The Petenera is 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 an ...

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 ...

in a 12-beat

metre The metre ( British spelling) or meter ( American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pre ...

, with strong beats distributed as follows: 2'' 2] '' 5] '' '' '' '' 0'' 1 It is therefore identical with the 16th century

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

dances zarabanda and the

jácara ''Jácaras'' are Spanish songs which are accompanied with instruments and are performed during the entr'acte of a theatrical performance and also as an accompaniment to many types of dance. Etymology There are different explanations for the origin ...

. The

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...

are in 4-line stanzas. It is believed to be a very old style of song, as it was already mentioned by writer Serafín Estébanez Calderón in the mid 19th century, and the adherence to the rhythm of the old zarabanda seems to confirm its age. Several theories have been suggested as to its origin, although there is not enough evidence to sustain any of them unerringly: * Theory of Paterna. This popular theory sustains that this ''palo'' originated in the town of

Paterna de Rivera Paterna de Rivera is a small town located in the province of Cádiz, Spain. According to the 2005 census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This ...

in the

Province of Cádiz Cádiz is a province of southern Spain, in the southwestern part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is the southernmost part of mainland Spain, as well as the southernmost part of continental Europe. It is bordered by the Spanish provi ...

. According to a legend, the name of the song refers to a ''cantaora'' (woman singer) called "La Petenera", who was born there. She was reported to be, owing to her seduction power, the "damnation of men". The name "Petenera" would be a phonetic corruption of "Paternera" (born in Paterna). This theory was sustained by folklorist

Demófilo Antonio Machado Álvarez, better known by his pseudonym Demófilo (Santiago de Compostela, 1848 – Seville, 4 February 1893), was a writer, anthropologist, and Spanish folklorist. He was the son of the noted Spanish folklorist, Cipriana Álvarez ...

. * Theory of the Jewish origin. According to this theory, suggested by flamencologist Hipólito Rossy, the petenera originated in the songs of

Sephardi Jews Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...

. He even assured that Sephardi Jews in the Balkans still sang the lyrics that contain the verse of the Petenera as the "damnation of men" * Some modern theories situate the origin of the Petenera in Petén, a department (administrative region) of

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by Hon ...

Sources

*ÁLVAREZ CABALLERO, Ángel: ''La discoteca ideal del flamenco'', Planeta, 1995 *CASTAÑO, José María:
Conferencia sobre la Serranía de Cádiz y sus cantes
, Circuito "Caminos del Flamenco" de la Diputación de Cádiz, Peña Flamenca de Grazalema, 26 de mayo de 2001. *MARTÍN SALAZAR, Jorge: ''Los cantes flamencos'', Diputación Provincial de Granada *ROSSY, Hipólito: ''Teoría del cante jondo'', CREDSA, second edition, 1998 (first edition 1966)

References

Flamenco styles {{music-genre-stub