Cante – Grupo III B: Bulerias, Cantinas, Tangos, Tientos, Peteneras, Farrucas, Fandangos personales Competition: What It Is, Where It’s Run and How It’s Judged

A solo flamenco singing round in the livelier palos of Grupo III B, from bulerias, tangos and tientos to peteneras, farrucas and a singer’s own fandangos, sung to guitar and marked out of 100.

Cante – Grupo III B is the second half of the third group of flamenco singing: a solo round built around bulerias, cantinas, tangos, tientos, peteneras, farrucas and fandangos personales. Where its companion group holds the slow, weighty palos, this list leans towards forms with a clearer pulse and more room for rhythm, wit and personality, and a singer who enters the group chooses which palo to present.

The last entry on the list, fandangos personales, is the one that is not a fixed form in the same way. It covers a fandango sung in the singer’s own style, so the panel is listening for a recognisable voice and a personal handling of the verse as much as for textbook accuracy. That makes the group a useful place to compare singers who sound very different from each other while still singing the same kind of material.

The template carries the item as an individual entry, open to both genders in the Open (16+) group, sung in Spanish and scored as Marks out of 100 with a ten-minute limit on the clock. The source rules ask for an online or postal application with a photograph, a CV, a video and a bank certificate, set the minimum age at 16 and bar past winners of the top trophy. Those are the source organiser’s conditions; the template records the item, the group, the clock and the score.

In practice an organiser runs it as one class inside a staged competition. The source rules move from a video screening through selection rounds across Spain to semi-finals and a final, and the same item can be scored again at each stage on eTalenter so singers who advance carry their place forward without the coordinator rebuilding the class. A singer chasing the top cante prize must also bring a cante from Grupo II or Grupo III, so a strong showing here can matter beyond this one round.

Where Cante – Grupo III B: Bulerias, Cantinas, Tangos, Tientos, Peteneras, Farrucas, Fandangos personales is run

On eTalenter this item is used in a single template, built from the published rules of a long-running flamenco singing, guitar and dance contest held in the Murcia region of Spain. The palos in this group belong to the wider flamenco tradition rooted in Andalusia, so other contests that include them are mostly flamenco festivals, penas and regional competitions in Spain; each event’s own notice sets its classes, time limits and rules.

• Spain (flamenco tradition rooted in Andalusia; contest held in Murcia)

Key facts

• Individual item: one singer, normally with a guitarist accompanying, one score
• Grupo III B of the cante classes, covering bulerias, cantinas, tangos, tientos, peteneras, farrucas and fandangos personales
• Open (16+) group, both genders, sung in Spanish
• Scored as Marks out of 100, with a ten-minute limit on the template clock
• Fandangos personales is a fandango in the singer’s own style, not a fixed local form
• The slower, weightier palos such as tonas, siguiriyas and soleares are a separate class: the template lists them under Grupo III A, not here

On eTalenter, Cante – Grupo III B: Bulerias, Cantinas, Tangos, Tientos, Peteneras, Farrucas, Fandangos personales is filed under On Stage and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 1 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.

Across the templates that use it, Cante – Grupo III B: Bulerias, Cantinas, Tangos, Tientos, Peteneras, Farrucas, Fandangos personales is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 10 minutes where a limit is set.

What judges look at in Cante – Grupo III B: Bulerias, Cantinas, Tangos, Tientos, Peteneras, Farrucas, Fandangos personales

What a Cante – Grupo III B: Bulerias, Cantinas, Tangos, Tientos, Peteneras, Farrucas, Fandangos personales panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:

• Rhythm and compas: whether the singer lands on the pulse of the chosen palo and keeps it through the livelier, more syncopated passages, together with the guitar
• Identity of the palo: a bulerias should sound like a bulerias and a petenera like a petenera, with no drifting into another form midway through the verse
• Voice and control: tuning and tone held steady when the rhythm is quick, with breaths placed at the end of a thought and not inside a word
• Character and presence: the humour, grace or gravity that suits the palo, delivered with conviction and not as decoration
• Personal stamp, above all in fandangos personales: a recognisable voice and phrasing that feel the singer’s own and not a copy of a famous recording
• The template records one total out of 100 and does not print a split; a panel that wants separate headings agrees its own before the round

Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Cante – Grupo III B: Bulerias, Cantinas, Tangos, Tientos, Peteneras, Farrucas, Fandangos personales under Scoring Setup, or start from our judging and score tabulation guide.

How to prepare for Cante – Grupo III B: Bulerias, Cantinas, Tangos, Tientos, Peteneras, Farrucas, Fandangos personales

How entrants and their teachers usually get Cante – Grupo III B: Bulerias, Cantinas, Tangos, Tientos, Peteneras, Farrucas, Fandangos personales right on the day:

• Read the notice first for the time limit, the group, the entry deadline and whether the round is a video screening, a live round or both
• Pick the palo that fits your voice and learn how it differs from its neighbours in this list before choosing your verses
• Rehearse with the guitarist who will play on the day and agree the key, the introduction and the places where the guitar will follow you or lead you
• Clap or tap the compas while you sing until the beat is automatic, then test it with the verses at the speed you will perform them
• Record yourself and listen for tuning that slips when the tempo rises and for words lost at speed
• If you enter fandangos personales, decide which parts are truly yours and rehearse them as deliberately as a fixed form
• After a loss, ask whether rhythm, palo identity, voice or character cost most, and rehearse that one element alone before the next round
• Ideas, not rules: sing the same verse once as a bulerias and once as a tango, record both, and check a listener can hear the difference in pulse and mood

Frequently asked questions

Is Cante – Grupo III B: Bulerias, Cantinas, Tangos, Tientos, Peteneras, Farrucas, Fandangos personales judged individually or as a team?

Across eTalenter’s templates it’s most often run as an Individual entry, though an organiser can set either participation type when assigning the item to an age group.

Which palos are in Cante – Grupo III B?

Bulerias, cantinas, tangos, tientos, peteneras, farrucas and fandangos personales, as listed in the template. Tonas, siguiriyas, soleares and the other slower palos are in Grupo III A.

What does fandangos personales mean here?

It is the entry for a fandango sung in the singer’s own style, as distinct from the fandangos of particular towns and provinces that belong to Grupo II. The event notice sets out what a panel expects, so check it before choosing your verses.

Is Cante – Grupo III B judged individually or as a team?

Individually. The template records one singer, one performance and one score out of 100.

How long can the performance be?

The template clock is set to ten minutes. The event notice states the exact running time for each round.

Want the full judging picture? Read our judging and score tabulation guide, or browse every on stage competition item.