| Report: A thousand year old folklore |
A thousand year old folklore
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Text: Esteban Montero
Photos: Montuno. |
The ‘verdiales’, an ancestral ceremony of music and dance in celebration of the harvest of the grapevine, stand out from all the other Southern songs because of their tradition and roots. This authentic relic of the culture of Malaga, whose enigmatic origin is associated to remote astronomical calculations that coincide with the summer and with the winter solstices, is still alive and will be for many more centuries.
Tambourines, guitars, violins, ribbons and hats of lively colours. The ‘verdiales’ are the oldest musical expressions in Malaga and, possibly, one of the most atavistic in Europe. The ‘verdiales’ place their roots in the Mediterranean because their origins are related to the harvest of the grapevine. This connection could date back to 2,500 years B.C.
For centuries, the ‘verdiales’ matured under the protection of the agaric mysteries of two civilisations: Iberian and Tartessus, in the zone extending between the mouth of the Vélez river and to the western limit of the province of Malaga. Continuous invasions and colonisations have not eliminated this ceremony.
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Furthermore, during the Roman Empire, they became more popular, up to the point that some Patricians decided to export them to certain metropolises. This fact has been captured in the mosaic 'Músicos ambulantes' (Travelling musicians) of the Villa Cicerón, in Pompeii, kept in the National Museum of Naples. In this work, some musicians appear (minstrels), playing the same instruments which are used by the modern 'verdiales' groups and also they decorate their heads with leafs and flowers similar to the 'fiestero' (party) hat of nowadays.
In fact, the philological and semantic origin of the word ‘verdial’ could come from the Latin term ‘viridis’, that is, green, vigorous, lively, young.
After the Arabic invasion, the ‘verdiales’ continued to live in the mountains and countryside of Malaga. The controversy in relation to the Arabic influence on the musical evolution of the ‘verdiales’ has been constant and it is still ongoing. There have been many texts written in the past and recently which support the Moorish origin of the ‘verdiales’. Baron Charles Davillier, in his work ‘Viaje por España’ (Travelling through Spain), written during the first half of the nineteenth century, stated the following: “The primitive ‘verdiales’ from Malaga have, without a doubt, a Moorish origin. They have the same melodies that the subjects of Ib Alcamar and Boabdil the Great sang while accompanied by lutes. Their verses are passages of old Moorish ballads”.
In the same way, Ricardo Molina and Antonio Mairena state: “It is about a primitive fandango resound, and the instruments represent the stylised projection from the North African bands".
On the contrary, among the theories of the researchers who state that the 'verdiales' appeared before the arrival of the Arabians in Spain, we find the theory of José Ruiz Sánchez. This distinguished Academician from Malaga questions "the pro-Arabic theories" because they do not provide a valid explanation as to the origin of the balladic lyrical poetry within the Andalucian society. Likewise, José Luque Navajas admits that "indeed, we thought that the origin of the 'verdiales' was Arabian and that they had been retained through the Moors, but their origin becomes clearer every time. The musical and anthropological phenomenon is much older and has a Mediterranean origin and a religious, pagan and mythological motivation".
The same author explains that "because of their abundant accompaniment, the 'verdiales' have developed very little within the flamenco song and still keep their primitive nature with impressive crudeness and authenticity".
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the 'verdiales' continued to be the centre of gravity for the folklore of Malaga, especially in the rural districts near to the capital and in almost all the region of Axarquia. In this long journey through the centuries another dance-song joined, the 'maragata", which became very popular in the Montes de Málaga. It was also known as 'churripampa', 'salgausté', 'molinera' and 'paloma', amongst other names.
In the mid-twentieth century, the 'verdiales' left their zone of origin and moved towards the capital. The 'Peña' (Bar) Juan Breva had a distinguished influence on this, as well as the veteran 'fiestero' (party-loving) Antonio Fernández, who is better known as 'Povea'. The peasant emigration into the city also became decisive and 'verdialeras' neighbourho ods were formed such as Campanillas, Castañetas, Huertecilla Maña, Ciudad Jardín, Puerto de la Torre and San Alberto, and at the same time related 'peñas' (bars) and associations were created.
From that moment, gatherings started being organised ('choques' in the 'verdialero' slang) at the Country Inns of the Montes, as well as contests and study weeks. All of this contributed to the spread of the three styles of existing 'verdiales'.
All Fools' Day
The most special dates for the 'verdial' coincide in the calendar with the pagan celebrations. Thus, the winter solstice was the time chosen in the Attica to celebrate the 'rural Dyonisias' whilst the Emperor Domitian established the 'Saturnalias' from the 17th to the 23rd December. The 'verdiales', for their part, celebrate their big day on All Fools' Day, and that is the reason for the affectionate name of 'foolish' to all the 'verdialeros'.
Every 28th of December, the Country Inn San Cayetano manages to gather tens of 'verdiales' groups who arrive from different parts of Malaga. In recent years, this folkloric gathering has attracted more than 60,000 people.
As it is well explained by the popular 'verdialero' dictionary, from the musical point of view, "it is the guitar which carries out the rhythmical strum of the primitive fandango, without pauses or breaks, without quickening or delays, always at the same beat of three by four. The chords follow one another in cycles of four equal beats. By using the chords, the Flamenco singer places the verse of six cadential passages, with freedom of measurement, only if the cadences are within the cycle of four beats and the beat of the guitar that marks up the change can be speeded up or delayed". The accompaniment is usually plural and it obtains "more chromatic richness than the song itself" when the violin is involved which allows for flourishes and baroques.
The ritual of the dance symbolises decisively the pagan condition of the 'verdial'. It is a tribal dance, physically seductive, where both sexes make circular movements forming a body whirlpool that has as a last and significant purpose the consecration of fertility.
With respect to the clothes, the most peculiar is, without a doubt, the 'verdiales' hat, an ornament which until recently was only worn on the days of the winter solstice. It evokes in a way some aspects of the Saturnian liturgy. The enigmatic invocation power that the mirrors and colour ribbons have is something which has received many explanations.
Three styles
There are three different styles of 'verdiales' that correspond to the three different zones of the province of Malaga: the styles of Almogía, Comares and Montes de Málaga. The first one has a quick beat and its beating of cymbals makes it different from the rest. Furthermore, it is the style that comprises a larger geographical area. The style of Comares spreads practically in almost all Axarquia. This is the only style that uses the lute. The style of the Montes de Málaga stands out for its impetuous beat, which is even a little slower than the rest. For this reason, the song has here more lustre. Likewise, it uses the largest tambourine, with twenty-five pairs of cymbals.
The 'Verdiales' are the lively expression for the millenary folklore of Malaga. This is a sign of identity for a culture that sinks its roots deep into the bowels of Time
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