A folkloric association in Torremolinos revives a lost fandango from Benalmádena

José Rodríguez Cámara

Torremolinos

"Benalmádena on a hill; Mijas on a rocky ground and poor Torremolinos with just one street." It is one of the lyrics from ... the typical fandangos of the first of the three municipalities listed, reflecting the reality experienced by those who sang and danced to them, a time before the tourism boom, when, for example, no one in Benalmádena would have thought that the Arroyo de la Miel center and the coast would see their population skyrocket, or that Torremolinos was on its way to becoming a world-famous destination.

These songs were forgotten until, as a result of research, they were recovered and, most excitingly, revived in a live performance staged at the Casa de la Cultura in Benalmádena.

"Benalmádena on a hill; Mijas on a rocky ground and poor Torremolinos with just one street."

The discovery has a somewhat novelistic air. It all begins in the mid-20th century. Dolores Negrillo, a delegate from the Travelling Chair of the Women's Section of Málaga, traveled the province in search of folk representations. Upon arriving in Benalmádena, she met an elderly widow from the Soto family. What Negrillo did not know was that this woman safeguarded a rich tradition that, due to the times she lived in, was kept behind closed doors.

Decades

This musical treasure, however, remained there until decades later, Juan Navarro, heading an active folk and cultural association based in Torremolinos, continued the investigations. What Leonor, the daughter of Dolores Negrillo, conveyed to him about the steps and choreographic structures, dated in 1987, was key.

Later, there was another significant moment, the appearance of a historic recording during the Andalusian Folklore Congress held in Almería in 1990. This recording was crucial for the musical reconstruction of the fandangos.

In this story, there is another milestone. In 2024, the existence of new tapes preserved in the archives of the Arroyo de la Miel Public Library was announced, located through its director, María Carmen Martín Lara, with 46 years of experience among these collections.

In the recordings, the music is by Jacinto Esteban, a local reference, for having recovered and directed the grand representation of the Benalmádena Holy Week: El Paso; with performances by Emilia "La Malagueña" and Manolo Cabrera singing, along with Antonio Manuel Requena and Miguel Flores on guitar.

All the pieces of this puzzle gathered have allowed to complete part of the repertoire and consolidate a reconstruction based on musicological and ethnographic criteria.

The composition is included in the book Traditional Dances and Dances of Andalusia, by Juan Navarro.

Live

Seven decades after the delegate from the Travelling Chair of the Women's Section of Málaga had the opportunity to hear these popular lyrics, thanks to the wisdom of a Benalmádena woman who decided to keep them in her memory for their value, the project "Fandangos de Benalmádena: recovery and reconstruction of intangible cultural heritage" came to light, an event, with a full audience, that brought one of the most unique folk expressions of the municipality back to the present.

The mayor of Benalmádena, Juan Antonio Lara, highlighted the importance of "preserving and disseminating the intangible cultural heritage of the locality as an essential part of Benalmádena's identity."

For the event that brought this fandango out of oblivion, the dancers wore traditional attire, inspired by the popular clothing of the mid-20th century, which reinforced the historicist and rigorous character of a reconstruction based on oral sources, sound recordings, and ethnographic studies.

• More topics
• Mijas
• Torremolinos
• Benalmádena
• Arroyo de la Miel
• Music