Тhese days checking the website of Jaén24h I came across an article about a very special man from the province of Jaén. Specifically, this is the man who composed the most famous paso doble in Spain. 💃
❓What immediately comes to mind when you hear the phrase "Spanish dance"? Probably the first example that springs to mind is flamenco.
However, there is another dance that perfectly represents the Spanish passion-pasodoble. Maybe you've heard or seen pasodoble before, but do you really know what it is?
💃The pasodoble is…
The pasodoble has a military origin. Marching music with a binary rhythm, under which the movement of the marching was performed. In theatrical and festive performances, the pasodoble started being performed as a couple dance. The pasodoble’s music was used as an accompaniment to one of Spain's most famous spectacles: bullfighting. Many investigators believe that pasodoble originally comes from bullfights. The Pasodoble dance itself is perceived as a kind of dramatization of a bullfight, where men play the role of a bullfighter and the woman of a bull.
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- Municipal Band de Jaén plays pasodoble "JAÉN", compuesto por Cristóbal López Gándara. (8th March 2019)
- Competitors in the show “Dancing with the stars” dances pasodoble.
And now when you know what pasodoble is let me tell you about the most famous artist from the province of Jaén-Antonio Álvarez Alonso
Antonio Álvarez Alonso, born in Martos (province of Jaén) on 11 March 1867, was a pianist, composer, and director of zarzuelas. Antonio Álvarez Alonso, orphaned at a very young age, studied with his brother at the National Music School in Madrid. He wrote more than 20 zarzuelas in collaboration with famous composers of his time. Cartagena is where he composed his most famous works and where he died. As a memorial to this great man, his hometown (Martos) decided to name the city's new theater after him.
Teatro Municipal Maestro Álvarez Alonso
But he is especially remembered for being the author of "Suspiros de España", Spain's most famous pasodoble. The pasodoble "Suspiros de España" was composed in 1902 in Cartagena, although in 1938 the lyrics were added by Juan Antonio Álvarez Cantos, the composer's nephew. In those years, for many exiled by the Civil War, the pasodoble "Suspiros de España" symbolized the nostalgia for the lost country.
Later, the pasodoble has been used in numerous very famous Spanish movies, such as “Ay Carmela”, “Soldados de Salamina”, etc.
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