En the previous entry We discussed two of the eight recordings that Carlos Martin Ballester has located the Owl. As mentioned, they were recorded in 1934 on four aluminum discs. In this presentation, we will discuss three of these recordings.
The label on the second record reads "Caña con remate de soleares". Let's see what we find.
Soleares
That you don't love me,
Don't say you don't love me
that you put me in a
that I may even deny my God,
companion of my soul,
that I may even deny my God.
I'm drinking bad water.
I could drink it
from the best of Triana,
I could drink it
from the best of Triana.
The sun rises yellow
expressing the sorrows
that my heart has,
expressing the sorrows
that has my heart.
Have a bad end,
If you don't love me, why are you jealous? (twice).
First, our singer performs one of the short soleares of La SernetaThe couplet is number 222 of the three-verse soleares of the Collection cantes flamenco de DemophilusEl Mochuelo had previously recorded that type of soleá with the following lyrics:
I swear to you on my mother's grave
that you fall like a sick girl
I give you broth from my flesh.
It's the same style they recorded, for example, Juan Breva (What have you gotten me into?), Chacon (She herself confessed) and, more recently, Fernanda from Utrera (What do you want from me?).
This is followed by a soleá of Triana origin – even the lyrics betray this origin – attributed to PineappleIt was sung a lot in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and then fell into oblivion, until it was brought back into fashion in the 1960s. Antonio MairenaThe melody of the first third is very similar to the opening soleá of Joaquin from PaulaPerhaps this reinforces the theory that some soleares from Alcalá have their roots in Triana.
Next, Mochuelo resorts – as in other previous recordings of soleares – to a cante in major mode, a cantiña that is at the origin of what we know today as soleá de Carapiera and which we discuss more extensively in a previous articleWith this, he seeks to create a coda analogous to that which occurs when changing to a major mode with the cabales, at the end of a series of seguiriyas. In older recordings, this verse is also recorded in a soleá style. TwinAnother lyric that Mochuelo used for the same music is:
The full moon is already rising,
The glow is already coming out
of your dark little face.
The series ends with a playful merriment, that is, also in a major mode, which they recovered in 1947 Pepe Pinto, Pastora and Tomás PavónSince then, it has become the most common way to end a series of soleares. Despite the simplicity of the technique, it was a real technical breakthrough that signals to the guitarist that the end is imminent.
Cane with a soleares finish
What is there
the one who has troubles (twice)
come and get closer
Come and come closer to me, oh
because I am constituted (bis)
to drown me
I wish my sorrows would drown me.
You consented to your partner
haiga pideo limosna,
not even with water from the Jordan
That stain will disappear,
not even with water from the Jordan
That stain will disappear.
The Mochuelo records the cane in a different way than how it is usually sung today, which is the one popularized by Rafael Romero in the Anthology of the Cante Flamenco, From 1954. Romero wrote the lyrics there. They can send mewhich, as we saw in the previous installment, Mochuelo recorded as jaberas. The singer from Andújar performed it with the "ayes" unlinked and in a number of six, as indicated Faustino Nunez en a great articleHe followed the reconstruction conceived for the dance and transcribed on a staff by the maestro Monreal, with the help of the guitarist Perico the one with the mole, who is the one who plays and advises on that anthology. Fernando el de Triana, in praising Perico el del Lunar's fondness for the old school, said in his 1935 book (Art and artists flamencos, Madrid: Ediciones Andaluzas Unidas, 1986, p. 238):
“…it is understandable that Pedro del Valle was the first to transcribe it into musical notation with the purest rhythms flamenco"Yes, in collaboration with Maestro Monreal, nothing more than the extremely difficult 'Caña del Fillo', and all out of a desire to ensure that greatness does not die, even if it is transformed into dance."
