Milonga
The milonga is a flamenco-adapted cante that comes from Argentine folklore, specifically from the Río de la Plata region, and belongs to the group of cantes de ida y vuelta that flamenco absorbed from American music.
Melancholic and sweet in character, it is a danceable style set to the compás of tangos, which made it easy to adapt into the flamenco idiom and gave it a regular place in the repertoire of ida y vuelta cantes alongside other styles of Río de la Plata origin.
Origin and history
The flamenco milonga is rooted in the milonga criolla of the Río de la Plata, a musical and poetic genre that arose in the rural areas of Argentina and Uruguay during the 19th century, closely linked to the payada and the gaucho tradition. Through the intense migratory and cultural ties between Spain and the countries of the Río de la Plata, especially during the 19th and 20th centuries, this music traveled back to Andalusia, where flamenco cantaores reworked it with the accent and aesthetic proper to cante jondo.
This ida y vuelta phenomenon, in which an American style of Spanish root returns to Spain transformed into flamenco cante, gave rise to a whole group of sibling palos that includes the milonga, incorporated into the flamenco repertoire mainly over the course of the 20th century thanks to its easy adaptation to compás and to the sensibility of the cante.
Musical characteristics and compás
The milonga is performed to the compás of tangos, a marked binary rhythm that allows for both singing and dancing, setting it apart from other cantes de ida y vuelta of a freer character. Its melody is sweet and melancholic, with a nostalgic air inherited from its Río de la Plata origin, and it admits a flamenco guitar accompaniment that reinforces that danceable pulse.
Its tonality and phrasing retain echoes of Argentine popular music, giving it a recognizable sound within the set of cantes de ida y vuelta, softer and less jondo than other palos in the flamenco repertoire.
Representative cantaores and performers
The milonga has been cultivated by numerous cantaores throughout the 20th century as a regular part of recitals devoted to the cantes de ida y vuelta, a repertoire that became especially popular from the mid-century onward. However, being a collective style rather than a cante fixed by a single creator, it is more accurate to speak of an interpretive tradition shared by a good part of flamenco cantaores than of specific figures associated exclusively with this palo.
Relationship to other palos
The milonga is part of the group of cantes de ida y vuelta, together with the guajira, the colombiana, the rumba flamenca, and the vidalita, all of which arose from the historical contact between Spain and Latin America. It shares with the guajira and the colombiana that American origin reworked with a flamenco accent, and with the tangos the compás that rhythmically sustains it.