Lucile Armstrong

10
The Verdiales Festival in Málaga (Spain) December 28th 1971 by LUCILE ARMSTRONG 1 first heard of 'The Verdiales' as a dance about twenty years ago. A professional Spanish Dancer, Aguedita Sarasua, taught it and danced it on the stage. Her dress was green with white strip es, with two frills at the bottom and a green band under each frill, puffed sleeves with a frill and a plain green fichu. This surprised me, for green is not a favourite colour among peasant people in southern Spain; though in northern regions of the Peninsula it is an accepted colour for skirts, it 'brings bad luck' in the South, and the Verdiales had a distinctly southern flavour. This dress made me wonder. As time proved, it was a correct folk costume. No one could say where the dance carne from or provide any information about it. Its formation made me suspect it to be ritual. It took some fifteen years of research to find out that Verdiales is the name of a type of olive with a pointed end, which is a110wed to ripen - that is, blacken - before gatheting. The tree which bears it is a110wedto reach its fu11 height. When the Verdiales olives are ripe the branches are beaten with very long, flexible rods to bring the fruit down. It is then picked up and swept into ta11 baskets and taken to the oil-presses for processing. Amongst other places in southern Spain, the Verdiales olives grow a11about the broken country around Málaga, right up into the sierras, where each village has its own festive days, regional costume and a group of local musicians ca11ed a panda. A panda is a band of musicians in ritual costume who perform harvest thanksgiving with ritual dance, song and music. Vi> to about the nineteen-forties, the Verdiales was danced by ritual men only, but ~ince then, when it became the fashion for towns-people to dance folk dances, girls have been admitted in the dance, and now appear to have taken over most of the dancing. However the pand.as are still ritual men's performances and in 1950 the Verdiales competition at the inn ca11ed Venta del Tunel x

Transcript of Lucile Armstrong

Page 1: Lucile Armstrong

The Verdiales Festival in Málaga (Spain)December 28th 1971

by LUCILE ARMSTRONG

1 first heard of 'The Verdiales' as a dance about twenty yearsago. A professional Spanish Dancer, Aguedita Sarasua, taught itand danced it on the stage. Her dress was green with white strip es,with two frills at the bottom and a green band under each frill,puffed sleeves with a frill and a plain green fichu. This surprisedme, for green is not a favourite colour among peasant people insouthern Spain; though in northern regions of the Peninsula it isan accepted colour for skirts, it 'brings bad luck' in the South, andthe Verdiales had a distinctly southern flavour. This dress mademe wonder. As time proved, it was a correct folk costume.

No one could say where the dance carne from or provide anyinformation about it. Its formation made me suspect it to be ritual.It took some fifteen years of research to find out that Verdiales isthe name of a type of olive with a pointed end, which is a110wedto ripen - that is, blacken - before gatheting. The tree whichbears it is a110wedto reach its fu11 height. When the Verdialesolives are ripe the branches are beaten with very long, flexible rodsto bring the fruit down. It is then picked up and swept into ta11baskets and taken to the oil-presses for processing.

Amongst other places in southern Spain, the Verdiales olivesgrow a11about the broken country around Málaga, right up intothe sierras, where each village has its own festive days, regionalcostume and a group of local musicians ca11eda panda. A pandais a band of musicians in ritual costume who perform harvestthanksgiving with ritual dance, song and music.

Vi> to about the nineteen-forties, the Verdiales was danced byritual men only, but ~ince then, when it became the fashion fortowns-people to dance folk dances, girls have been admitted in thedance, and now appear to have taken over most of the dancing.However the pand.as are still ritual men's performances and in1950 the Verdiales competition at the inn ca11ed Venta del Tunel

x

Page 2: Lucile Armstrong

THE VERDIALES FESTIVAL IN MÁLAGA

is reputed to have been instituted on the 28th December, whenthe Mayor of Málaga goes up there to distribute prizes to thewinners. Some eight years ago, it was said, this competition waslittle known except by the pandas. Since then it has been organised'for tourists'. But a competition between vilIages is said to haveexisted long before that.

