
La Estructura de la Caña:
I Salida: start, introduction of the guitar(s) - 00:23
II Temple:the singer makes sure to be in the guitar tone, to catch the pitch and tempo – 01:33; 02:08; 02:24; 03:22; 03:34
III Salida del Cante: start of the singing: “Los íes” / “los ayes”: the singing of i’s or a’s, typical for the Caña (Paseillo) – 03:41; 04:01; 04:11; 05:06
IV Salida del Baile: start of the dance (often during the Los íes) – 04:17
V Primera Letra: singing (by Juan Reina) of the first two lines of first “letter” or stanza (Caña of Fernando Terremoto) – 05:38
Ay el pensamiento me anima / Oh, thinking encourages me
a querer a esta gitana, / to love this gypsy girl,
VI Los íes for the second time (Paseillo) - 06:42
VII Escobilla: extended footwork, the dancer performs an entire rhythmic composition of zapateado - 08:08 (Merche Esmeralda); 09:04 (Milagros Mengíbar)
VIII Singing of the last two lines of the Primera Letra (by Juan Reina) – 11:16
pero temo que me deje / but I fear you’ll leave me
con la vergüenza en la cara / with shame on the face.
IX Los íes for the third time (Paseillo) – 12:22
X The second Escobilla – 13:48
XI Macho de la Caña: the second (and often the ending) letra of the Caña, performed in a faster tempo with the same basic underlying compás.
Often the Soleá Apolá of Enrique Ortega (El Gordo) is used:
Carmen Linares 14:51; Talegón de Córdoba 15:23; Chano Lobato 16:03
(Todos) le pide a Dios / (Everyone) asks God
la salud y la libertad, / for health and freedom,
y yo le pido la muerte / and I ask for my death
no me la quiere manda./ He won’t answer me.
To(dos) el mundo le pide a Dios / Everyone in the world asks God
la salud y la libertad. / for health and freedom.
(XII) Sometimes a third letra is sung. At 16:31 Chano Lobato closes with another Soleá Apolá probably of Enrique Ortega (El Gordo):
Ay que, ¡arsa y viva Ronda / Oh, arsa (?) and live in Ronda!
reina de los cielos! / queen of the skies!
y no me lo manda / and don’t tell me,
no me lo manda la ley. / the law won’t tell (doesn’t forbid).
The video is closed (17:09) with a Caña in 1922 sung by El Tenazas de Morón, consisting of a temple, one letra and three Los ayes, but no Macho:
En el querer no hay venganza. / In love there is no revenge.
Tú te has vengado de mí. / You have avenged me.
Castigo tarde o temprano / Punishment sooner or later
del cielo te ha de venir. / from heaven will come to you.
ELEMENTS
Compás: the rhythm/beat patterns – ragueo (guitar) - 00:43; 01:06
Falseta: melodic part (guitar) - 00:50; 01:13; 01:23: 01:51
Cierre: rhythmic break (guitar), e.g. call for the cantaor/singer - 01:29: 02:02; 02:44; 03:13; 11:02
Compás Caña: 12-beats (compás de 12 tiempos) – 02:15
Sometimes the “Cierre” is missed… - 02:35
Marcaje: “marking” the beat, dancing with little footwork, the use of the arms is predominant, focusing on accompanying the singer and GUITARIST (wrong subtitle at 11:55!). When the moves are made in the same place, one speaks of Las Mudanzas - 04: 29; 05:06: 06:54; 11:55; 12:26; 13:04
Zapateado: footwork (tap dance) – 05:01; 05:30; 06:22
Palmas (handclapping) accentuating the rhythm of the zapateado – 8:32; 09:22
Llamada: dancer’s movement cues to signal the guitarist of a forthcoming change in rhythm (e.g. the start or end of a dance section) followed by the Remate: closing movements of a particular dance part of the choreography – 10:39; 14:46
Subida: increase in speed of the dance – 13:42 (Manuela Vargas); 14:08 (Carmen Mora)
The videos of the complete Cañas (+ one Fandango) can be found in my Flamenco Playlist:
- Carmen Mora (baile), Carmen Linares (cante), Jose Manzanita & Luis Habichuela (toque):
- El Chocolate (cante) & Manuel Morao (toque) – FANDANGOS:
- Manuela Vargas (baile), Talegon (cante), Pepe & Carlos Habichuela y Enrique Escudero (toque):
- Mario Maya & Concha Vargas (baile), El Piki & Miguel Lopez (cante), Paco & Angel Cortes (toque):
- Matilde Coral (baile), Romerito de Jerez (cante), Rafael Mendiola (toque):
- Merche Esmeralda (baile), Chano Lobato (cante), Pepe Moreno & José Maria Molero (toque):
- Milagros Mengíbar (baile), Juan Reina (cante), Antonio Márques (toque):
- Rafael Romero (cante), Perico del Lunar (toque):