Levántica
Origin and history
The levántica is one of the least widespread mining cantes within the broad range of the cantes de Levante, that family of styles that arose and developed around the mining basins of southeastern Spain, mainly in the provinces of Almería, Murcia and Jaén, throughout the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, fueled by mining activity and the arrival of workers from different parts of Andalusia to those basins.
It derives from the taranta, the common matrix from which the murciana, the taranto and the minera also come, in a process of diversification typical of the cantes de Levante, in which a shared melodic trunk gave rise to numerous local or personal variants, each sometimes associated with a particular performer or district.
Precisely because it is a cante sung and recorded little in comparison with the taranta or the cartagenera, the levántica has remained one of the most discreet styles of this group, overshadowed by its more popular relatives within the cante de las minas, and knowledge of it today depends largely on scholars and specialists in the mining genre.
Musical characteristics and compás
Like the rest of the mining cantes, the levántica is a free cante, with no fixed compás, which allows the cantaor to develop the melody with broad rhythmic freedom and with the melismas and ornaments characteristic of this group. Its tonality and melodic turn are directly related to those of the taranta, from which it inherits the modal range typical of the cantes de Levante.
Guitar accompaniment is usually done in the “por taranta” tuning, with the sixth string lowered, a technique that gives these cantes their characteristic color and which is shared by all the styles derived from this mining trunk.
Representative cantaores and performers
Being a minor cante even within the cantes de Levante group itself, there are no major figures exclusively and firmly associated with the levántica; its cultivation has remained more in the hands of specialists in mining cante and scholars of the genre than of performers with mass appeal, unlike what happened with the taranta or the cartagenera.
Relationship to other palos
The levántica belongs to the family of the cantes de Levante or mining cantes, mostly derived from the taranta, together with the murciana, the taranto, the minera, the cartagenera and the malagueña de Levante. All of them share the character of a free cante and an origin linked to the mining basins of southeastern Spain.