Malagueña (genre)
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The malagueña () is a genre of
folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...
from eastern Venezuela, most notably from the island of
Margarita A margarita is a cocktail consisting of tequila, triple sec, and lime juice. Some margarita recipes include simple syrup as well and are often served with salt on the rim of the glass. Margaritas can be served either shaken with ice (on the rock ...
. It is characterized by a solo vocal performance and typical accompaniment of a
mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...
, a
cuatro Cuatro, Spanish (and other Romance languages) for the 4, number 4, may refer to: * Cuatro (instrument), a family of Latin American string instruments, including: ** Cuatro (Venezuela) ** Puerto Rican cuatro * Cuatro (TV channel), a Spanish free-to ...
and a
guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...
, with a rhythm in 3/4 time.


History and Etymology

The malagueña traces its origins back to
Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...
, evidenced clearly in the name, as "malagueña" pertains to the city of
Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...
in southern Andalusia. This link is further evidenced by the malagueñas palo of
flamenco Flamenco () is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the Gitanos, gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and Region of Murcia, ...
, which has a similar harmonic progression to the Venezuelan genre. There is a further possibility that the malagueña entered Venezuela not directly from Andalusia but instead through settlers from the
Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...
. ''Isleño'' folk music also includes a style of malagueña which derives from the flamenco palo. Like the Venezuelan malagueña, the ''isleño'' malagueña's
timple The timple is a traditional five-string plucked string instrument of the Canary Islands. It started being manufactured in the 19th century. In La Palma island and in the north of the island of Tenerife, many timple players omit the first (D ...
accompaniment marks the beats of the 3/4 time, where in flamenco it is more common to perform the malagueñas in "cante libre". Furthermore, multiple verses are typically performed in the ''isleño'' and Venezuelan malagueñas, whilst in flamenco it is not uncommon to perform only one verse. Given these commonalities with the Canary Islands malagueña, coupled with Venezuela's long history of Canarian settlement and immigration, there is support to the origin of the Venezuelan malagueña in the Canary Islands as opposed to the Spanish mainland. ''Margariteño'' musician and composer José Elías "Chelías" Villaroel proposes an alternate etymology for the malagueña, suggesting that the genre was originally entitled ''halagüeña'' (from halagar "to flatter") due to the flattering nature of the lyrics, and only later was the "m" added via conflation with the existing musical styles from Spain and Andalusia. He also attests that it originated in the Venezuelan state of
Sucre Sucre (; ) is the ''de jure'' capital city of Bolivia, the capital of the Chuquisaca Department and the sixth most populous city in Bolivia. Located in the south-central part of the country, Sucre lies at an elevation of . This relatively high ...
.


Text


Poetic Form

The verses of the malagueña are built as
hendecasyllabic In poetry, a hendecasyllable (as an adjective, hendecasyllabic) is a line of eleven syllables. The term may refer to several different poetic meters, the older of which are quantitative and used chiefly in classical (Ancient Greek and Latin) poet ...
or
octosyllabic The octosyllable or octosyllabic verse is a line of verse with eight syllables. It is equivalent to tetrameter verse in trochees in languages with a stress accent. Its first occurrence is in a 10th-century Old French saint's legend, the '' Vie d ...
quatrains A quatrain is a type of stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four lines. Existing in a variety of forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Persia, Ancient India, Ancient Gree ...
with rhyme schemes of either ABAB or ABBA. An example of a malagueña verse is one performed by the Venezuelan ensemble Vasallos del sol, transcribed below: In practice, however, the verses of the malagueña are performed with an initial and final repetition of the first line, making it a six-line structure with a rhyme scheme of ''AABABA''. The example above would thus be performed as follows:


Themes

Given the predominance of the malagueña in eastern Venezuela, it often features lyrics centered on the culture of this region. This is demonstrated in the following excerpt from a malagueña by folk singer
Gualberto Ibarreto Gualberto José Ibarreto Barrios (born July 12, 1947 in El Pilar, Sucre state, Venezuela), is a folk singer who plays the mandolin, cuatro, and guitar. He has released 24 studio records. See also * Venezuelan music Several styles of the t ...
, where he references the Virgen del Valle, the patron saint of eastern Venezuela: Other common themes frequently featured in malagueñas involve love, heartache, physical and emotional pain and exhaustion, grief and death. Take, for example, a verse which is featured in many performances and recordings of malagueñas: Here the poetic voice declares they're incapable of struggling anymore from exhaustion, but laments that ceasing this struggle is a sign of cowardice. They go on to elaborate how their heart is torn to shreds from their effort to earn the love of the poetic object. On a similar thematic note, another popular verse has the poetic voice refuse to sing more, as their soul and heart are hurting and they are out of both love and breath: Many traditional malagueñas are written from a male perspective and often focus on feminine presences in the singer's life, be it lovers, young women in meadows, the Virgen del Valle, or maternal figures. The latter is featured in a malagueña composed by Aquiles Nazoa and performed by singers including
Soledad Bravo Soledad Bravo (born January 1, 1943) is a Venezuelan singer. Born in Logroño, La Rioja, Spain, her father was a Spanish republican, moving to Venezuela with his family when his daughter was still at an early age. At 24, Soledad began studying ...
and
Simón Díaz Simón Narciso Díaz Márquez (August 8, 1928 – February 19, 2014), also known as tío Simón, was a Venezuelan singer, actor, TV host, comedian, and Grammy Award-winning composer of Music of Venezuela, Venezuelan music. Some of his most popula ...
. In this excerpt from Nazoa's malagueña, the poetic voice speaks on how they were absent from their mother's deathbed, but in her final moments, she raised her hand and blessed them nonetheless:


