Cante Jondo: The Soul of Andalusia

Abstract

Historically and spiritually the songheritage of Andalusia, cante jondo' reflects the race and environment of the andaluz, who composes and sings this provocative music. Cante jondo, a plastic expression of music and poetry, springs from the mysterious creative instinct and artistic genius of the andaluz in a spiritual, almost frenzied, lament, uttering his sacred and pagan culture. For in cante jondo we find synthesized the racial distinction, the elegance, the sadness, the frustration, the dreams, the loves, and the individualism of the andaluz, who sings in a lament that throbs with a passion for life and a spiritual union with death. The origins of the estilo jondo are debatable in so far as the sources of any folklore material consist of imitation and re-creation of existing patterns. However, the musical basis of cante jondo is the intimately profound repetition of a single note. The stressed note has the run of the scale and is limited in range only by the vocal power of the singer (cantaor). The tonal structure raises and lowers the voice, which follows the tightly interwoven pattern of four of the seven main notes of the Arabic scale. This pattern is saved from monotony by the rich lyrical ornamentation of the musical arabesques or appoggiaturas. The modulations on the notes are so intricate and so tightly bound to the intonation of the word that it is almost impossible to distinguish between the spiritual and the material contents of the song. Consequently, the instinctive quality of the rhythm and its full measure seem to be emphasized. The result is the plaintive and passionate, yet strident, sob so characteristic of cante jondo that, once heard, it is instantly recognizable. Three events in Southern Spain possibly influenced, in varying degrees, Spanish music and, combined with Andalusian racial characteristics, resulted in ante jondo. The first of these historical movements was the acceptance by the Spanish Church of the Byzantine liturgical music. Manuel de Falla believed that the marked resemblance of Spanish folk-songs to the sensualism of traditional Indian music was due to Byzantine influence in the Catholic chants used in the centuries during which Spain was converted to Christianity. The earliest known example of an Andalusian melody containing the elements of the Byzantine chant is the siguiriya (seguidilla), which shows a marked absence of metrical rhythm in the melodic verses and in the constantly recurring modulating patterns.2 The two examples of seguidillas that follow are of the nineteenth century: