This week we’re back in Cadiz. There is general consensus that the Province of Cadiz and especially the area around Jerez de La Frontera must be considered the cradle of Flamenco as we know it today. Any list you could make of Cantaores, Bailaores, Guitarists and other flamenco artists and styles would inevitably show the importance of the area. The styles have developed and progressed all over Andalusia and beyond of course, but Cadiz is where most palos started.
We are going to take a more detailed look at many of the styles that originated and are still sung and danced in Cadiz.
LAS CANTIÑAS
This group of palos menores are all quite similar styles that started in Cadiz originally to accompany dancing that have since developed their sung versions. They are made up of:
Las cantiñas (a style in themselves)
Las alegrías (we saw these in our first post)
El mirabrás
Los caracoles
Las romeras
CANTIÑAS
These styles are often named either after their subject matter or the Cantaor that created them. So you get, for example the cantiña de la rosa.
Fernando Peña Soto, Fernanda and Bernarda de Utrera’s grandfather, was born in Utrera in the nineteenth century. Utrera is on the way from Seville to Cadiz. He is remembered as “an excellent Cantaor and creator of personal cantiñas”.
Las cantiñas were an opportunity for the great Bailaoras of the time, such as La Macarrona and La Mejorana to show their worth. The latter was famous for singing the Cantiñas she danced to.
Here is a sung version from Fernanda y Bernarda de Utrera:
MIRABRÁS
The name seems to derive from a corruption of one of the expressions included in the chorus. ¡Mira, Blas! (Look, Blas!) became “Mirabrás”. Some authors prefer to call them “Alegrías Largas” because of the long succession of free form saucy couplets and hawkers’ cries. The lyrics are made up of three parts: the first is said to be an adaptation of popular songs from time of the Cadiz Constitution of 1812, the second a hawker’s cry included by Antonio Chacon called La Frutera y La Verdulera and the third is a three line cantiña called juguetillos (which we saw in the Alegrías post).
This is a cante to be danced, originally only by women.
Here is a version sung by Chano Lobato (who had a real talent for this type of saucy lyrics) and danced by the elegant Flamenco Bailarina Manuela Vargas from Seville.
CARACOLES
This style is close to the Alegrías and even more to the Mirabrás. Like the others it uses a Soleá beat and owes its name to the repeated use of the word “Caracoles” in the chorus. This is probably associated to the idea of the traders calling out their wares in the street markets. (Remember the Jaberas from our Málaga post?)
Here is Rocío Márquez showing us just why she won the Lámpara Minera at the La Unión Festival at such a young age!
ROMERA
The Romera owes its name to its creator Romero “El Tito” a Cantaor from the first half of the nineteenth century. If the Alegrías, Mirabrás and Caracoles are urban styles, the Romera is their rural equivalent. This is a cante that is especially well suited to dancing given the use of a continuous, unbroken rhythm, although it conserves the lightness and grace of the other Cantiñas.
Here is a danced version from Rosa Durán from Jerez de La frontera. The overall feel is far more Gitano than the Mirabrás. Notice the dynamism and strength, especially in the zapateado as well as the rhythmic finger clicking:
Next week: More from Cadiz.
I really enjoy this series, Thank you so much for writiing and sharing it with us!!
I liked the Caracoles style very much and Rocío Márquez has a wonderful voice!!!
Youtube problems ( probably down to our village’s steam powered exchange) make listening a chore a the moment.
Did manage to get Rocio Marquez to play properly and…gasp…enjoyed it !
Especially the guitar player, really liked the sound he got there.
Thank you, Maki. This is truly amazing. I liked the Mirabras and the Romera styles more than the others, but agree with Sakura and Pairubu that Rocio Marquez has a very lovely voice.
Thanks everyone for your comments. It’s great to see you’re finding stuff to like. We’ll keep trying to find interesting stuff.
Wow! That set went by so quickly! As a set it has to be the closest to what I would imagine ‘classical’ flamenco to be.
Now for a second listen, commenting as I go –
Fernanda de Utrera reminded me vocally, and in appearance, of the street singers I’ve seen around Andalucia. She has the raw power and passion of a delta blues singer. Linda and I would sit in the shade of a cafe awning marvelling at singers like her.
Manuela Vargas certainly is elegant. The band was pretty fine, too. I loved the way this piece built up towards a tumultuous climax.
Echoing Pairubu’s comments on the guitarist here. What a crisp sound! Rocio Marquez is an outstanding singer whose gift I’ve commented on before. She carries a melody to perfection. There was something about those falling cadences that caught my attention, and I kept flicking the video back to check them out, until I realised that I was reminded of Tex-Mex music, which may or may not be indicative of the provenance of the form. So now I’m wondering if the caracoles is old enough to have been an influence on the Mexican music that remained in Texas after they lost the war with the USA. Feel free to correct me.
I would describe Rosa Duran as a ‘handsome woman of a certain age’; so where does she find the energy and stamina for a dance of this intensity that lasts almost 7 minutes? The shift of emphasis to the toe- and heel-tapping towards the end was a wonderful touch that set up the climax perfectly.
Thanks to the Makis!
Hi Webcore
Not surprised Fernanda and Bernarda brought back what we hope are happy memories. They were lucky enough to be a little more famous because they belonged to a famous family but they are very representative of the type of singer you mention.
The Caracoles didn’t really exist before the beginning of the last century. They evolved when the more famous bullfighters and flamenco artists came to Madrid. The form was developed on the tablaos of Madrid as a sort of thank you to their sponsors here in the capital. There are some, who we disagree with, who dislike this form because they see it as sort of “selling out” to the big city folks. Consequently, the Tex Mex link is probably more coincidence than direct.
Manuela was more of a Bailarina of Spanish dance but she had a way with the Bata de Cola (the dress with a long and very heavy train). Her choreographies were always very elegant and perhaps less improvised than others we’ve seen.
Here’s a brief bio of Rosa Durán who is still alive although understandably no longer active. A real trooper with decades of experience and incredible energy.
Thanks, as always, for your comments.
Another great set, hard to pick a highlight, there were several. Fernanda has such passion but so do they all, loved the theater of the Chaco set, the guitars, the voice, the handclaps and above all the dance but when it ended there was another that was great, it was Anabel Veloso, beautiful piece of film and that was followed by a bit of Antonio Gades from a film I didn’t recognize. Rosa Duran just grew on me, she got better as it progressed, amazing dancer with an amazing finale!
I’m continually amazed by all the facets of this separate European culture, and now one page one there’s the bullring, another aspect!
nice article here loved itIs this ok to email this article to our email list