Apr 14 2009
Sevillanas… Where do they come from?
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Well, I’m asking you this question, but in fact, I am also interested in knowing the origins of this famous style of music and dance. Yes, famous, as everybody here in Spain knows about ’sevillanas.’
By the way, may it sound strange if someone from Spain doesn’t know about it? I can tell you, if I asked people from my country “Where do Sevillanas come from?”, most of them would say: “From gypsy people” or “From Arabs”!
Interesting! According to several sources, the ’sevillanas’ derivate from ‘la seguidilla manchega’, that is, a typical folk music from Castilla La Mancha, during the Catholic Kings period. Later, they evolved and started to have that “flamenco touch”. During the XVIII century, they were added some dancing, as we known then nowadays.
La ’sevillana’ takes its name from Sevilla (Andalucía), the province where la sevillana became what it is these days. It is one of the most danced and sung music in all the provinces of Andalucía, mainly in fairs and popular festivities. But no need to say, ‘las sevillanas’ are the soul of two main celebrations in that city: ‘La Feria de Abril ‘ and ‘La Romería del Rocío’.
When the ’sevillanas’ were born, they were quite different from what we understand today as ’sevillana’: instead of having four parts, they had just one. By 1950, some musical groups and singers recorded some ’sevillanas’, and from that moment, this dance started to be known in Spain and later, in a lot of foreign countries.
Some ten years ago, ‘las sevillanas’ became very, very popular in Spain, due to the ‘Feria de Abril de Sevilla’ celebration, and during that month, wherever you might go (at night), every pub, every cafeteria in all the country, you can dance and listen to ’sevillanas’. And this will go on. La Feria de Sevilla is about to start in less than 2 weeks; although I live in the North of Spain, I’m sure I’ll hear about it on the radio, on TV. I’ll be able to dance ’sevillanas’ in most of the pubs in my city! I can’t wait!
- Here you have some general information about flamenco .
- You don’t have to be an expert to dance sevillanas! Watch this video . The sound is not very good, but that’s a real scene!
- And this is a professional couple dancing sevillanas live ! (Video)
