Habanera
Origin and history
The habanera is, like the guajiras, an aflamencado cante rooted in Cuban music, in this case in the habanera criolla itself, a song and dance genre born in Cuba in the 19th century which in turn derived from the European contredanse brought to the island by Spanish and French settlers. That Cuban habanera later returned to Spain through the ports of Cádiz and the trade and migration routes with the Antilles, giving rise to the double musical round trip that gives this whole group of cantes its name.
Its establishment within flamenco took place alongside that of the guajiras, between the end of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th, when the genre enjoyed enormous popularity throughout Spain, both as a parlor song and in its flamenco adaptation. Towns such as Cádiz, with direct historical ties to Cuba, were especially receptive to this cante.
Although its presence in present-day flamenco fiesta is minor, the habanera remains alive in the Spanish popular songbook, especially along the Mediterranean coast and in Catalonia, where it is celebrated as a genre in its own right at dedicated festivals, which shows the depth of its roots outside the strictly flamenco sphere.
Musical characteristics and compás
The habanera is characterized by a slow, rocking binary compás, very recognizable for its accompaniment rhythm of a dotted eighth note followed by two sixteenth notes, the rhythmic cell that defines the genre in any of its variants. The key, as in the guajiras, is usually major, with a singable, easily memorable melody.
In its flamenco version, the guitar respects that Cuban rhythmic base but incorporates falsetas and nuances typical of Andalusian toque, and the cante is delivered with more expressive freedom than in the salon habanera, drawing closer to the phrasing of other cantes de ida y vuelta.
Representative cantaores and performers
Pepe Marchena was one of the great champions of the habanera within flamenco, together with other cantaores of the so-called “opera flamenca” style of the early decades of the 20th century, a period in which the cantes de ida y vuelta achieved great popularity in shows. Outside the strictly flamenco sphere, the habanera has a very extensive repertoire performed by popular voices, especially along the Mediterranean coast.
Relationship to other palos
The habanera belongs to the family of cantes de ida y vuelta, together with the guajiras, the milonga, the colombiana and the rumba. It is, along with the guajiras, the style most directly associated with Cuba in terms of theme and atmosphere, and in fact both styles share lyrics and melodic turns that sometimes intertwine within the same recital.