Tonás

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Tonás (Spanish pronunciation: [toˈnas] ) is a palo or type of flamenco songs. It belongs to the wider category of Cantes a palo seco, palos that are sung a cappella. [1] Owing to this feature, they are considered by traditional flamencology to be the oldest surviving musical form of flamenco. This musical form originated in the Calé Romani subculture of Southern Spain. [2] The first known flamenco singer, Tío Luis el de la Juliana, who lived in Jerez de la Frontera in the last third of the 18th century, was said to have excelled in this palo. [3]

Other cantes a palo seco, such as martinetes and debla, are sometimes classified under tonás, [4] [5] while at other times they are referred to as palos on their own.

The tonás were almost in disuse by the end of the 19th century. The reason seems to be that they were considered a difficult style by the general public, and resulted in Tonás on the near verge of disappearing. [6]

During the 1950s the tonás came back into use, [6] with singers like Antonio Mairena, [7] and came to be considered one of the main flamenco styles together with seguiriya and soleá. [7] [8]

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Flamenco is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and Murcia. In a wider sense, the term is used to refer to a variety of both contemporary and traditional musical styles typical of southern Spain. Flamenco is closely associated to the gitanos of the Romani ethnicity who have contributed significantly to its origination and professionalization. However, its style is uniquely Andalusian and flamenco artists have historically included Spaniards of both gitano and non-gitano heritage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siguiriyas</span> Style of flamenco music

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palo (flamenco)</span>

A palo or cante is the name given in flamenco for the different traditional musical forms.

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The cantiñas is a group of flamenco palos, originated in the area of Cádiz in Andalusia. They share the same compás or rhythmic pattern with the soleá and are usually sung in a lively rhythm. They are normally sung in a major mode and have a festive mood.

The Petenera is a flamenco palo in a 12-beat metre, with strong beats distributed as follows: [12][1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. It is therefore identical with the 16th century Spanish dances zarabanda and the jácara.

Martinetes are a flamenco palo belonging to the group of the tonás or cantes a palo seco. As the rest of the songs in this group, it is sung with no accompaniment. In some dance shows for the stage, though, it is accompanied by percussion played with the compás of siguiriya. The percussion instruments chosen for this are frequently a hammer and anvil, to evocate the origins of this palo, attributed to Gypsy smiths. It is not probable, though, that they were real work songs: they demand too much effort and faculties to be sung while carrying out a heavy task like that of a smith. They were more probably sung in family gatherings.

Cantes libres is a Spanish expression that literally means "free songs". It is applied on any flamenco palos in which there is no recognisable metre (music) or rhythmic pattern. The melody thus flows freely, unconstructed 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.

Polo is the name of a flamenco palo or musical form. There is only one known song in this palo, which is extremely similar to another palo called caña, and its guitar accompaniment, like the caña, shares its rhythm and motifs with soleá. Both the caña and polo share the same musical mode. The polo has usually been considered as a derivation of the caña. To complete the singing of the polo, singers usually sing a stanza in the palo of soleá, generally in the style called soleá apolá.

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The cante flamenco, meaning "flamenco singing", is one of the three main components of flamenco, along with toque and baile (dance). Because the dancer is front and center in a flamenco performance, foreigners often assume the dance is the most important aspect of the art form — in fact, it is the cante which is the heart and soul of the genre. A cante singer is a cantaor or cantaora.

This is a glossary of terms that relate to flamenco arts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saeta (flamenco)</span>

The saeta is a revered form of Andalusian religious song, whose form and style have evolved over many centuries. Saetas evoke strong emotion and are sung most often during public processions. The saeta, an unaccompanied song, is also believed to stem from Jewish religious songs which are believed to date back to the 16th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soleá</span> Flamenco musical form and style

Soleares is one of the most basic forms or palos of Flamenco music, probably originating among the Calé Romani people of Cádiz or Seville in Andalusia, the most southern region of Spain. It is usually accompanied by one guitar only, in phrygian mode "por arriba" ; "Bulerías por soleá" is usually played "por medio". Soleares is sometimes called "mother of palos" although it is not the oldest one and not even related to every other palo

Rancapino is a Spanish Romani flamenco singer.

Guajira (Flamenco) is a palo based on the Cuban Punto Guajira Cubana. It is in 12 beats and feels like it starts on 12. The guajira is a prime example of so-called cantes de ida y vuelta. The flamenco guajira is the adaptation to Melos flamenco of the Cuban point, the peasant point, a genre that brings together a series of songs called Guajiros that are grown in the rural areas of the island of Cuba. A guajira is simply a song for voice and guitar with a series of similar letras.

References

  1. ↑ Loren Chuse (2013). Cantaoras: Music, Gender and Identity in Flamenco Song. Routledge. p. 32. ISBN   9781135382049 . Retrieved 2020-01-27.
  2. ↑ Manuel, Peter (1986). "Evolution and Structure in Flamenco Harmony". Current Musicology. 42 (42). Columbia University Press: 46–47. doi: 10.7916/D88051HJ . S2CID   193937795. Other cantes, although Andalusian in a general sense, originated from Gypsy subculture and lack non-Gypsy counterparts; these would include siguiriyas, soleares, bulerias, and tonas
  3. ↑ Andrés Bernal Montesinos (2013). Origen y evolución del Flamenco. Lulu Press. p. 32. ISBN   9781291242447 . Retrieved 2020-01-27.
  4. ↑ An Analysis of Federico García Lorca's Poema Del Cante Jondo. University of California. 1971. p. 47. Retrieved 2020-01-27.
  5. ↑ Ninotchka Bennahum (2000). Antonia Merce,́ "La Argentina": Flamenco and the Spanish Avant Garde. Wesleyan University Press. p. 117. ISBN   9780819563835 . Retrieved 2020-01-27.
  6. 1 2 D. E. Pohren (2005). The Art of Flamenco. Bold Strummer. p. 25. ISBN   9780933224025 . Retrieved 2020-01-27.
  7. 1 2 Emma Martinez (2011). Flamenco – All You Wanted to Know. Mel Bay Publications. p. 38. ISBN   9781609744700 . Retrieved 2020-01-27.
  8. ↑ Juan Serrano (2016). Flamenco Guitar Basic Techniques. Mel Bay Publications. p. 10. ISBN   9781610654302 . Retrieved 2020-01-27.


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