Repertoire

Ever since its foundation in 1962, our group has fascinated people from all over the world with the wondrous and distinctive Spanish art, the spellbinding charm of its magic of sound and dance. Due to its rich repertoire and high professionalism our ensemble is laureate of prestigious prizes almost every year. Our repertory includes Spanish classical dances, Verdiales dances (traditional country dances of the Province of Malaga) Sea dances (traditional dances from the coastal cities from Malaga), Traditional Flamenco and Flamenco Hondo (also known as Pure Flamenco)

BRIEF RESUME OF THE DANCES INTERPRETED BY OUR GROUP

VERDIALES DANCES (FANDANGOS DE VERDIALES)
The name of these dances in Spanish comes from “Verdial”, which is a type of olive, that is collected by hand and that is grown in the Mountains of Malaga. The “Verdial” comprises a song, music and dance and are apparently prior to Flamenco itself. The differences with the latter, on one hand, can be found in the numerous accompaniments of string and percussion instruments (violin, lute, guitar, cymbals and tambourine), which denote an Arab influence, whilst Flamenco songs are accompanied only by guitars and clapping. On the other hand, the Verdial is a song composed for dance, and the art of the singer, is secondary to the dance. Also there are two varieties of Verdiales, the Mountains one which is accompanied by guitars, violin, cymbals and castanets and the Coastal one which is accompanied by guitars, mandolins, lutes and castanets.

COSTUMES:
The costume is based on the typical dress of the countryside.
Women wear print dress in different colours, white apron, flowers in the hair, printed shawl, cancan, “puchos” (special underwear trousers), white tights and black fabric and esparto shoes with strings of several colours.
Men wear white shirt, short black trousers, scarf, red strip tied to the waist, white tights and white fabric and esparto shoes with black strings.
Both women and men wear colour strings in the hands.

NAME OF A FEW VERDIALES DANCES
Fandango de Santa Catalina, Zángano de Álora, Fandango de Cártama, Fandango de Comares, etc.
Special mention for the Fandango de la Siega (Fandango of the Harvest): This dance was interpreted in most of the Fairs of inland towns and cities of Andalusia after the wheat harvest. Men dance with the wheat sickles.

SEA DANCES (DANZAS MARINERAS)
These dances were interpreted next to the sea by the fishermen after a good catch, in the main Fairs, such as Summer Solstice, Virgen del Carmen Fair (Protector of the Fishermen) etc

COSTUMES
Women wear blue skirt, white or pink shirt with strings on the sleeves, flowers in the hair, white apron and white fabric shoes.
Men wear short black trousers, white shirt, red strip tied to the waist and white fabric shoes
Some times, and depending on where the dances takes place, the dancers will dance without shoes.

INSTRUMENTS
Guitars, mandolins, lutes and castanets

NAME OF A FEW SEA DANCES
Pregón del Cenachero (Speech of the Fish Vendor), Malagueña de Gibralfaro, Fandango de Fuengirola, etc.

We would like to mention the Speech of the Fish Vendor, known in Malaga as Cenachero (from Cenacho in Spanish which means basket). The Cenachero is a typical figure of Malaga tradition, and is a fish vendor who holds in perfect balance the two baskets he normally carries full of fish. Our ensemble wanted to pay tribute to a popular figure, now no longer seen, who walked the streets selling his fish and making his baskets “dance” as they hung from their shoulders or elbow. To catch everybody’s attention, the Cenachero used to shout and sing special songs saying how good the fish he was crying was.

Fandango de Fuengirola
In 1972 the current Director of this ensemble, Mari Trini as we all call her, found out that there was a typical dance of Fuengirola,(Fandango de Fuengirola) that was about to disappear as the only people who could dance and sing it were very old and had not explained how to dance it to anybody else. Mari Trini asked the Major of Fuengirola to try and find these people and try and convince them to show her this dance, in the meantime, she started to do a research about this dance, to find out its origin and she found out that the people from Fuengirola and Mijas used to dance this Fandango when they got together after a long day of work in the field or after taking the catch to the fish market. One year later, the Group added this Fandango to its show, and reached a great success and nowadays, this Fandango that was about to disappear, is known by hundreds of Fuengiroleños that were able to learn it thanks to Mari Trini.

POPULAR FLAMENCO
Typical dances of all the provinces of Andalusia, for instance: Sevillanas, Malagueña, Tanguillos de Cádiz, Fandangos de Huelva (one of the oldest flamenco songs), La Reja de Granada, El Vito, de Córdoba, etc. Most of these dances have been recovered by the tradition and they all used to be danced and sang by our grandparents.

INSTRUMENTS: Guitars and mandolins.

COSTUMES: Typical costumes from Andalucía, all of them based on traditional costumes from 16th century up to now

FLAMENCO "HONDO" (PURE FLAMENCO)
Flamenco Hondo is the traditional flamenco, a bit more serious than the popular one.
Peteneras, Tientos, Alegrías de Cádiz, El Café‚ de Chinitas (by García Lorca) Farruca, etc.

INSTRUMENTS: Normally accompanied by guitars

CLASSICAL SPANISH DANCES
Danza Andaluza nº5,(de Granados) Bolero, malagueña Clásica, Rumores de la Caleta, Panaderos, Cachucha, Puerta Tierra, Potpourri of classical dances, etc.

Most of the classical dances are not interpreted in Festivals as the music is not live. If the Festival Organisation requires, we will be pleased to dance them using a CD player

COSTUMES: Traditional costumes of the 18th century