Caracoles (Flamenco)

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The caracoles are a palo of flamenco , that is, one of its musical and dance forms. According to their origins and their musical characteristics, they belong to the group of cantiñas . The name comes from the exclamation ¡Caracoles, caracoles! in the closing stanza, the reputation of a street vendor who sells snails.

history

The modern form of the caracoles was designed by Antonio Chacón , as is evident from various sources.

The oldest known source containing a piece of music entitled Los Caracoles is a guitar school by Francisco Sánchez Roda from 1850. In addition to Los Caracoles, the work contained some pieces of national fame, for example an Jota aragonesa , the Jaleo de Jerez and the Himno de Riego , as well as salon pieces such as waltzes , rigaudons , polkas and mazurkas . The pieces were notated in relatively simple notation and not in tablature . This suggests that the work was intended for educated amateurs who could read music. This source, discovered by Guillermo Castro Buendía in 2018, suggests that it was a piece of sophisticated musical culture that was already well-known at the time.

An event announcement from 1866 shows that Por Caracoles was already being danced back then . It is not certain, but it is probable, that this is the form of the song here. From 1876 a song called La Caracolera , the snail seller, by Manuel Sanz de Terroba (1829–1888) has come down to us. It consists of three parts, each in a stanza with the exclamation ¡Caracoles, caracoles! end up.

Tío José el Granaíno is generally considered to be the creator of the caracoles in the form of a flamenco song . Francisco Hidalgo, known as Paco el Gandul, took over the song from Tío José el Granaíno and modified it before Antonio Chacón gave it the final form. Oral traditions of this kind should, however, be judged with caution, since half-truths creep in over time and facts are forgotten. However, the written documents that have survived only reflect a small part of the reality of that time.

Musical characteristics

Manuel Sanz's song from 1876 is notated in D major in 2 ⁄ 4 time . Melodically , the three choruses resemble the later flamenco version, but without the arpeggios ( rasgueos ) and melisms that characterize Chacón's guitar playing and singing. The modern, created by Chacón version is in the 12 / 8 makes music -Stroke, according to the soleá and the other Cantiñas.

Verses

Chacón's version consists of four parts, which he interpreted as follows: the first heavy, the second pointed, the third as a transition and the fourth as the final stanza with the exclamation from which the Palo owes its name. Antonio Chacón sang the following text:

La gran calle de Alcalá
Cómo reluce
cuando suben y bajan
los andaluces.

Vámonos,
al café de La Unión,
donde paran Curro Cúchares,
el Tato y Juan León.

¡Ay !, eres bonita
y el conocimiento
la pasión no quita

Te quiero yo
más que a la mare
que me parió

Porque vendes castañas asadas,
aguantando la nieve y el frío,
con tus zapatos y tus medias calás,
eres la reina por tu marido .

Regordonas, que se acaban
hermosas como recién casadas
y yo las vendo por un querer.

¡Caracoles, Caracoles,
mocito qué ha dicho usted,
que son tus ojos dos soles
y vamos viviendo y olé.

Alcalá boulevard
as it shines!
when they stroll up and down
the Andalusians.

Let's go!
to Café La Unión ,
where Curro Cúchares perform,
Tato and Juan León.

Oh how beautiful you are
and the mind
doesn't diminish the passion.

I love you
more than the mother
who gave birth to me.

As you sell roasted chestnuts,
defying the snow and the cold,
in your soaked shoes and stockings,
you are the queen for your husband.

They are nice
and round together like newlyweds
and I am selling them for a love.

Snails! Snails!
Boy what did you say
that your eyes are like two suns,
we'll live, olé!

In favor of the artistic musical form, Antonio Chacón removed the final stanza from the text of the simpler song from 1876; abandoned the textual context in favor of a coherent musical structure. He took the verse with the roasted chestnuts from a Tonadilla published in 1843 . The opening stanza was previously:

Santa Cruz de Mudela
cómo reluce
cuando suben y bajan
los andaluces

Santa Cruz de Mudela
as it lights up
when they travel there and back
The Andalusians.

Santa Cruz de Mudela in the province of Ciudad Real in the La Mancha region has been a railway junction on the route from Andalusia to Madrid and a stopover for travelers from Andalusia since 1865. The variant with La gran calle de Alcalá is preserved in a photo from 1907 with the title Alegrías . That song, sung by El Mochuelo to the dance by Juana la Macarrona , did not end with the exclamation ¡Caracoles!

References and comments

  1. ↑ El Caracol ( Spanish ) = the snail
  2. ↑ Guillermo Castro Buendía: La cantiña de los caracoles a la luz del "Método para la enseñanza del solfeo y de la guitarra" by Francisco Sánchez Roda (1850) . In: Sinfonía Virtual . January 1, 2019, ISSN  1886-9505 , p. 4–5 (Spanish, sinfoniavirtual.com [PDF; accessed April 7, 2020]).
  3. ^ A b Miguel Ortiz: Caracoles. In: Flamenco Viejo. March 16, 2010, accessed December 22, 2018 (Spanish).
  4. ↑ Guillermo Castro Buendía: La cantiña de los caracoles . S. 3-4 .
  5. ↑ Guillermo Castro Buendía: La cantiña de los caracoles . S. 18 .
  6. ↑ a b Guillermo Castro Buendía: La cantiña de los caracoles . S. 11 .
  7. ↑ a b Guillermo Castro Buendía: La cantiña de los caracoles . S. 12 .
  8. ↑ Guillermo Castro Buendía: La cantiña de los caracoles . S. 6 .
  9. ↑ Guillermo Castro Buendía: La cantiña de los caracoles . S. 6-7 .
  10. ↑ a b Guillermo Castro Buendía: La cantiña de los caracoles . S. 13 .
  11. ↑ Guillermo Castro Buendía: La cantiña de los caracoles . S. 7-8 .
  12. ↑ Guillermo Castro Buendía: La cantiña de los caracoles . S. 8 .
  13. ↑ Ángel Álvarez Caballero: El cante flamenco . Alianza Editorial, Madrid 2004, ISBN 978-84-206-4325-0 , p. 132-133 .
  14. ↑ Guillermo Castro Buendía: La cantiña de los caracoles . S. 5-6 .
  15. ↑ Guillermo Castro Buendía: La cantiña de los caracoles . S. 15 .
  16. ↑ Cristina Díaz: Las Virtudes, un coso cuadrado. In: Diario de Sevilla. April 21, 2008, Retrieved April 28, 2020 (Spanish).
  17. ↑ a b Guillermo Castro Buendía: La cantiña de los caracoles . S. 16 .

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