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

Video recording 10. Fandangos from Jaen, Spain.

Imagen TCJ (2018). Fandango de la Iruela. Youtube channel: FNF Ciudad de Jumilla. Retrieved from: https://youtu.be/ZEeJ68XcwLw Last visit: 19/11/2022

Video recording 11. Chacarrá from Tarifa, Spain.

Tal como somos (1994). Youtube channel: Antonio Alba. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cJ0WIjIiAs Last visit: 19/11/2022

Video recording 12. Rondeña from Alcazar de San Juan, Spain.

Rocio Gallego (2015). Rondeña Alcazar. Youtube channel: Rocio Gallego. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l0SqqSoHx4 Last visit: 19/11/2022

Relationship to other current Spanish traditions

Nowadays, there are still many traditions in Spain that are different at first glance, but whose background, origin or purpose is the same. After learning the peculiarities of different traditions all over Spain, it is possible to come to the conclusion that many of them share their celebration dates, always around the winter solstice (usually between December 25 and 28). In addition, as they all come from the musical genres zarabanda and fandango1, they share similar instrumentation and musical form.

Hereafter, some of the places where it is possible to find traditional musics similar to verdiales (either for the music itself or for the background and purpose of the tradition):
- Andalusia. Fandangos in Málaga, Jaén, Almería, Granada (where they also use a flower hat), Tarifa (here it is called 'chacarrá'), Córdoba and Huelva.

- Murcia. Fandangos and 'cuadrillas'. This tradition is the most similar to verdiales of all the music mentioned in this chapter. Just like verdiales, main celebrations are at the end of the year, with its most important day on December 28. However, unlike verdiales, these festivities are more related to Christianity.
- La Mancha: Christmas songs and rounds.
- Valencia. Christmas fandangos and 'albadas'.
- Aragon. Fandango.
- Ávila and Cáceres. Rondeñas and malagueñas.
- Gran Canaria.
- Burgos. The 'zamarrón' festival at Christmas.
- Cantabria. 'La Vijanera' at Christmas.
- Asturias. The 'guirrios'.
- Galicia. Galician 'Foliadas'.
- Catalonia.

* It is also possible to find fandango variations in Latin America.

Video recording 15. Fandango from Torrox, Málaga, Spain.

Francisco Diaz Alonso (2013). Fandango de Torrox. Youtube channel: Francisco Díaz Alonso. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97qICuJgqZA Last visit: 19/11/2022

Next -> THE MUSIC OF VERDIALES

Video recording 13. Cuadrilla from Murcia, Spain.

Memorias de la tradición (2022). Cuadrilla de Henares (Lorca, Murcia). Youtube channel: Manuel Sánchez Martínez. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdD0el7gGpU Last visit: 19/11/2022

Video recording 14. Rondeña from Cáceres, Spain.

Luis GB (2015). 2015-11-28 Rondeña de Castilblanco. Youtube channel: Luis GB. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX_vyg3H7Rk Last visit: 19/11/2022

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