''Cartageneras'' () are a

flamenco Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...

palo Palo may refer to: Places * Palo, Argentina, a village in Argentina * Palo, Estonia, village in Meremäe Parish, Võru County, Estonia * Palo, Huesca, municipality in the province of Huesca, Spain * Palo, Iowa, United States, a town located wit ...

belonging to the category of the '' cantes de las minas'' (in English, songs of the mines) or ''cantes minero-levantinos'' (eastern miner songs). As the rest of the songs in this category, it derives from older

folkloric Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging fro ...

fandango Fandango is a lively partner dance originating from Portugal and Spain, usually in triple meter, traditionally accompanied by guitars, castanets, or hand-clapping. Fandango can both be sung and danced. Sung fandango is usually bipartite: it has ...

styles. The origin of this particular style is attributed to traditional fandango from the miner area of Cartagena in the province of

Murcia Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...

, in southern Spain. Although earlier singers like Rojo el Alpargatero contributed to its development, it was

Antonio Chacón Antonio Chacón (1869–1929) was a Spanish flamenco singer antaor Chacón was born in Jerez de la Frontera, Cádiz Province. He began earning a living by performing flamenco around 1884. He toured Andalucia with his two friends, the Molin ...

who determined its definite flamenco form and made it popular in other areas. The stanza of the Cartagenera is the usual for

Fandango Fandango is a lively partner dance originating from Portugal and Spain, usually in triple meter, traditionally accompanied by guitars, castanets, or hand-clapping. Fandango can both be sung and danced. Sung fandango is usually bipartite: it has ...

. Originally, it was played in the same key and mode as the rest of fandangos. But since

Ramón Montoya Ramón Montoya (November 2, 1879, Madrid, Spain – July 20, 1949, Madrid, Spain), Flamenco guitarist and composer. Born into a family of Gitano (Romani) cattle traders, Ramón Montoya used earnings from working in the trade to purchase his first g ...

(Chacón's usual guitarist), all the Cantes de las minas started to be sung in the key of D major, modulating to F# phrygian at the end of the stanza. The chord used for the F# is in fact a rare chord, formed with the notes (from the 6th to the 1st string) F#, D#, F#, G, B, E. It was also at this time that the ''cantes de las minas'' started to lose their ''abandolao'' rhythmic pattern to become cantes libres (with no defined rhythmic pattern). This palo contains a short list of ''cantes''. Only two or three (depending on the authors) are classified under this name.

Sources

* Álvarez Caballero, Ángel: ''La discoteca ideal del flamenco'', Planeta, 1995. * Martín Salazar, Jorge: ''Los cantes flamencos'', Diputación Provincial de Granada. Flamenco styles Spanish music Andalusian music Vocal music {{music-genre-stub