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You can expect an explosion of colour at the verdiales festival
December 28th, right smack in the middle of the Spanish Christmas season, we have the annual Verdiales competitions taking place right outside Málaga City. The festival will bring together competing “pandas” as they are known. These are groups that practice one of three different forms of Verdiales flamenco singing accompanied by their traditional folk dance and unforgettable costumes. Agility seems to be one of the top requirements for the couples who provide their performances in leaps and bounds…
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Ornate hats |
Verdiales is a form of flamenco that first developed century ago in the Los Verdiales olive-growing region north of Málaga, near Almogía. It's also one of the earliest forms of fandango, and still undergoing a process known in Spanish as “ aflamencomiento”, or “flamencoisation”. In other words, this is an original folk song form that has been slowly adopted into the flamenco tradition and its many houses but still retains its distinctive character.
The name comes from a specific type of olive, the “verdial”, grown in the region. The word “verdiales” derives from the Latin for verdant, or green ("verde" in Spanish) and flourishing. Flamenco scholars describe this type of song as either a "fandango alegre" (happy) or a "malagueño", which is a particular country dance associated with the city and the region.
 The origin of Verdiales is uncertain, but like much of Andalucían culture, it probably has roots in the Arabic music introduced by the Berbers in the eighth century. It is a music intended to be danced to, and is common at village weddings, communions and other celebrations. The predominant instruments are guitar, violin, castanets, and the lute. The groups who perform it are known as “pandas”, and their songs are usually happy and simple, marked by a passionate cry of 'ay' and vigorous clicking of the fingers. At times, villagers would improvise instruments from domestic objects, such as pots or pans, or agricultural materials such as wood and sugar cane. Traditionally, the members of the panda wear costumes of unusual headgear decked with flowers and also festooned with mirrors, bells, beads and coloured ribbons - the Spanish equivalent, perhaps, of England's Morris dancers.
Intricate foot movements
The Verdiales dance is for couples, and involves a lot of leaping. Each song is strucgtured in the form of three "coplas", or verses, in which there are specified dance moves, gestures, and finger clicks. It tends to be performed by more agile dancers, and is quite strenuous.
In the hills north of Málaga, there are three types of Verdiales to be seen and heard: Almogía, Montes, and Comares, in a sense these are dialects of the music and dance as they developed in those particular villages and outlying districts.
The tambourine plays an important role in the Verdiales musical bands.
The Almogía version of Verdiales is the most energetic, with the violinist leading the other performers. In the Montes school of Verdiales, the chief instrument is the tambourine.
Many of the villages have annual Verdiales festivals, normally in summertime. In Almogía, for example, it happens at the beginning of August. Tourism offices will have details of all these festivals.
Fiesta Mayor de Verdiales
The main festival of Verdiales, however, is the Fiesta Mayor de Verdiales, which takes place on December 28 (about 11.00 to 18.00) at the Venta San Cayetano, at Puerta de la Torre on the A7011 C3311 (MA413) road to Almogía. (15 minutes drive from Malaga city centre and served by bus service). 25 Pandas (Verdiales Groups) from local villages compete on a stage in the three categories. Almogia, Montes and Comares.
Each group of about 20 performs about 4 songs. One wi ll feature a young member vigorously swirling the two sided Andalucian and Spanish Flag. Another the band and female singer conducted with a colourful tasselled baton, another featuring dancing pairs. The judges, by holding up cards, vote for both music & song and dance. The home team "Raices de Malaga" has the most support. Listen to 50 sec sample.
Equally interesting, and perhaps also more authentic, are the impromptu practice and jamming sessions among the musicians, where they perform this particularly passionate rhythmic music with the assistance of bottles of potent Málaga sweet wine and aguardiente (literally, fire water) passed from hand to hand.Listen to 25 sec sample. The traditional headgear and multi-coloured finery makes this a particularly festive event. This authentic competition is sponsored by Malaga Town Hall and refreshingly lacks modern commercial influences. These days the event is more organised, with the stage under a large marquee, and police directing the traffic into the car parking in an adjacent olive grove.
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