Who would have thought that a strictly musical parameter could so accurately and beautifully symbolize and summarize the process that gave rise to a musical genre like the flamencoYes, I'm talking about the five cries that are sung when singing the polo, almost identical to the six of the caña, which some call a paseíllo and are interspersed at specific moments between the verses, providing the cante of a solemnity rarely seen in a genre of music and dance characterized by the freedom to arrange its component parts, organizing the cantes, variations, and falsetas, as each one understands them. It is true that both styles, especially the caña, have more of academic music than of flamenco Due to its formal rigidity; however, the polo, or rather, the polos, have managed to maintain a certain malleability, as is the case with the mirabrás in relation to the caracoles, since the latter are more formally rigid. There are several ways to organize the sections of the mirabrás (we'll talk about those "potpourri of cantiñas" another time), while in the caña they have an almost unalterable order, as is the case with the classic version of the caracoles. Antonio Chacon.
But, getting to the point: that blessed sequence of cries is, in my opinion, a declaration of principles, something like the melodic-harmonic founding charter of flamenco, since the melody they create seems to proclaim: let there be flamencoThese are its foundations, its aesthetic principles. There! And the flamenco It was done, for the glory of the King of the Poles, as Estebanez Calderon He named the man from Cádiz. Antonio Monge Rivero The Planet, of whom we know from The Commercial Daily of Cádiz that in the twenties of the 19th century sang the polo of Cadiz, the one of Jerez, the one of Ronda and the nominated one of Tobalo, a kind of golds, cups, swords and clubs of polo, for a reason he was the King.
The melody in Phrygian mode, that melodic mode of E which is the hallmark of cante Gypsy from Andalusia, yes, cante who it canteWhether from Triana or Kuala Lumpur, pure Gypsy or non-Gypsy from the "Jambería". Melodies with an intense oriental aroma that season the flamenco giving it a distinctive character, making it unique among all musical genres in the world. The almost mysterious melody that these laments evoke makes all the difference. In my opinion, it's a "this far and no further!" moment. This newly born music began its journey in the first half of the 19th century and, without intending to, had a clear purpose of renewal, pointing the way forward for that singular revolution.
"By listening to the different versions, we observe how the evolves flamenco...how different it is depending on the era. For example, how Morente and Pepe Habichuela square cante and guitar in the laments in that sublime tribute to Don Antonio Chacón. flamenco It is a living art in constant evolution. Let us remember the words From Big Chief Paco to Mercedes Milá: “I don’t like to revolutionize, I like to evolve”»
These five short pentachords (five notes each) did not arise spontaneously. It is well known that music, like matter, is neither created nor destroyed, only transformed. They may have had their antecedent in a popular zorongo pattern that we preserve thanks to Federico Garcia Lorca, who collected it in his work as a folklorist, in a series of popular songs that he would later record with his godmother Encarnación López 'La Argentinita' (I'll tell you about my visits to the house of another day) Pilar Lopez(in whose living room stood the piano where both geniuses recorded). If we listen to the melody of that zorongo...
The moon is a small well,
The flowers are worthless.
What matters are your arms.
when they hug me at night.
…We realize how close it is, melodically speaking, to the blessed ayes. However, in some old recordings of polos and cañas, one can appreciate how back then the ayes were more blurred than now, not as ordered as they probably became from the dance version of the caña, the one of Carmen amaya upon their arrival in Madrid, or, wouldn't you know it, the one from Pilar Lopez, in the film of Edgar Neville Mystery and sprite of flamenco from 1952 sung by Hyacinth Almadenwith the cries uttered one by one, slowly, to the free rhythm of the guitar and the dance, giving them the necessary solemnity. In the first recorded versions of The Little Owl, The Blonde Santiesteban o The Pliers, if we compare them with that of Rafael Romero for the Hispavox Anthology or with that of Almadén, the cane that recorded The blondeLabeled as polo1 in 1908 (a common practice in early recordings to interchange styles), the song reveals how the cries are so intertwined they sound like a single lament. The same occurs with the version by The Pliers of 1922, or that of The Little Owl from 1906. It is likely that the separation of the cries was done for the corridor of the dance version, and it remained that way.
I provide here the transcription of the cries, those from the cane in the system above and those from the pole below, so that we can graphically observe the similarities and differences. There are six cries from the cane (the fourth is repeated) and five from the pole, identical in both. canteYes, except for the fourth, where the E of the reed is an A at the pole, a subtle but noticeable change.
It comes to mind Antonio gades intoning the laments of the pole and emphasizing that difference in the fourth. By listening to the different versions we observe how it evolves flamenco...how different it is depending on the era. For example, how Morente and Pepe Habichuela square cante and guitar in the sighs in that sublime Tribute to Don Antonio Chacón. The flamenco It is a living art in constant evolution. Let us remember the words of the Big Chief Paco a Mercedes Mila"I don't like to revolutionize, I like to evolve." Just listen to the beginning of this variation on Huelva in their Choqueros Airs. ♦
