"Mediterranean Sundance" is the third track on Elegant Gypsy

Elegant Gypsy

Elegant Gypsy is the second album by American jazz fusion guitarist Al Di Meola, released in 1977. It was a follow-up album to Di Meola's debut release, Land of the Midnight Sun. The distinctive music in the album is a speedy fusion of jazz and rock, with lightning-fast guitar riffs intermixed with...

(1977), the second album by Al Di Meola

Al Di Meola

Al Di Meola is an acclaimed American jazz fusion and Latin guitarist, composer, and record producer of Italian origin. With a musical career that has spanned more than three decades, he has become respected as one of the most influential guitarists in jazz to date...

 who composed all of its songs. This piece and "Lady Of Rome, Sister Of Brazil", are the only two entirely acoustic tracks on the album. However, unlike "Lady Of Rome, Sister Of Brazil" which is an acoustic solo by Di Meola, "Mediterranean Sundance" consists of an acoustic guitar duet with flamenco

Flamenco

Flamenco is a genre of music and dance which has its foundation in Andalusian music and dance and in whose evolution Andalusian Gypsies played an important part....

 guitarist Paco de Lucía

Paco de Lucía

Paco de Lucía, born Francisco Sánchez Gómez , is a Spanish virtuoso flamenco guitarist and composer. He is considered by many to be one of the finest guitarists in the world and the greatest guitarist of the flamenco genre...

. With a duration of 5' 13", the song is a complex blend of jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 and flamenco influences.

Composition

Set in 4/4 time and in the key of E minor, the song begins with a duet between Di Meola and de Lucía and then progresses to feature each guitar player taking turns playing rhythm and soloing, and occasionally soloing together.

The song consists of a relatively simple lyrical harmonic

Harmony

In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...

 progression, adorned by a flamenco rhythm. However, it poses extreme difficulties to the performers, due to the speed and precision required of Di Meola's picking on the steel-stringed guitar, playing extremely long melodic

Melody

A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...

 phrases

Phrase (music)

In music and music theory, phrase and phrasing are concepts and practices related to grouping consecutive melodic notes, both in their composition and performance...

, and to Paco De Lucia's complex fingerpicking on the Flamenco guitar

Flamenco guitar

A flamenco guitar is a guitar similar to a classical guitar. Flamenco guitar also refers to toque, the guitar-playing part of the art of Flamenco.-Brief history:...

, as well as the exact matching of Di Meola and De Lucía's solos which frequently consist of them both playing a rapid set of matching or corresponding notes. They resort to many guitar performance techniques and fingerstyles

Fingerstyle guitar

Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking ....

, such as drumming guitar tops, strumming (both solo and together), bare thumb plucking, palm muting

Palm mute

The palm mute is a playing technique for guitar and bass guitar executed by placing the side of the picking hand below the little finger across all of the strings very close to the bridge and then plucking the strings with the fingers while the damping is in effect. This produces a muted sound...

, tremolo picking

Tremolo picking

Tremolo picking, also known as alternate picking or double picking, describes the musical technique of picking on a guitar or other string instrument in which a single note is played repeatedly in quick succession. It can be achieved either with the fingers or with a pick...

, hammer-on

Hammer-on

Hammer-on is a stringed instrument playing technique performed by sharply bringing a fretting-hand finger down on the fingerboard behind a fret, causing a note to sound. This technique is the opposite of the pull-off...

s and pull-off

Pull-off

A pull-off is a stringed instrument technique performed by plucking a string by "pulling" the string off the fingerboard with one of the fingers being used to fret the note.-Performance and effect:...

s, sweep picking, shredding, vibratos and glissando

Glissando

In music, a glissando is a glide from one pitch to another. It is an Italianized musical term derived from the French glisser, to glide. In some contexts it is distinguished from the continuous portamento...

s. The song was a success. A slightly shorter version of it was included on the November 1996 album Pavarotti & Friends for War Child

War Child (charity)

War Child is a non-governmental organisation founded in the UK 1993, which focuses on providing assistance to children in areas of conflict and post-conflict. They use their film and entertainment background to raise money for aid agencies operating in former Yugoslavia...

(Track 15).

Additional releases

In the early 1980s, Di Meola replaced Larry Coryell

Larry Coryell

Larry Coryell is an American jazz fusion guitarist.-Biography:Coryell was born in Galveston, Texas. He graduated from Richland High School, in Richland, Washington, where he played in local bands The Jailers, The Rumblers, The Royals, and The Flames. He also played with The Checkers from nearby...

 in the acoustic guitar group, The Guitar Trio, which also consisted of Paco de Lucía and guitarist John McLaughlin

John McLaughlin (musician)

John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...

. The Guitar Trio recorded an extended combination of "Mediterranean Sundance" and "Río Ancho

Río Ancho

"Río Ancho" is a Spanish flamenco guitar jazz piece. The track first featured on Paco de Lucia's 1976 album Almoraima. It combines flamenco and gypsy jazz influences and the piece is in the key of E minor and progresses to A minor, D, G, C and B7...

" for the 1981 album Friday Night in San Francisco

Friday Night in San Francisco

Friday Night in San Francisco is a 1981 live album by Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucía. It was recorded at The Warfield Theatre on 5 December 1980, in San Francisco.-Side one:#"Mediterranean Sundance/Río Ancho" – 11:25...

.

In 1999, the Hungarian

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

guitarists "Agócsi-Tüske Duo" recorded the song which was included as the first track of their "Nostalgia Tour '99 LIVE" album.