The art of the violin in Verdiales

María Estela Lastre Castillo

Verdiales is the traditional music from Málaga, Spain, which is little known even within Spain. This research places verdiales in its historical and musical context looking at: the differences between styles, rhythm and harmony, and, most importantly, the role of the violin in this music. As the main instrument in verdiales, the violin is played in a very different way than in classical music, since it is spontaneous music with a great deal of freedom for improvisation, disseminated purely by oral transmission, and with a particular technique which is suited to playing only this music. Through the deep learning of verdiales, I have looked for different resources to face my daily practice issues in order to gain more flexibility and freedom in my way of playing. After trying several exercises and approaches in different parts of my practice, I have been self- documenting and verifying the improvement and effectiveness of certain methods, taking into account different aspects such as bow hold, ornamentation, and improvisation. As a result, I came to the conclusion that in order to achieve different results, it is necessary for more exploration and extremely different methods than the ones I have been using when practicing the violin

WHAT IS 'VERDIALES'?

The origins of verdiales, the traditional music from Málaga (Spain), go back to ancient times. Always related to rural areas and the people of the countryside, verdiales was basically played by poor people. Therefore, this will cause a series of peculiarities that will be discussed in this research.

The main geographical areas where this tradition takes place in Málaga are called Axarquía, Valle del Guadalhorce and Montes de Málaga. Some of the villages you can find in these areas are: Comares, Almogía, Santo Pitar, El Borge, Periana, Benagalbón, Villanueva de la Concepción, etc.

Since it was usually played at celebrations such as weddings, christenings or any kind of family or friends gathering, the music of verdiales has a festive and joyful character. Nowadays, it is also played in organised competitions, fairs and festivals.

Verdiales is played in groups called 'panda de verdiales' made up of percussion and string instruments, singing and dancing. As a general rule, the instrumentalists are placed forming a circle and the dancers on the side, outside the circle. However, when they have to play on a stage with microphones, the instrumentalists are placed in two lines (the string players in front and the percussionists behind). If they are going to dance, the dancers are placed in front of the rest of the group, and if not, on the sides of the stage.
This protocol has been created for formal occasions, although for them, the real way to play is without stages or microphones, on the street with the audience around them.

Something important to keep in mind is that verdiales is not played or sung by professionals, their only purpose is to have fun. And when they even look for a certain level of perfection or improvement, it has nothing to do with tuning or sound quality, parameters that are perhaps more taken into account in classical music. Their aims are usually related to the rhythmic character, the speed or the skills of the singers and players.

On the right, it is possible to see a group of verdiales playing in an 'informal' context, as they like to do. Even though the violin is considered the main instrument of the group, it is often placed surrounded by all the other instruments, without standing out. Just before starting, there is a moment when they tune all the strings (although they do not usually do this every time they start playing).

Image 1. Surrounded in blue, the predominant area of verdiales in Málaga. Map of Málaga by Tourizm Maps, 2003. Retrieved from: https://www.map-of-spain.co.uk/large-map-of-malaga-region.htm. Last visit: 19/11/2022

Video recording 1. Panda called Arroyo Concas playing in an informal context in May 2017.

Panda Arroyo Concas (2017). Panda Arroyo Concas (20.05.2017) en la Sala García Lorca (Madrid) 01. Youtube channel: Porverita la Maña. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3huL5sVEFX8 Last visit: 19/11/2022

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