The music of Aragon has through history absorbed
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
,
Celt
The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...
ic,
Moorish
The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages.
Moors are not a distinct or se ...
and
French influences, much like its culture. Traditional instruments used in the region include
bagpipes
Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, No ...
,
drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...
s,
flute
The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...
s,
tambourine
The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...
s,
rattles and, perhaps most distinctively, the
guitarro Guitarro could refer to:
* Guitarro (instrument), a type of baroque guitar in Spain
* Guitarro, a type of ray in the guitarfish
The guitarfish, also referred to as shovelnose rays, are a family, Rhinobatidae, of rays. The guitarfish are known f ...
and
bandurria
The bandurria is a plucked chordophone from Spain, similar to the mandolin and bandola, primarily used in Spanish folk music, but also found in former Spanish colonies.
Instrument development
Prior to the 18th century, the bandurria had a round ...
.
Jota (music)
The jota () is a genre of music and the associated dance known throughout Spain, most likely originating in Aragon. It varies by region, having a characteristic form in Aragon (where it is the most important), Catalonia, Castile-La Mancha, Castil ...
is the best-known style of music from
Aragon
Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...
. While regionally emblematic to Aragon, the Jota is also danced in most regions of Spain, unlike for instance
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 ...
which until recently was uniquely regional to Andalucia and some neighbouring areas. The Jota is played instrumentally, danced, and sung.
Other genres of traditional Aragonese music include albadas and rondas.
Some of the most notable Spain
cupletistas were born in Aragon in the first decades of the 20th century.
Raquel Meller became a major international star. Other important cupletistas included
Preciosilla, Paquita Escribano, Matilde Aragón, Mercedes Serós, one of the creators of the Catalan couplet, Ofelia de Aragón and Elvira de Amaya.
Recent artists with folk influences include
José Antonio Labordeta
José Antonio Labordeta Subías (10 March 1935, in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain – 19 September 2010, Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain) was a Spanish ( Aragonese) singer, songwriter, poet, writer and political activist. He was described by The ''Gran Enciclop ...
, La Bullonera or Joaquín Carbonell. In
Pop and
Rock music
Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...
, the most popular groups have been
Héroes del silencio
Héroes del Silencio (Spanish: ''Heroes of Silence'') (well known as Héroes or HDS) was a Spanish rock band from Zaragoza, formed by guitarist Juan Valdivia and singer Enrique Bunbury. The lineup was completed by bassist Joaquín Cardiel and ...
and
Amaral.
References
Aragon
Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...
{{Music of Spain