1 decided to go and see this festival in 1971and arrived inMálaga four days before the time to ascertain exact details as tohour, place and transporto Information was very hard to get. Thehead of the Dance Section at the Sección Femenína (an officialbody of women who are state-supported and have, amongst otherduties, the task of investigating and preserving local folk dances),told me it started at 4-p.m. on 28th December. But when 1 arrivedat 3.30 p.m. the place was already crowded to overflowing. It hadstarted in the morning.

A bus goes along the river Guadal Medina ('river of the city',in Arabic) up the hilIs a few kilometers from Málaga to a new dam,and where a wide road is being built to connect Málaga withRonda. High up in the open fields out in broken country on theslopes of the sierras, about a mile beyond the dam, is a bend ofthe river with a flat promontory. There the Venta del Tunel wasbustling and thronged with people on this one day of the year.The railway bridge passed the river gorge there, and the old roadwent through the railway tunnel, hence the name of the inn.

The Venta del Tunel was an international meeting place withclosely packed crowds that day. There was no room to sit or rest;even the over-hanging cliff-tops were thickly lined with spectators,and the narrow winding road on either side of the Venta he1d threerows of stationary cars. Moving traffic had hardly room to crawlthrough, and was in danger of edging the parked vehicles into thegorge. A coach tried to make its way up but succeeded in bringinga11traffic to a complete standstilI. It seemed wiser to wa1k.

Crowds continued to arrive along the narrow road and acrossthe fields, a11jostling one another, shouting and e1bowing theirway through the seemingly solid wall of humanity. The membersof the pandas carried their own instruments while the supportersbrought baskets of food. Drink was found at the venta. Anyadmirer of a panda would buy a bottle of wine or spirits, andpresent it to the group, with a straw through the cork, and in

330

Page 3: Lucile Armstrong

THE VERDIALES FESTIVAL IN MÁLAGA

return would expect to have verdiales played for him - after duerefreshment. The bottle was passed from hand to hand, then at asign from the leader they struck up. Each song lasted some threeto four minutes, then after a rest they started again however closethey might be to the next panda. This was sometimes as little astwo yards away and at times five or six pandas could be heard atonce!

A panda is made up of a leader, a flag-bearer and the instru-mentalists who may also sing. The leader held a rod of office,entwined with coloured ribbons with a tuft of them at the tipo Theflag-bearer carried the flag of his panda high above the crowd as arallying point for. panda members and supporters; the flagsdiffered in size and designo The chief instrument was the pandero- a very large, round tambourine some eighteen to twenty inchesin diameter. Two guitars were usual for accompanying with simplechords; a violin never failed; and two men playing platillos-'little plat~s' in name, but in reality small brass cymbals. Somepandas had a bandúrria and one guitar. The leader might requireany one of his group to sing a verse or two, but unless he made asign there was no singing, but the instrumentalists might play athis command.

At a call from the leader the members of a panda disposed them-selves in a tight ring, facing each other; as there was no conductorthey had to look at one another all the time, and this arrangementmade that simple. Then they struck up at a signal of the leader'srod. The two platillos-players, situated on opposite sides of thering, watched each other and played in perfect time, comple-menting each other's beats. The timing was generally excellentwithin a panda. Indeed I could not distinguish any panda as beingbetter than any other in matter of timing, rhythm or quality ofperformance. These men became completely absorbed in theirmusic, and the pushing and the nudging, the shouting and theclamouring of the crowds left them indifferent to everythingaround them for, united in spirit, they belonged to another world.

The pandas were judged by a panel of official judges who satin the open - exposed to the same amount of noise as the crowd.How they acquitted themselves of their task was difficult to under-stand. Several self-appointed 'helps' advised them too. Perhapsthe words were regarded as the more important part of the songs

331

Page 4: Lucile Armstrong

THE VERDIALES FESTIVAL IN MÁLAGA

for, apart from the natural differences in voices, the music seemedto have little variety within its quick 3/4 time. The words weremostly about love, often as would be sung by a disappointed lover.For instance: '. . . and 1 shall have her in spite of her mother';'. . . your promise vanished like running water in a stream'; and'. . . even the horse wept . . .'.

