evening.