Cantes libres
Encyclopedia
Cantes libres is a Spanish expression that literally means free songs. It is applied any flamenco
palos
(musical forms) in which there is no recognisable metre (music)
or rhythmic pattern
. The melody thus flows freely, unconstricted by metre, so singers can shorten or lengthen musical phrases at will, as long as they respect the basic melodic line
of the style they are singing.
The meaning of this expression should not be confused with concepts like rubato, or ad libitum
which usually refer to a relative freedom of the musician in following the time signature
. In this type of singing there is no time signature at all, so freedom is absolute, and the only restrictions are those imposed by the traditional basic melody.
for the totally free sections. However, falsetas (guitar solo interludes between stanzas) can include sections with a definite time signature.
Owing to their lack or regular rhythm, these palos are not normally danced. However, from the 1960s there was a tendency to create choreographies for them, as they provide an opportunity for the dancer to show other aspects of flamenco dance, like braceo (movement of the arms).
(that is, Songs a cappella
), also known as the toná
group. It comprises tonás
, martinetes and carceleras, saetas
, debla and trilla. Although percussion can be added to them, its function is not to constrain the melody to a rhythm: it is rather added to create ambience. When these styles are sung as a basis for the dance, they are known as martinetes, even when they include other styles of this group.
There is, therefore, a reversible tendency in flamenco: many styles that originally started as rhythmical and dance-oriented were later slowed-down and eventually lost their link to dance and their metre subjection, while other styles, originated as free songs, were later adapted to a rhythm to make them apt for dancing.
MARTÍN SALAZAR, Jorge: Los cantes flamencos Diputación Provincial de Granada
ROSSY, Hipólito: Teoría del cante jondo, Second edition, CREDSA, S.A., 1998 (fist edition 1966) ISBN 978-84-7056-354-6
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....
palos
Palos
Palos may refer to:Places*Palos de la Frontera, a municipality in Spain*Cape Palos, cape on the Mediterranean coast of Spain*Palos Township, Cook County, Illinois*Palos Heights, Illinois*Paloş , a village in Caţa Commune, Braşov County, RomaniaEvents...
(musical forms) in which there is no recognisable metre (music)
Metre (music)
Meter or metre is a term that music has inherited from the rhythmic element of poetry where it means the number of lines in a verse, the number of syllables in each line and the arrangement of those syllables as long or short, accented or unaccented...
or rhythmic pattern
Rhythm
Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...
. The melody thus flows freely, unconstricted by metre, so singers can shorten or lengthen musical phrases at will, as long as they respect the basic melodic line
Melody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
of the style they are singing.
The meaning of this expression should not be confused with concepts like rubato, or ad libitum
Ad libitum
Ad libitum is Latin for "at one's pleasure"; it is often shortened to "ad lib" or "ad-lib"...
which usually refer to a relative freedom of the musician in following the time signature
Time signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
. In this type of singing there is no time signature at all, so freedom is absolute, and the only restrictions are those imposed by the traditional basic melody.
Roles of guitar and dance
When these palos are played in the guitar, either as accompaniment or as solo, they are known as toques libres, meaning free guitar playing. The guitar accompaniment used for most of this palos (when they are accompanied) consists in short musical phrases leading to a chord that the singer has previously reached at the end of a line of verse. So the function of the guitar, more than really accompanying the melody throughout, consists in responding to the singer and underlying the harmonic progression of the song, plus adding a chord occasionally to support the singer. Guitar written scores for toques libres do not include any time signatureTime signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
for the totally free sections. However, falsetas (guitar solo interludes between stanzas) can include sections with a definite time signature.
Owing to their lack or regular rhythm, these palos are not normally danced. However, from the 1960s there was a tendency to create choreographies for them, as they provide an opportunity for the dancer to show other aspects of flamenco dance, like braceo (movement of the arms).
Palos classified as cantes libres
The palos traditionally classified as cantes libres are all derived from earlier rhythmic fandangos.- Fandangos naturales. They are structurally derived from the fandangos de HuelvaHuelva (province)Huelva is a province of southern Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is bordered by Portugal, the provinces of Badajoz, Seville, and Cádiz, and the Atlantic Ocean. Its capital is Huelva....
and can also be referred to as fandangos libres, or simply fandangos (when the word fandango is not qualified, nowadays by default it refers to the free styles). Although the Fandango de Huelva is always played rhythmically, since the beginning of the 20th century some singers started to create personal free styles. At the beginning of the process, the rhythm of the Fandango the Huelva was simply slowed down and played more rubato, with the guitar even stopping occasionally to conclude a line of verse. This is still visible in the fandango style by El Gloria. Finally, any hints of regular rhythm were dropped and singers started creating personal forms or variations from traditional fandangos with no time signature at all. The fashion of personal fandangos produced dozens (or maybe hundreds) of this personal forms, especially in the years 1920-1950. For this reason, the expression fandangos personales (personal fandangos) has come to be identified with any free fandango. Nevertheless, a few personal fandangos do follow regular metre.