The pandero, the loudest and most important musical instrument,led the panda, and the others seemed to follow. The pandero - atambourine of about twenty inches in diameter, as describedabove, and some three to four inches deep, had a calf-hide headon one side with two snares under it. The frame was made of splitchestnut wood with three little slats to keep it in shape and holdthe skin; it had at least two or, more usually, three rows of jingles-little concave tin discs about 2} to 3 inches across, facing, inpavis - all round the frame. This made it heavy, so the thumb-hole was not sufficient to hold it by and a strip of cloth woundround a string supported the left hand. It was held vertically, theleft hand at the bottom, the right beating in any of three ways: thetips of the fingers towards the centre; the thick part of the thumbstriking the rim, or the fleshy part of the fingers beating the skinnear the rim. The panderos were painted green and had colouredribbons wound round part of the rim. They were hand-made, sothat they differed from group to group.

The panderos were played two strokes to the beat - that is, sixstrokes to one bar in 3/4 time. Every now and then the player'sthumb ran up and round on the skinhead near the edge of theframe, and made a continuous roll as on a large drum, in order tostress some rhythm or to end a phrase. Every time the frame wasstruck, the jingles sounded, adding their metallic ring . . .

The pandero-player moved around within the circle while theothers stood still on one spot. He often sang as well as played butin every case he leaned over to the right at an angle of nearlyninety degrees, and his face was often distorted into a grimace.Every now and then he would straighten himself up only to startleaning over again to the right. AlI pandero players did this.

The platillos, or chocal/as as they are also called, seemed next inimportance. These pairs of cymbals certainly made enough soundto drown all other instruments except the pandero. Platillos variedbetween three and five inches in diameter, they were very heavy

332

Page 5: Lucile Armstrong

THE VERDIALES FESTIVAL IN MÁLAGA

and of machine-made brass. The variation in size gave a varietyof sound. There could be two sizes of platillos in the one panda.Each platillo or cymbal had a hole in the centre through which along string was firmly knotted - the other end being wound roundthe player's hand. The two platillos-players stood, as alreadymentioned, on opposite sides of the ring, and with a platillo in eachhand struck them vertically up and down, at times inclining oneof them slíghtly in order to vary the sound.

The men watched each other closely so as to strike in perfecttime with the pandero player. They therefore emphasized thepandero rhythm and to my mind it was these platillos that madethe verdiales so characteristic.

The violin played the introductory melody and accompaniedthe voice when the singer burst forth, resuming the melody at theend of the verse. Its sound, relatively so feeble compared with thepercussion could hardly be heard in all the hubbub. It was playedlike a modero violín, which it was. The guitars just played simpleaccompanying chords, as mentioned.

The members of the pandas all wore a dark suit with a whiteshirt and no tie. On their heads they wore the gorro de Verdiales-a straw hat covered with paper and artificialflowers, and a profusionof streamers down their backs to the waist, attached to the brim ofthe hato The flowers were chiefly roses and caroations, but otherflowers were introduced such as the marguerite, the eglantine, andsome bell-shaped flower 1 did not know. The eglantine - thefive-petalled rose - was represented and arranged to edge thebrim of the hat with festoons of glass beads below them going allround the brim. Pine cones painted silver, miniature tambourines,star-fish and several mirrors also adoroed the hats, which lookedlike 'domes of flowers' on the men's heads, almost hiding theidentity of the wearers, whose dusky features and bright eyes werebarely visible under the bead festoons. When not playing theirinstruments the men would carry their hats over the arm by a bandbut, at a call from the leader, up would come all the hats again.From afar they looked like beds of flowers.

It was these gorros de Verdiales that proved the purpose of theverdiales festival. The womenfolk wore modero dress.

There was practically no dancing on the 28th December, for itwas a competition for music and verse only. Borne couples danced,

333

Page 6: Lucile Armstrong

THE VERDIALES FESTIVAL IN MÁLAGA

a Seguidillas Sevillanas within a little ring, going round each otherwhile another man was improvisingsome few steps- one toeach beat - within another ring, waving his flag as a bullfightertreats and waves his cloak to en~ce the bull, back and forth,making graceful 'figures-of-eight' to the side back and front.Apart from these two, there was a group of young people dancingsome children's singing game with hands linked in a ring, that hadnothing to do with verdiales.