We are not going to assess the attribution of the cane to SonFirstly, it is quite possible that the caña is nothing more than the flamenco adaptation – with adjustment to the soleá rhythm – of a composition culturedFurthermore, we also don't know if it's Fillo the father (born in San Fernando in 1806) or, more likely, his son, with the same nickname (from El Puerto de Santa María, 1831). Both are discussed. Luis Javier Vázquez Morilla in his essential book Silverio Franconetti and Los Fillos. A journey through the history of flamencoOn a record that Rafael Romero recorded in France in 1959, the reed is also attributed to Sweet Curro (born in Cádiz in 1823). Both affiliations are not incompatible in a traditional genre such as the cante flamenco whose creations are based, almost always, on the reworking of pre-existing melodies.
In recordings prior to Rafael Romero's 1954 recordings, we note that the caña was interpreted with some differences. To avoid being exhaustive, we will cite only a few examples of cañas in the shellac discography (Romero's were recorded on vinyl). These are the recordings made by El Mochuelo, Tenazas de Morón, Niño de Cabra, Niño de Marchena, Andrés Heredia and Juanito ValderramaIn these six singers, the pattern is as follows:
- Opening with a "que" linked to an "ay", followed by the series of "ayes" typical of the cane.
- Exposition of the first verse and its complete repetition.
- Part of the second verse is sung (sometimes only a single word of it), followed by the complete verse.
- The third and fourth verses are processed in the same way as in the previous two points.
Rafael Romero doesn't sing it exactly like that, because after reciting the first verse, he doesn't repeat it completely but only the last syllables, and the same happens with the third verse. Furthermore, in the second part of the refrain, he introduces the mysterious lines "Arsa y viva Ronda / reina de los cielos" (Long live Ronda / queen of the heavens). According to August Butler, it was the man from Cádiz Enrique Ortega The Fat OneSilverio's close friend, who added the verse, taken from the male part of an old pole. Those verses are also sung by the man from Linares. Andres Heredia the Cross-Eyed One.
Returning to the "ayes" (sometimes just "a" or just "y"), we very succinctly indicate the number and manner in which the aforementioned singers do it, in descending order of the recording's age.
- 1954. Rafael Romero, lyrics They can send me: 6 "ayes" in the first part of the cante; another 6 in the second. Romero, who was the great popularizer of the cane, registered it many more times and always followed the same scheme.
- 1949. Juanito Valderrama, lyrics They can send me: 6 "ayes" in the first part of the cante6 more in the second.
- 1935. Andrés Heredia, lyrics I have it in my heart: 4 «ayes»; 3 «ayes».
- 1930. Niño de Marchena, lyrics The thought encourages me: 6 «ayes»; 6 «ayes».
- 1929. Niño de Cabra, lyrics I didn't force you, mountain girl: 3 "ayes", the last one being longer; 4 "ayes", with the last one being longer.
- 1922. Morón's Pincers, lyrics There is no revenge in love: 1 long "y" that joins with an "ay", followed by 3 "ayes"; same in the second part.
Apart from the 1934 recording we discussed, Mochuelo recorded his songs on other occasions, all before the six recordings mentioned. Sometimes they are announced and/or titled as "polo." Other lyrics that the Sevillian recorded include: The thought encourages me and this one that compiles Lafuente and Alcántara in 1865 (II, p. 211):
I thought that with time
My sorrows would end,
But I see that they are increasing.
How many hours are in a day?
He always sings one long, connected "ay"—except perhaps for a very brief pause to breathe—at the end of the second and fourth verses. In this respect, then, the difference compared to the other singers' reeds is remarkable.
Anyway, we shouldn't be too fussy about the number of "ayes". So, the teacher Aurelio Selles, to the question of Blas Vega Regarding what type of cane song was sung in Cádiz, he declared with visible anger (José Blas Vega, Flamenco conversations with Aurelio from Cádiz, Madrid: Librería Valle, 1978, p. 84):
"The cane, you'll understand that can't be." ooooo, ooooo… That can't be. And that's all people know about it. They can send me…Everyone sings the same song. When there are beautiful lyrics, like these:
Thought, where are you taking me?
that I can't follow you
Don't take me to places
where I cannot get out.
