Sardana
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The sardana (Catalan plural sardanes) is a type of circle dance typical of Catalonia.
There are two main types, the original sardana curta (short sardana) style and the more modern sardana llarga (large sardana), which is more popular. Other more unusual sardanas are the sardana de lluïment and the sardana revessa.
Nobody knows when the sardana originated, but it has been popular since the 16th century. Some believe the sardana is two thousand years old, but such theories have few adherents. Modern choreography was established as late as the end of the 19th century and features slight differences from the original North-Catalonian 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 sardana has achieved a complexity of its own. As a non-performance dance, sardana does not need special fitness. Moreover, the circle can be opened to a highly variable number of dancers.
Music for the sardana (also called sardana...) is played by a cobla, a wind band with double bass consisting of 12 instruments played by 11 musicians. Four of these instruments (tenora, tible, flabiol and tamborí) are typical Catalan instruments; the others (trumpet, trombone, fiscorn and double bass) are more conventional. In Spanish and French Catalonia about hundred thirty coblas are active, most of which are amateur orchestras. Outside Catalonia there is only one cobla: Cobla La Principal d'Amsterdam.
A lot of sardanas have lyric versions, but mostly only instrumental versions are used for dancing.
[edit] See also
- Catalan shawms, discussing the tenora and tible.
[edit] External links
- Sardaweb
- Dancing Sardana in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter
- Catalan Dancing in Barcelona, Sardana Dance
- Cobla La Principal d'Amsterdam
- MP-3 examples of cobla music are available on the Selvatana Cobla and Cobla Sabadell sites.
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