This festival had started in the morning, had lasted all day andwould continue the whole night - so everyone said - till theearly hours of the next day. Then only, so I was told, would thepandasand their supporters ride home by coach or, which was themore usual, walk the several kilometers home 'after everyone hadhad a lovely time'. I did not stay to see it through for there wasnowhere to sit except the wet gravel or the muddy grass.

PROBLEMS AND INTERPRETATIONS;

We shall now go over the various items that made up thisfestival and consider their implications.

First, the site. Why was the Venta del Tunel chosen for themusic competition? This may be because it was a convenient half-way house between the several villages around Málaga where theverdiales olive is cultivated; it appears to have been a relay forhorses in olden times due to its proximity to Málaga. Also it layon the main road through the gap in the sierras, inland. However,if one takes the site into consideration, it becomes clearer.

In antiquity sacred spots were chosen if they combined a cliffor high place overlooking a winding ,'snaking' river - a windingriver represents the snake, a fertility symbol, which was thoughtto bring vivifying waters to the crops - and if possible to acavern in a rock face - representing the womb of Mother Earth.Although I did not locate a caveor cavern, the other two conditionswere present at the Venta del Tunel.

The pandas are well organised; the leader sees to rehearsalsduring the year and is responsible for the welfare of his panda.Pandas never play unless directed to do so by the leader. Newwords are made up by local poets and versifiers.

The musicians do not say: 'Vamos a tocar' (let us play, or we're

334

Page 7: Lucile Armstrong

THE VERDIALES FESTIVAL IN MÁLAGA

going to play), which is the usual formula, but 'Yamos a chocar'(we're going to strike - the chocallas or platillos). This impliesthat the chocallas or cymbals, were the most important instrumentsfrom the rhythm or sound point of view, or perhaps they originallywere when this rite was evolved. Otherwise the verb 'chocar'would not be used. In Andalucia, the south-west of the Peninsula,platillos are little used apart from the Yerdiales. They are playedone couple in each hand, in dances like the Zorongo, and Zambra,both of which bear Arabic or Berber names. Then they are called'chichines' .

Across the Straits into Morocco, among the Berbers of theAdas and Ante-Adas mountains, very similar cymbals are usedfor percussion. There, three are played at once: two in the righthand and one in the left to strike the other two. They are hand-made brass cymbals almost the same as for the verdiales, with astring through the centre wound round the left hand but attachedto thumb and middle finger of the right. (This information wasprovided by Mr Iain Adam).

The great size of the pandero and the number of jingles foundon it makes it heard from afar. Tambourines are used all over thePeninsula but none reach this size. Certain tribes in Morocco make

similar ones but with the hair still on the skin and no jingles.Goat-skin is more resistant than sheep-skin, but both are used forthe head. A tambourine is well known as a moon symbol and amongEgyptian dervishes and in the Near and Middle East and CentralAsia shamans use tambourines. It is an essential part of a shaman' sstock in trade for it acts as his 'horse' to take him to the otherworlds.1

The violin and guitars were practically inaudible out in the opencompared with the percussion instruments, so seem unlikely tohave belonged to the original set up of verdiales music. Perhapsthey replaced a louder instrument like a shawm or flute, or possiblya bagpipe. Stringed instruments never fit in with loud percussionin an outdoor performance. In Aragón, where stringed instrumentshave been adopted for outdoor dancing (possibly since the Moors),they require some twenty mandolins, guitars and bandúrrias tomake sufficient impacto There is some mystery here which remains

1 Mircea Eliade, Le chamanisme et la technique archaique de l'extase, Payot,Paris, 1959.

335

Page 8: Lucile Armstrong

THE VERDIALES FESTIVAL IN MÁLAGA

to be solved. In Turkey, for example, zurna and davul (shawm anddrum) are customary for outdoor dancing in the eastern half of thecountry. Stringed instruments are never mixed with these two andright1y so.

The pandero-player's way of making a grimace was reminiscentof flamenco singers extorting the last strand of expression fromtheir bodies, or of a person in a frenzy or going into a trance. Theclosed eyes and constant beating of the tambourine brought tomind the devotees of Cybele, the ancient Near Eastern springGoddess, who, dressed in leopard skins, beat drums and tam-bourines, and blew trumpets and punished themselves in a frenzyof endeavour to worship their Earth Goddess. The throbbingquality of the drurnming made the pandas oblivious of all buttheir playing.

