Polo (flamenco palo)

Polo is the name of a musical form of flamenco ( a Palo ), which is another Caña said very similar. The guitar accompaniment is comparable in both Palos rhythm and motives of Soleá. Both have the same key, and possibly the Polo emerged from the Caña. To complete the song of the Polo, usually a verse of Soleá (more precisely the soleá Apola ) is added.

Although today only a single song of Polo exists, known as the Polo natural, in the writings of yet another Polo mentions the Polo de Tobalo, which is probably lost.

Metric and musical structure

The verse of the Polo has the typical both for most flamenco songs as well as for the Spanish folklore form of cuarteta romanceada. It consists of four octosyllabic verses, the second and fourth assonant rhyme, and is usually sung in the following text:

"Viva el polo de Tobalo " ( "Long live the Polo by Tobalo !") Replaced - although the melody clearly not the equivalent of the Polo de Tobalo: Often the last line is by the sentence. Some lines are partially repeated, and there are also two series of melismas that are running in the middle and at the end of the stanza and share the vocals in two halves. The verse is thus sung as follows:

Clock and key are the same as those Solea, ie a 12/8-Takt (or 3/4 and 6/8 alternating) and phrygische mode ( modo Dorico ). The guitar accompaniment is also inspired by the Soleá, although some special arpeggios are inserted after the second phrase of each section (ie after con catorce and y viva el polo).

On the guitar, the Polo is always accompanied on the tonic E. Musicologist Hipólito Rossy claimed that the song would be in major and in a triple meter, but it is obvious that he knew the Palo no good, as all the recordings show the mentioned features of the soleá. He could, however, have been influenced by a recording of the singer Jacinto Almaden, in which the guitarist Perico el del Lunar uses some chords that suggest the major gender.

History

The first mention of a "Gypsy Polo " is included in the poem La Quincaida of the Count of Noroña, which was written in 1779. He is also mentioned in the Cartas Marruecas by José Cadalso that were written about the same time. Critics say that it had not yet traded to the later Polo, but a primitive folk song, which was not a flamenco:

"(...) The Gypsies were on the eve of the Spanish flamenco folk rhythms, and developed the songs, which they preserved folk qualities, a conscious agitanamiento ( a Verzigeunerung ) counter, which should eventually become evident. As this time the conversion was completed, was out of the song, the rhythm, the Gypsies in Andalusia had met already become something else, namely flamenco. In the case of Polo, this did not happen until the beginning of the 19th century, if we accept the criteria Molinas and Mairenas or butler. "

Both the Caña as polo seem to have enjoyed great success. They were held at the beginning of the 19th century for the best type of flamenco singing. Serafín Estébanez Calderón called in his book Escenas andaluzas of 1847 the famous singer El Planeta ( which occurs as the protagonist of one of the scenes) the " King of the Two Polos". He also assured that the Polo is difficult to carry out, that he was born from the Caña and that there was also a polo de Tobalo. The Polo is mentioned in the literature of the 19th century often. Many important singers of the time have included it in their repertoire, to the times of Antonio Chacón, who is considered one of the last great artists of this song.

Although historical sources from two or more Polos speak, can only apply handed down as certainly one of them: the Polo natural. The singer Pepe de la Matrona has recorded a version of the Polo de Tobalo the late 1960s, however, the authenticity of this version from various critics has been questioned, because he could never figure out where he wanted to hear it ..

The only old record entitled "Polo" before its rediscovery in the 1950s was made by La Rubia and the Caña even more similar than usual. 1960, at the time of re-evaluation of the traditional cante, the Polo natural Jacinto Almaden ( " El Niño de Almaden ") was added, in the anthology, who compiled the guitarist Perico el del Lunar and Flamencologe Tomás Andrade de Silva. According to the introduction, the latter wrote that at that time were singers who dominated the Polo, extremely rare. Since then, he has been picked up by various famous singers.

