Spain Music

MUSIC FOR THE DANCE

In Andalusia the music for such traditional dances as the alegria, seguidilla and pasodoble, has a well defined rhythm, though there are many dances in which the rhythm is so complex and varying that it is impossible to give the time. For instance, a bar in three quarter time may be followed by two in threeeights time or by one in five eights. The usual instrument used to accompany singing and dancing is the guitar; in Andalusia, in particular, guitar playing has reached a high pitch of perfection. It is normal to have one guitar by itself, though for special occasions groups of guitarists may be formed.

The guitarists play all their music by ear, and are therefore repositories of a vast treasure house of folk music.

The handurria is an instrument similar to the guitar, except that it has metal strings; it is used to supply the melodic line in combinations.

Castanets are an essential part of the dances; in Andalusia they mark out rhythms of extraordinary complexity. In some dances the sound of snapping fingers is used instead, giving a sharp, ringing effect like a pistol shot. Tambourines are used particularly in flamenco solos.

The bagpipe, or gaita, is typical of the northwestern part of the country, and singers sometimes imitate it in an amusing way: they affect a nasal voice, breathe out strongly at the end of each stanza, letting their breath die away exactly like a change of key on the bagpipe.

Although a southern instrument, the guitar has penetrated as far as Galicia, where it is often played in monotonous, repetitive fashion by the traveler perched on his small donkey. In Galicia too, tambourines are mainly played by women, while in the more remote mountainous parts of Asturias even pans are used as percussion instruments, with keys as drumsticks.

FLUTES AND DRUMS

In Catalonia, particularly for the sardana, the flaviol or small flute, is used as well as drums, which come in all sizes from the tiny ones that hang from the left arm of the flaviol player, to the gigantic bombo which reaches to the player's waist.

For the foreigner, Valencia must head the list, however; here dances, traditions and styles come together in their most harmonious form. A voice accompanied by a guitar sings coplas or refrains; various guitars then play the intermezzo, and then the dulzaina, a local instrument, and the tabalet, a type of drum, accompany the dancing.