- Eastern Andalusian free styles, all derived from older fandangos abandolaos. These were also rhythmic styles, originally played with a lively tempoTempoIn musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
. They derive their name from their characteristic guitar strumStrumIn music, a strum or stroke is an action where a single surface touches several strings of a string instrument, such as a guitar, in order to set them all into motion and thereby play a chord...
s (quite different from the typical in fandangos de Huelva), which resemble the typical strums of the bandolaBandolaThis article refers to various South American instruments. Bandola is also Portuguese for Mandola.The Bandola is one oif many varieties of small pear-shape chordophones found in Venezuela and Colombia...
and bandurriaBandurriaThe bandurria is a plectrum chordophone from Spain, similar to the cittern and the mandolin, primarily used in Spanish folk music.Prior to the 18th century, the bandurria had with a round back, similar or related to the mandore. It had become a flat-backed instrument by the 18th century, with five...
(instruments of the mandolinMandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
type), used in the folkloric precedents of these styles. These palos followed the same process as the fandangos derived from Huelva: they were first slowed down, and finally the regular metre disappeared. Singers like Enrique el MellizoEnrique el MellizoEnrique Jiménez Fernández , known as Enrique el Mellizo was a famous flamenco singer, the most influential one in the development of the Cádiz flamenco styles. Together with Silverio Franconetti and Antonio Chacón, he is considered to be one of the most important figures in the development of...
and Antonio ChacónAntonio ChacónAntonio Chacón was a Spanish flamenco singer [cantaor].Chacón began earning a living by performing flamenco around 1884. He toured Andalucia with his two friends, the Molina brothers - dancer Antonio Molina, and guitarist Javier Molina. He was later hired by Silverio Franconetti for his café in...
and guitarists like Ramón MontoyaRamón MontoyaRamón Montoya , Flamenco guitarist and composer.Born into a family of Gitano cattle traders, Ramón Montoya used earnings from working in the trade to buy his first guitar...
played a decisive role in freeing these styles from their melodic constraints. The palos that suffered this process were the malagueñasMalagueñas (flamenco style)Malagueñas is one of the traditional styles of Andalusian music , derived from earlier types of fandango from the area of Málaga, classified among the Cantes de Levante. Originally a folk-song type, it became a flamenco style in the 19th century. It is not normally used for dance, as it is...
, granaínaGranaínaGRANAÍNA is a flamenco style of singing and guitar playing from Granada.Belonging to the fandango family of cantes, it was originally danceable, but now has lost its rhythm, is much slower, and is usually only sung or played as a guitar solo.The famous singer Don Antonio Chacón is attributed with...
and media granaína, and the group of the cantes de las minas, including: tarantasTarantasTarantas may refer to* Tarantas , a style of flamenco from Almería, derived from the Andalusian fandango* Tarantella, a traditional Italian dance or song* Tarantass, a horse-drawn Russian carriage...
, cartagenerasCartagenerasCartageneras are a flamenco palo belonging to the category of the Cantes de las minas or cantes minero-levantinos . As the rest of the songs in this category, it derives from older folkloric fandango styles...
, mineraMineraMinera is a small village, and a local government community, the lowest tier of local government, part of Wrexham County Borough in Wales.The community, which in addition to Minera village includes a number of smaller hamlets such as Gwynfryn and New Brighton and large areas of farmland, had a...
, murciana and levantica.
Other palos with more or less free rhythm
Apart from the styles usually called cantes libres, there are other palos to which this term could be applied, even if traditionally it is not. Such is the case of the group of palos known as Cantes a palo secoCantes a palo seco
The Spanish term Cantes a palo seco refers to a category of flamenco palos traditionally sung a cappella or, in some cases, with some sort of percussion...
(that is, Songs a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
), also known as the toná
Tona
Tona is a municipality in the province of Barcelona, part of the autonomous community of Catalonia, northeastern Spain. It located in the Plain of Vic, in the comarca of Osona.As of 2007, the estimated population stands at 7,800. -External links:***...
group. It comprises tonás
Tonás
Tonás is the name given to a palo or type of flamenco songs. It belongs to the wider category of Cantes a palo seco, that is, palos which are sung without accompaniment or a cappella. Owing to this feature, they are considered by traditional flamencology to be the oldest surviving musical form of...
, martinetes and carceleras, saetas
Saeta (flamenco)
The Saeta is a revered Spanish religious song, whose form and style have evolved over many centuries. They evoke strong emotion and are sung most often during public processions.-Performance:...
, debla and trilla. Although percussion can be added to them, its function is not to constrain the melody to a rhythm: it is rather added to create ambience. When these styles are sung as a basis for the dance, they are known as martinetes, even when they include other styles of this group.
There is, therefore, a reversible tendency in flamenco: many styles that originally started as rhythmical and dance-oriented were later slowed-down and eventually lost their link to dance and their metre subjection, while other styles, originated as free songs, were later adapted to a rhythm to make them apt for dancing.
Discography
BLAS VEGA, José (compiler) Magna antología del cante flamenco, CD edition, 1982, Vols. I, , VII, VIII, IX,Sources
GRANADOS, Manuel: Teoría musical de la guitarra flamenca, Ventilador, 1998MARTÍN SALAZAR, Jorge: Los cantes flamencos Diputación Provincial de Granada
ROSSY, Hipólito: Teoría del cante jondo, Second edition, CREDSA, S.A., 1998 (fist edition 1966) ISBN 978-84-7056-354-6