Spanish popular songs – Claude Worms

Transcription of eight popular songs from Spanish for guitar

1.- Canción Montañesa
The Cantabrian coast, like its Basque and Asturian neighbors, is especially rich in songs of the mountain people. Most of them marked the long wedding rituals.

2.- Los higos son verdes
One of the most famous songs of Galician folklore, widely spread throughout Spain.

3.- Baile Redondillo
Dance from Castilla y León that is danced in a circle, hence its name: “baile redondillo”.

4.- El Ole
“El olé” is closely linked to the prehistory of flamenco. Its best-known variant is attributed to “la Curra”, a flamenco dancer. Sudden transitions from 0/8 to 3/4 (=D) may designate it as a distant ancestor of bulerías.

5.- Sardana
This is a classic of the Catalan dance genre, composed, it is said, in honor of Saint Ferriol, who miraculously filled the wine glasses as they emptied!

6.- El Mayoral
Cáceres, capital of Extremadura, ancient land of bulls. This children’s song, close to our children’s songs, praises the wealth of a rancher, Don Vicente, and his herd guardian.

7.- Seguidillas
The La Mancha seguidillas are the ancestors of the boleros. We will note its relationship with the sevillanas: its harmonic structure presents passages in 2/4 that order the crossing of the dancers and their sudden immobilizations, even the movements of the arms and hands of the dancers are reminiscent of the “sevillanas”.

8.- Bolero Liso (duo)
It is the majority genre of the bowling school. There are multiple variations, influenced by the French contradanza, but in a form very close to the “seguidilla”, it became the Spanish dance par excellence in the 19th century. The bolero was passed down to us from a dynasty of ballet teachers, the Pericet family.
In the duet, the first guitar supports the role of the bandurrias; and the second, 4 solo, replaces the lute and the guitar.