Theories of Polo

There are several conflicting theories concerning the origin of polo and its variants:

• The Folkorist Demofilo presented in his collection of flamenco singing together 37 different texts that were sung as polo shirts or Cañas. He added: ". Known singer Tobalo ( Cristobal ) excelled with the polos and gave its name to a special own song, which is known as the polo Tobalo today " Estébanez Calderón stated in his Escenas Andaluzas that the Polo from the Caña arose.

• Tomás Andrade de Silva mentions the Soleá as the origin of polo. According to him, the singer Curro Durse introduced the habit of polo as an adjunct to Caña to sing, which was followed by the singers until the Polo to Antonio Chacón was uncommon. For the Polo natural was used, which was greatly varies from the singers. The same Flamencologe also claims that Tobalo have invented the polo and had made him different from the Caña. At the time when the recording was made, it was already common for the Polo without Caña was sung by instead a soleá anfügte Apola.

• According to José Navarro Rodríguez, the Polo has never existed. What we know as the Polo would thus be only a variation of the Caña, which was created in the 19th century by the singer Curro Durse. Navarro Rodríguez also contends that the Caña was the invention of a singer from Ronda at the turn of the 19th century, the name was Cristóbal Palmero and was known as " Tobalo El Polo". Since Tobalo is a common Andalusian form of Cristóbal and he assumed the nickname of his father ( Polo), this caused the false assumption that the singing, which he invented was called ( a Caña ) Polo de Tobalo (ie polo Tobalo ). This theory has been questioned because its author could not substantiate with verifiable supporting documents.

• The poet Ricardo Molina and singer Antonio Mairena quote the musicologist García Matos, who confirmed that the Polo flamenco show no relation whatsoever with the folkloric Polo of the 18th century and was not even originated from him. He got his name. They agree with the usual theory that he emerged from the Caña, but contradict various flamenco historians who defined the Polo as a gypsy song and ostracize him as " very poor and unimportant singing ", " rigid and stereotyped ", " a fossil, "" a mummy ". You warrant:

" The alleged and simulated quality of the Polo are nothing but an invention of authors who do not know a word about the Flamenco singing. Many confuse the Spanish or Spanish-American Polo with the flamenco Polo and write the latter, the popularity of the others. "

Recordings

The following shots are usually recommended as a reference:

• Antología del cante flamenco, 2nd Edition, Hispavox 1988, compiled by Tomás Andrade de Silva and Perico el del Lunar. Contains a polo Jacinto Almaden ( " El niño de Almaden ") and a Caña by Rafael Romero.
• Antología del cante flamenco y cante gitano, compiled by Antonio Mairena. Contains Polo and Caña, sung by Mairena itself.
• Magna del cante flamenco antología, Vol 8, CD edition, Hispavox 1992. Contains a Caña, sung by Enrique Morente and a polo de Pepe de la Matrona of Tobalo. The above-mentioned Polo by Jacinto Almaden is also found there.
• Manolo Caracol in 1958, a very own version of Caña on. It was again published in the Quejío collection, within a compilation titled El genio de Manolo Caracol, Hispavox 1997.

Swell

• Ángel Álvarez Caballero: El cante flamenco. Alianza Editorial, Madrid 1998
• Tomás Andrade de Silva: Sobre los de Origen trenta y tres cantes. Published as an introduction to the receiving Antología del Cante Flamenco, Hispavox, Madrid 1960
• José Cadalso: Cartas Marruecas. Biblioteca Virtual Cervantes
• Serafín Estébanez Calderón: Asamblea de los caballeros y damas general de Triana, y toma de la orden de en hábito cierta rubia Bailadora. In: Escenas andaluzas, Madrid 1847; Also in: Biblioteca Virtual Cervantes
• Jorge Martín Salazar. Lot cantes flamenco, Provincial General de Granada, nd
• Antonio Mairena, Ricardo Molina: Mundo y formas del cante flamenco. In: Revista de Occidente, Madrid 1963; Also in: Librería Al -Andalus, Granada / Seville 1979
• Hipólito Rossy: cante jondo Teoría del. 2nd edition, CREDSA, Barcelona, ​​1998