Spanish flamenco dancer

Spanish Music, Dance, Lyrics, and Poetry

Does spanish music solely consist of flamenco?…

… No, it certainly doesn’t!

And, on this page, you’ll discover interesting information about the awesome variety of music and dance you can find in Spain, plus several super links to pages that deal, not only with music and flamenco, but also Spanish poems and lyrics.

But, shall we start by looking at the differing types of traditional music and dance?…

flamenco

The most well-known of all Spain’s music and dance styles is, of course, flamenco.

You can read all about flamenco on this page and browse some flamenco photos here.

Flamenco dancers

other regional styles

Whilst on your travels throughout Spain, you’re sure to discover that each region has its own particular folkloric music and dance.

Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria – nestling in Spain’s north-west – are renowned for traditional bagpipe music.

The muñeira or miller’s dance (originating from the word molino or windmill) is traditional to this area – danced singly or in pairs, it’s accompanied by haunting bagpipes, drum and tambourine.

The most popular Spanish music of the Basque Country is called after the dance txistu – based on tambourine and accordian.

La Sardana is the folkloric spanish music and dance of Cataluña – danced in a closed circle by several couples, with hands joined.

The jota is another traditional dance from the north of Spain – in particular, Aragón.

The couple dances to a series of chord and percussion instruments with their hands held high above their heads, playing the castanets.

This is also much-danced in Castile, Madrid and Leon – but usually in a slower form and with different instrumentation.

Navarre and La Rioja have their forms of the jota dance as well – and so does Valencia.

zarzuela

The zarzuela is popular all over Spain.

It’s a dramatic mixture of singing and spoken parts – with dance – and originates from the seventeenth century.

Its name derives from a hunting lodge – the Palacio de la Zarzuela – near Madrid, where it was first performed before the Spanish Royal Court.

“Enjoy Spanish Music, Dance, Lyrics and Poetry …”