There are three main styles of Verdiales according to the regionsin the sierras behind Málaga. These regions are: the Montes deMálaga (mountains of Málaga) that is, the hills north of Málaga;the Veléz region or the plains east of Málaga, along the banks ofthe river Veléz; and the region to the west of Málaga. The Ve1ézregion claims to have originated the Verdiales music. There thetempo is much faster. In effect, this does not add to its charm.The music from the 'Montes de Málaga' seemed the most adequatestyle and tempo and repeated hearing confirmed the impression.I t is beyond the scope of this article to give a technical descriptionof the music itself; that is a matter for the specialist.

The costume of the pandas is important, for the gorros deVerdiales, these 'magic hats' - or flowered hats -link theirwearers to other ritual men dancers in Galicia, Almonacíd delMarquesado, Verín; with the English Morris Sides and PaceEggers; with the Roumanian Calu!¡!aris and 'Bear dancers'; theBulgarian Russalii; with some Yugoslav ritual women' s springdancers, and with many others across the Continent.

In an old photograph that I was shown some ten years ago, theVerdiales men wore white cotton shirts and trousers, a gorro deVerdiales, and held a stick in each hand. The colour white wouldfit in with their function as spirits of vegetation, or of the re-generation of nature, as their ritual seems to imply.

The gorro de Verdiales bears further examination because of itssymbolism. Among 'the folk' traditionally, a rose means a woman;

Page 9: Lucile Armstrong

THE VERDIALES FESTIVAL IN MÁLAGA

a carnation means aman; a marguerite is the pearl of the sea-emblem of rebirth and connected with Venus (Aphrodite); a five-petalled eglantine is a moon-flower, for the number five is connectedwith the moon and with water; the festoons of glass beads representrain-drops, as in the case of the Roumanian Calu§ari's beads,which no doubt were on their hats for the same reason: fertilityof the crops. Pine cones have represented plenty or fertility formillenia; starfish have five fingers so represent water and areconnected with the moon; tambourines are moon symbols, as wehave seen and also they are feminine symbols, while mirrors areprophylactic and avert evil influences. The mirrors were edgedwith lace or sewn with coloured material or fancy stitching. AlIthese lucky signs were brought out to ensure plenty and fertilityof fields and cattle through sympathetic magic. The numerousthree-inch-wide coloured ribbons draped over shoulders and backsof the men indicated that they were, or wished to be, in touch withthe spirits of the three kingdoms: the earth, the living world andthe 'upper regions' or spheres. Many ribbons had five-petalledflowers embroidered on them.

Questions as to where such gorros could be obtained always hadthe answer that the wives 'made them at home'.

After the olive harvest thanksgiving dancing is as important asmusic. They go together. The dances are circular, the first twoverses represent hexagons or octagons, both numbers sacred tothe sun. The last two verses are of a 'spokes-of-a-wheel' formation,which too is a sun symbol, particularly as the last verse is arevolving wheel. The importance of the sun in this case is obvious.The steps are difficult and very tiring. One leg has to cross overthe other quickly, while a rapid change of weight is made and thesupporting leg is picked up at the back and twisted sideways in apeculiar way. Each village has its own version, just as it has itsown costume. The Sección Femenína has a good collection of thesecostumes used by its own groups. They differ from the Málaga city.costumes which date from the sixteenth century when that fashionwas widespread in the southem half of Spain.

One village favours diagonals and lozenges of bright colours ona mustard ground. Others prefer more subdued colours. Theloveliest was Aguedita's green and white striped dress which isstill the costume of one village.

337

Page 10: Lucile Armstrong

THE VERDIALES FESTIVAL IN MALAGA

What 1 have described is a small part of the Verdiales festivalas 1 witnessed it. That part suggests that there is much about themusic, dance and implications yet to be studied that link thisremnant of an obviously ancient agricultural rite with otherrituals that once extended across Europe. With this aim in view,much ground was covered by the researches of Violet Alford whotried to map these rituals. So, limited though it be, 1 dedicate thispaper to her, for it was she who first awakened my interest infolklore.

~r