Music


Harmony

Owing to its Spanish origins and influence, the malagueña shares several harmonic elements with the flamenco palo of the same name. It can be interpreted as being in a Flamenco mode or, as is more often the case in Venezuela, a major mode that modulates to the relative minor at the end of the verse. Using the latter interpretation, the harmonic progression of the malagueña would proceed as follows (each chord represents one 3/4 bar of music): *1st line of text: I V7 I I *1st line repeat.: I7 I7 IV IV *2nd line of text: V7 V7 I I *3rd line of text: I V7/V V V *4th line of text: V7 V7 I I7 *1st line repeat.: IV iiø/vi V7/vi V7/vi *preparation for next verse: vi V7 This formula at times receives basic alterations. For instance, Gualberto Ibarreto's rendition of the malagueña features a longer preparation, with the ensemble vamping on the first I chord for several bars before he begins the next verse. He also takes significant temporal liberties that are not necessarily uncommon in performances of malagueñas. Another common alteration is either the omission of the V7 chord in the first line altogether or its replacement with a nonenharmonic major II chord, which corresponds to a less common melodic formula of the malagueña.


Melody

The common melodic formula of the malagueña is largely realized in the interval between the dominant and the tonic, and features a variety of embellishments, as well as a unique melodic cadence -- at the end of phrases. The basic formula can be depicted as shown in the image. A less common melodic variant of the malagueña involves a raised fourth scale degree when singing the first line of text and incorporates more leaps in the contour of the phrase. This variant has been used by artists such as Vasallos del sol,
Soledad Bravo Soledad Bravo (born January 1, 1943) is a Venezuelan singer. Born in Logroño, La Rioja, Spain, her father was a Spanish republican, moving to Venezuela with his family when his daughter was still at an early age. At 24, Soledad began studying ...
, and Cecilia Todd, and at times these versions of the malagueña are realized with sparser or simply no accompaniment.


Rhythm and Instrumentation

The meter of the malagueña is in 3/4 time. Unlike many other Venezuelan folk genres in 3 such as
joropo The joropo, better known as Música Llanera, is a musical style resembling the fandango, and an accompanying dance. It originated in the Llanos of Venezuela 300 years ago and it has African, European and Native South American influences. The ...
and
culo'e puya The ''culo'e puya'' drums, also known as ''culoepuya'', ''culo e puya'', or ''culepuya'', are a battery of small drums originally from Venezuela, with a Kongo lineage. They are used in an ensemble also known as ''redondo'' drums, after the dance m ...
, the malagueña has less rhythmic ambiguity or complexity deriving from hemiolas. It is, however, lightly swung, meaning the eighth notes are not realized as completely even but in a slight "long-short" pattern. The
mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...
and
cuatro Cuatro, Spanish (and other Romance languages) for the 4, number 4, may refer to: * Cuatro (instrument), a family of Latin American string instruments, including: ** Cuatro (Venezuela) ** Puerto Rican cuatro * Cuatro (TV channel), a Spanish free-to ...
both perform a consistent ostinato, involving a flourish of notes starting on the first beat, a simple accented quarter note on the second beat, and two eighth notes starting on the third beat, the latter of which is accented.


See also

*
Venezuelan music Several styles of the traditional music of Venezuela, such as Salsa music, salsa and Venezuelan merengue, merengue, are common to its Caribbean neighbors. Perhaps the most typical Venezuelan music is joropo, a rural form which originated in th ...
*
Malagueñas (flamenco style) ''Malagueñas'' () is one of the traditional styles of Andalusian music (flamenco), derived from earlier types of fandango from the area of Málaga, classified among the Cantes de Levante. Originally a folk-song type, it became a flamenco style ...
*
Polo (music) Polo designates two forms of Venezuelan folk music. One that originates from Margarita Island and another one that is played in Coro, in the state of Falcón. Polo Margariteño Lyrical form The Polo from Margarita is sung in octosyllabic or h ...
*
Fulía The term fulía refers to a variety of folk genres in Venezuela generally performed as part of the vigils of the Cruz de Mayo. Of these genres, there are two that are especially prominent: the fulía central (spanning the coastal areas of the Capi ...


References

*''Atlas de Tradiciones de Venezuela'', Fundación Bigott, 1998. {{Music in Spanish Music of Venezuela