Sevillana

The sevillana is a type of folk music, sung and written in the city of Seville in Spain. Historically, they are a derivative of seguidilla, or Castilian folk music. Though sevillanas have a relatively limited musical pattern, they have rich lyrics, based on country side life, virgins, towns, neighborhoods, pilgrimage and, of course, love themes. They are popular and sung by a variety of artists. Every year, dozens of new sevillanas discs are published.

Sevillanas can be heard in southern Spain, mainly, in fairs and festivals, including the famous Feria de Sevilla ("Seville Fair"). There is an associated dance for the music: "baile por sevillanas", consisting of four different parts. One can find schools teaching "baile por sevillanas" in nearly every town in Spain.

Generally speaking, sevillanas are very light and happy music.

In Flamenco
In a flamenco setting, sevillanas are in a 3/4 or 6/8 rhythm. The choreography is very stable, and knowing it is very useful, since it is a fiesta dance. This is why learning flamenco usually starts with this particular dance: it is easier to reach a particular level and there are more occasions for practice and training.

Each sevillana is composed of 4 parts, with each part divided into 3 coplas, and with each copla made up of 6 movements. It is a very vivid dance, often excluded from flamenco by "purists". Paradoxically, during spectacles and shows it is usually sevillana dancing that ordinary people (not born in Andalusia) take for "the real, true flamenco," as it is full of turns and flashy movement.