Singing in Asturia and Galicia

[Anna Machial]

This is a cultural question rather than a camino question but I've looked all over the internet for an answer.

I was woken up twice, once when sleeping above a bar in Asturia, and then again in Santiago by gorgeous singing by a man. He had a deep voice and sung a verse and everyone else in the bar would join in the chorus. I was too tired to check it out but I've been wondering if it was traditional folk music. It reminded me of Fado sung by the Portuguese. Does the music I heard have a name and history? Does any one here know? Thanks.

 

[roberbolo]

Hi Anna, it depends on the location and season but it seems to be "cancios de chigre", popular party in Asturias, where several groups go singing from bar to bar.

The most famous type is "toná" a tipical Asturian song.
Check toná:

Cancios de chigre:

Cheers!

 

[Castilian]

We would need more info to provide an accurate answer. In some areas of Asturias (as well as in some areas of Cantabria and other parts of Spain) you can still find sometimes people singing together traditional and/or popular songs on bars (e.g.: after a few beers one of them starts to sing and people either joins them or just listen).

For info about the cancios de chigre (what's that, types, history...), this link will be useful (note: link both in Bable and Spanish. If you don't know bable, the Spanish version starts at -the end of- page 10):

http://marsellaviana.freehostia.com/cantaresdelchigre/cantaresdelchigre.pdf

In Santiago de Compostela, did you actually see the singer(s)? Could he(they) be part of a tuna (take a look at how a tuno look in wikipedia: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuna)? If not, maybe what you heard were cantos de taberna.

 

[Anna Machial]

I did not see the singer but he had an excellent voice. I had no regrets about being woken up at night to listen to him. The music seemed traditional to me. The music could have been tona. There are similarities. I've listen to several youtube videos and there seems to be a very strong music culture in Asturia and Galicia amongst the general population. Thank you for the information.