Sardana

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The sardana (Catalan plural sardanes) is a type of circle dance typical of Catalonia.

There are two main types, the original sardana curta (short sardana) style and the more modern sardana llarga (long sardana), which is more popular. Other more unusual sardanas are the sardana de lluïment and the sardana revessa.

Nobody knows when the sardana originated, but it has been popular since the 16th century. Some believe the sardana is two thousand years old, but such theories have few adherents. Modern choreography was established as late as the end of the 19th century and features slight differences from the original North-Catalonian dance. Pep Ventura's band is credited for stabilizing different variants around a clear 6/8 rhythm and fixing the instrumental ensemble. Though some Iberian and Mediterranean circle dances follow similar patterns, instrumental music for the sardana has achieved a complexity of its own. As a non-performance dance, sardana does not require special fitness. Moreover, the circle can be opened to a highly variable number of dancers.

Music for the sardana is played by a cobla, a band consisting of 10 wind instruments, double bass and a so called "tamborí" (very small drum) played by 11 musicians. The cobla has five woodwind instruments: The flabiol is a kind of Block flute. The tenora and the tible (two of each) belong to the oboe family. These instruments plus the tamborí are typical of Catalonia. The brass instruments include: two trumpets, two fiscorn (a tipe of saxhorn created by Adolph Sax during the 19th century), and one keys-trombone. The double bass is normally a three-goat-stringed one.

In Spanish and French Catalonia about one hundred and thirty coblas are active, most of which are amateur orchestras. Outside Catalonia there is one more cobla: Cobla La Principal d'Amsterdam.

Many sardanas have lyric versions and were widely sung in the 20th century, but mostly instrumental versions are used for dancing.

[edit] See also

• Catalan shawms, discussing the tenora and tible.

[edit] External links

• 45-sec Video of Sardana dance and music on Commons
• Official web page of Cobla Contemporània
• Dancing Sardana in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter
• Catalan Dancing in Barcelona, Sardana Dance
• Cobla La Principal d'Amsterdam
• MP-3 examples of cobla music are available on the Selvatana Cobla and Cobla Sabadell sites.