Vidalita
The vidalita is a flamenco-tinged cante that comes from Argentine folklore and belongs, therefore, to the family of the cantes de ida y vuelta, those that flamenco incorporated from music carried to America and later brought back to Spain with a new accent. Its character is predominantly melancholic and sweet, traits it shares with other styles of this same family such as the milonga.
Origin and history
The vidalita has its origin in the vidala, a popular song of Creole and indigenous root spread across north-western Argentina and other areas of the Southern Cone, intimate and melancholic in character, traditionally associated with coplas of love and solitude. As happened with other American genres, it reached Spain through the intense human and cultural exchange between Andalusia and America during the 19th and 20th centuries, especially via emigrants returning after making their fortune on the American continent.
Once in Spain, the genre was reworked by flamenco cantaores, who gave it a jondo accent and ornamentation without losing its original melody, integrating it into the repertoire of the cantes de ida y vuelta alongside the guajira, the colombiana or the milonga. It is a minority style within present-day flamenco, cultivated above all as a recital cante.
Musical characteristics and compás
The vidalita is usually performed in ternary compás or with a measured, swaying rhythm, inherited from its folkloric origin, though in its flamenco version it can also draw close to the compás of the guajira or adopt a certain rhythmic freedom depending on the performer. Its melody is sweet and gentle in line, far from the harshness of the more dramatic jondo cantes.
It is accompanied by guitar in a major key, following the harmonic aesthetic proper to the cantes de ida y vuelta, closer to popular Latin American music than to the Phrygian mode predominant in much of flamenco. It can also incorporate touches of soft, swaying dance.
Representative cantaores and performers
The consulted source does not mention specific performers historically linked to this style. Being a minority cante within the ida y vuelta repertoire, its presence in recordings and recitals has always been scarcer than that of other American styles such as the guajira or the colombiana.
Relationship with other palos
The vidalita belongs to the family of the cantes de ida y vuelta, together with the guajira, the colombiana, the milonga and the rumba, all of which arose from the cultural exchange between Spain and America. It shares a particular kinship with the milonga through its melancholic tone and its River Plate and Argentine origin, as opposed to the more cheerful character of the guajira or the colombiana.