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 he
name Sardane refers to both the music and the dance. The dance
was born between Perpignan and Figueres. Its ancestry was the
contrapàs, the dance of the Vallespir region, which was
done in the round and was accompanied by four musicians. In
the beginning the music guided the dancers, who followed its
lead with their steps and finished with a playful air. In 1830
the word sardane was employed. In Perpignan in 1849 the music
and the dance underwent a revolution with the invention of the
tenora, the major instrument of the sardane, by the violin-maker
Andrew Toron. Endowed with the sounds of a brass instrument,
the tenora offered a large range of notes with an unmatched
flexibility. From that time the cobla (the sardane orchestra)
modernised itself with eleven instruments: two tenores, two
tibles (traditional instruments), two trumpets, two fiscorns
(brass instruments of eastern European origin), a slide trombone,
a double bass and a flabiol (from the flute family). From
the close of the 19th Century composers coming from a Classical
education exploited the new sounds of the cobla: the works achieved
artistic value and the choreography of the dance improved. Initially
from a small area of North Catalonia, the sardane was danced
in the 20th Century throughout a Catalonia searching for its’
identity.
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A
Ceret, micro-region of Vallespir, Picasso designs
a peaceful
sardana.
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Since
the 1960s the sardana has taken off in North Catalonia where
it is danced at least one a year in each town or village. The
gatherings to dance the sardane and to listen to ballads take
place at the close of day. The 65 foments, associations of sardanistes,
are often joined by the ‘new’ Catalans who are grateful for
the integrating role of the dance. The colles sardanistes, groups
of dancers, participate in the Championship of Catalonia, competing
against 70 other groups. The cobles Tres Vents and Mil-lenària,
along with a dozen other orchestras from North Catalonia work
towards the prestigious prize for composition. In Catalonia
there are around 100 cobles and more than 25 000 works, both
for listening and dancing, many of which have been recorded
on CD. Popular
and intelligent, the sardane also makes a good march.
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