Alegrías, one of the main flamenco clubs
Perhaps the most characteristic feature of Alegrías is its compass, which it shares with Solea. They are sung in a major tone, a fairly common feature in all Cantiñas, with some specific exception, in which variants such as Caracoles or Córdoba are implemented.
As for its structure, the Joys admit the coupling of four octosyllable verses, which can be linked to the toy of three or four verses, which follows the wake of the classic string formed by copla and chorus. In spite of this, there is no specific structure, and a sequence of copla and toy is usually carried out, which ends with a letter interpreted in a high tessitura followed also by a rather rhythmic final toy. Rodríguez Marín says that the joys are ‘the shortest of the Spanish songs; It only has two verses, assonance or sounding, almost always five syllables the first and ten the second, and divisible this in equal hemistich.
Flamenco Female Dancer Dancing Alegrías
An interesting fact about the joys is that in what is possibly the first recording made of this genre, made by Sebastián el Pena in 1909, accompanied on the guitar by the Son of the Blind and dancing by La Macarrona; Cante himself defines it as ruckus, thus demonstrating that the chaos precede this type of Cantiñas.
Another very important aspect in the Alegrías is the costumes used by the bailaoras, who wear a long dress up to the ankle finished in frills and adorned with ribbons or lace. The sleeves can be long or short, puffed or ruffled. In addition, the bailaoras wear, as usual, beautiful mantillas, these are adorned with flower embroidery and long fringes. The details that complete her wardrobe are flowers, combs, coral earrings and heels.