And cough empeñayou with the king's thing, the ooooo…And one day Muñoz Molleda comes to me and says, “There are five, aren’t there?” And I just can’t accept that. (…) I swear I’ve heard a terrible amount of nonsense, because this whole thing about whether there are five or four… oooooBecause that's unacceptable from a flamenco singer. flamencoBecause cante The shorter it has been, the funnier it has been and the more it has touched the soul."
El Mochuelo closes the cane with a Triana soleá of Ramon the Ollero. He performs it with very interesting lyrics. Lafuente and Alcántara inform us of a variant (II, p. 24):
You have let your father
Go begging for alms!
That stain won't come out
not even with cologne.
The third disc contains two more. canteThe biscuit reads: "Polo with a soleares flourish. Old Christmas gift for the souls of the bell ringers of Seville." We will discuss the first one in this installment and the other in the next, which will be the last.
Polo shirt with a soleares finish
I am the devil, pilgrim, who
that you have come to tempt me, ay ay ay yayyay
I am not the devil or the demon, that
that I am your natural woman, ay ay ay yayyay.
I've given you more kisses (twice)
and how many grains of sand does it have?
Sanlúcar, Jerez and El Puerto,
how many grains of sand does it have
Sanlúcar, Jerez and the Port.
The two types of poles are well known flamencoThey are the ones that have reached us. One is the one that revealed Hyacinth Almaden in the Anthology of the Cante FlamencoOf 1954 (Carmona has a source), with a first verse identical to the rondeña I got lost while sailingwhich the same singer recorded in that collection. The other is the one we hear here from Mochuelo. Some authors call the first one "natural pole" and the second one "Tobalo's pole," and others do the reverse. Although the one that begins with the verse Carmona has a source Since the lyrics mention Tobalo, I'm inclined to think that the one from El Mochuelo is Tobalo's. In any case, what's most interesting is the music.
In any case, Mochuelo's recording is the oldest I know of that style of polo, set to a fragment of the ballad of Count Sol. He recorded it in 1947 with the same lyrics. Pepe the Matron, for the professor's private collection García Matos (published in 1990), and also in 1969, in his fundamental Treasures of the flamenco old, where he attributes it to Tobalo. Pepe Marchena He also recorded it in 1963, but only sang the last two verses. It's quite possible he learned it from his teacher. Raphael CoupleSome family home recordings of him were released in 2014. zayas with the guitar of Manolo from HuelvaEven so, in Pareja, as in Mochuelo, the third verse is "I am not the devil nor the demon", while Matrona and Marchena say "I am not the devil pilgrim".
There is another type of polo that is little known and deserves careful consideration. It is the one registered by Antonio de Canillas with the same lyrics as the Mochuelo – and also the third verse "I am neither devil nor demon" – whose first third is similar to that of the malagueña of PeroteThis also links it to the world of fandango, as is the case with the polo recorded by Almadén, related to the rondeña.
En an interview we did with Canillas my uncle louis soler And I, published in 2015, told us that she learned it from Pepe Navarro, founding partner of the Peña Juan Breva.
El Mochuelo ends the polo with a most curious soleá. The opening melody is a hybrid of Alcalá's closing soleá and El Mellizo's closing soleá, with the typical enjambment in the repetition of the first verse found in both styles. Finally, the Cadiz style prevails in the conclusion, where it adheres to the forms of Paquirri the Glove, as my dear friend and great flamenco singer already warned me Perico the Clothier.
The lyrics, very much in the style of Cádiz, are fascinating. It's no surprise that they mention the beaches of Sanlúcar and El Puerto, but they do mention Jerez. Jerez once had a river beach, located south of the city, at the confluence of Lake Ligustino—the ancient mouth of the Guadalquivir River—and the Guadalete River. There stood the hermitage of San Telmo, near El Portal, and a port from which small boats could sail to El Puerto de Santa María and Cádiz. As a reminder of this maritime past, the Christ of the Expiration, which is housed in the hermitage of San Telmo, carries a fishing net. ♦
→ See here the first installment of this series by Ramón Soler.
