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Sardana

Sardana

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The sardana , plural sardanes, is a type of circle dance
Circle dance
Circle dance, is the most common name for a style of traditional dance usually done in a circle without partners to musical accompaniment.-Description:...

 typical of Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an Autonomous Community in northeast Spain. The capital city is Barcelona.Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an official population of 7,364,078. It borders France and Andorra to the north, Aragon to the west, the Valencian Community to the south, and the...

, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...

. The dance was originally typical from the Empordà
Empordà
Empordà is a historical region of Catalonia divided since 1936 into two comarques, Alt Empordà and Baix Empordà....

 region, but started gaining popularity throughout Catalonia during the 20th century.

There are two main types, the original sardana curta (short sardana) style and the more modern sardana llarga (long sardana), which is more popular. Other more unusual sardanes are the sardana de lluïment and the sardana revessa.

History


The origin of the sardana is not clear. Some say that it was already popular in the 16th century.

What remains undisputed is that the sardana was a popular dance in the Empordà region by the end of the 19th century. Contributing to its mounting popularity by this time were the additions from similarly popular genres such as zarzuela
Zarzuela
Zarzuela is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular song, as well as dance...

 and the popular Italian operas of the time, which increasingly made the sardana a fad dance.

As the rise of the sardana took place, in the context of the Renaixença
Renaixença
The Renaixença was an early 19th century late romantic revivalist movement in Catalan language and culture, akin to the Galician Rexurdimento or the Occitan Félibrige movements....

 or newborn Catalan nationalism, the origins of the dance were embellished in order to symbolize a distinct Catalan ethos as to serve Catalan nationalism. Modern choreography was established as late as the end of the 19th century and features slight differences from the original North-Catalonian
Northern Catalonia
Northern Catalonia is a term which is sometimes used,particularly in Catalan writings, to refer tothe territory ceded to France by Spain through the signing of the Treaty of the Pyreneesin 1659. The equivalent term in French,...

 dance. Pep Ventura's band is credited for stabilizing different variants around a clear 6/8 rhythm and fixing the instrumental ensemble. Though some Iberian and Mediterranean circle dances follow similar patterns, instrumental music for the sardana has achieved a complexity of its own.

Sardana band


Music for the sardana is played by a cobla
Cobla
The cobla , plural cobles, is a traditional music ensemble of Catalonia, the north-eastern region of Spain and in Northern Catalonia in France...

, a band consisting of 10 wind instruments, double bass and a tamborí
Tambori
The tambori is a percussion instrument of about 10 centimetres diameter, a small shallow cylinder formed of metal or wood with a drumhead of skin...

 (very small drum) played by 11 musicians. The cobla has five woodwind instruments: the flabiol
Flabiol
The flabiol, , is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes. It is one of the 12 instruments of the cobla...

 which is a small fipple flute, and the tenora and tible (two of each) which belong to the oboe family. These and the tamborí are typical Catalan instruments. The brass instruments include: two trumpets, two fiscorn
Fiscorn
Fiscorn is a Catalan translation of bugle. While the term also designates the modern flugelhorn, the term today in Catalonia commonly refers to a conical bell forward rotary valved brass instrument in C played in the cobla to accompany the sardana .-Background:Originally played in polka bands...

s (a type of saxhorn created by Adolph Sax during the 19th century), and a trombone (usually a valve trombone). The double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the upright bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra. The name, "double bass," derives from the early use of the instrument to double—an octave lower where possible—the bass part written...

 was traditionally a three-stringed one, but now the part is usually written for and played on the modern (four-stringed) instrument.

In Spanish and French Catalonia about one hundred and thirty coblas are active, most of which are amateur orchestras. Outside Catalonia there is one more cobla: Cobla La Principal d'Amsterdam.

Sardana dance


The music written for the sardana dance is also called a sardana (pl. sardanes), and is usually in two sections (tirades), each of which may be repeated in various ways to form the music for the complete dance. There is always first a simple, free introduction introit played by the flabiol, concluded by a drum tap of the tamborí, which leads immediately into the dance. The dance tempo is usually a steady metronome beat of about 112, in a 2/4 and/or 6/8 rhythm.

The first tirada played by the band is called the curts ("shorts", length between 20 and 50 measures) and has a two-measure pattern danced with the arms down: (point-step-step-cross) to the right followed by (point-step-step-cross) to the left. The second tirada is called the llargs ("longs", 50 - 100 measures) and has a four-measure pattern danced with the arms up, and this may become more lively.

The number of measures in the curts and llargs, called the tiratge or "run", is important to the players, and may be indicated before the start of the dance (e.g. a "run" shown as 25x79 indicates 25 measures of curts and 79 measures of llargs) in order to terminate the tirada correctly with the correct foot, though a method commonly used is to count the measures in the first tirada and not dance until the second has begun. There is a pattern of tirades danced, which may be curts, curts, llargs, llargs, curts, curts, llargs, llargs; a two-measure break called contrapunt; llargs; contrapunt; llargs.

A dancer is called a sardanista (pl. sardanistes).

As a relatively slow, non-performance dance, the sardana does not require special fitness. The dance circle can be opened to a highly variable number of dancers. When danced in the streets and town squares, small circles of dancers can be seen to form and grow: often passers-by join in, leaving their bags in the center of the circle. The dancers are alternate men and women, and care must be taken by those joining not to split partners. These are open circles, called rotllanes obertes. Another kind of circle may be formed by members of organised sardana clubs called colles, and each colla may wear its own costume.

Many sardanes have sung versions, but mostly instrumental versions are used for dancing. Recordings of sardanes or sardanes played in concert usually contain the introit, two curts and two llargs. Sardanes may be recorded for dancing, having all the entrades in order. Often sardanes are written for special occasions or to commemorate people.

Composers of sardanes

  • Josep Maria "Pep" Ventura (1819-1875)
  • Enric Morera i Viura (1865-1942)
  • Joan Lamote de Grignon i Bocquet
    Joan Lamote de Grignon
    Joan Lamote de Grignon i Bocquet , was a Spanish Catalan pianist, composer and orchestra director.Joan Lamote de Grignon was born and died in Barcelona, the son of parents of French descent Lluis Lamote de Grignon and Elena Bocquet. In 1911 he founded the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, of which he...

     (1872-1949)
  • Josep Serra i Bonal (1874-1939)
  • Juli Garreta i Arboix (1875-1925)
  • Vicenç Bou i Geli (1885-1962)
  • Eduard Toldrà i Soler (1895-1962)
  • Robert Gerhard (1896-1970)
  • Ricard Lamote de Grignon i Ribas
    Ricard Lamote de Grignon
    Ricard Lamote de Grignon i Ribas , was a Catalan Spanish composer and orchestra director.Ricard Lamote de Grignon was born and died in Barcelona. He was son of the composer Joan Lamote de Grignon and Florentina Ribas...

     (1899-1962), son of Joan Lamote de Grignon
  • Francesc Mas i Ros (1901-1985)
  • Joaquim Serra i Corominas (1907-1957), son of Josep Serra
  • Joan-Luís Moraleda (1943- )

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