Here are three related bulerķa falsetas in the key of A recorded by Manolo de Huelva (b. 1892), followed by similar ideas recorded by Borrull hijo (b. 1899), Ricardo (b. 1904) and Melchor (b. 1907). The guitarist and academic Manuel Cano, in his book "La Guitarra: Historia, Estudios y Aportaciones al Arte Flamenco,", in reference to the picado technique, wrote that Manolo was one of the first to play picado in chromatic scales in bulerķas. It seems he was referring to Falseta 1, seen below. Notice that all but Borrull's falseta start on 12 and end on 6, so there's a pickup measure at the start, and you'll have to add your own 7-8-9-10 rasgueo (strumming) to the end. The double bar lines are between beats 12 and 1.
Manolo played this falseta in two recordings of bulerķas with Canalejas de Puerto Real. The first line from one of the recordings is "Santa Cruz es un barrio que hay en Sevilla," sung just before this falseta is heard. In the other recording, the falseta also appears near the beginning, after the entire first verse is sung completely "ligado" (strung together).
Ricardo recorded an instrumental bulerķa with a nearly identical version. Only four notes are different, all in the last two measures.
Borrull hijo recorded this in 1930 with Vallejo during a pause between cantes. The first line from the recording is "Al pasar por un barranco." The falseta starts with a fragment of Manolo's original falseta, from the eighth note to the nineteenth. I used the original recording for this audio file to include the stimulating combination of guitar work, palmas and jaleo. Notice the well-placed clap between beats 7 and 8 (7 "and") in the second and sixth full compases (the recording starts on beat 6 and there are eight full 12-beat cycles). Borrull plays with the capo at the fifth fret.
Another falseta recorded by Manolo with Manuel Vallejo. The title and first line are "Llegó el frutero." The idea heard in Falseta no. 1 is played on the bass strings.
Manolo recorded this version with Canalejas (the second recording mentioned for Falseta no. 1). It differs from Falseta no. 2 in the sixth and seventh notes, the slur and in the fifth measure.
Melchor recorded this in 1947 with Pastora. The first line is "¿Quién será aquel soldadito?" The only difference from 2a is at the end of the fifth measure.
Melchor recorded this in 1948 with Tomás as a cierre (beats 7-10) of a bulerķa por soleá. The first line is "Cuando tú me eches de menos." The cierre is heard just before the singing starts. Borrull hijo recorded the same idea with Manuel Torre in 1929.
