A palo () or cante is the name given in flamenco for the different traditional musical forms.
The word palo, in Spanish, has several meanings, the main one being "stick", "pole" "rod" or "Tree", but in this case it has the sense of "suit of cards" i.e. category or classification.
Identifying palos
Each palo is identified by a variety of musical features such as its rhythmic pattern, its mode, its characteristic motifs, the type of stanza used for the lyrics, and its origin.
The concept of palo is not straightforward or rigorous. It is a popular, sometimes inconsistent way of classifying songs according to similar characteristics. For example, to determine that a song belongs to the palo called Bulerías, only the rhythm is taken into consideration, no matter its mode or stanza. Fandangos, on the other hand, include a variety of forms in or , but later it developed "free" forms (that is, with no determined rhythm). Most palos include dozens of traditional songs, while others like the serrana include only one song. Another interesting example is that of the polo and the caña: they are almost identical and would be expected to be classified as variations of the same song, but tradition has classified them as different palos.
Classification of palos
Palos have been categorized in different ways. According to their traditionally attributed origin, they are often classified in the shape of a tree, usually in a rather unscientific way.
Another way to categorize the palos is with respect to their musical origin. Palos in the fandango family (including malagueñas, granaínas, tarantas, and the fandango de Huelva) can be seen as stylized forms of genres of Andalusian folk music. Soleares and siguiriyas are more strictly associated with Romani music culture. Because of their solemn character, they are sometimes referred to as cante jondo or “deep song,” as opposed to cantes such as tangos and bulerías, which are fast and festive.
Some palos such as granaínas, malagueñas, and fandango libre, are rendered in free rhythm, whereas most others are metered, that is, in compás. Some of the latter in duple meter (e.g. tangos and tientos) while the majority of other are in a form of triple meter (e.g. soleares, bulerías, etc.).
In 1990, Christof Jung suggested another way to categorize the palos is based on their mood and feel. In this regard, the palos are categorized as such: Cante Grande group: includes bulería por soleá, cabales, caña, carcelera, corríos, debla, liviana, martinete, playera, polo, pregones, saeta (flamenco), serranas, siguiriyas, soléa (soleares) and toña. All of them include singing and dancing, except for toña which is usually not accompanied with dance. Cante Intermedio group: includes granaínas, jabera, malagueñas, medio polo', mineras, petenera, policaña, tarantas/taranto, and tientos. All of them are accompanied with singing. Cante Chico group: includes alboreá, alegrías, bambera, bandolá, boleras, bulerías, calesera, campanilleros, cantifia, caracoles, cartagenera, chuflas, columbianas, fandangos, fandanguillos, farruca, garrotín, guajíra, jaleo, lorqueña, mariana, media granaína, milonga, mirabrtis, murciana, nanas, panadero, rotis, rocieras, romeras, rondeña, rosás, rumba gitana, sevillanas, tangos gitanos, tanguillo, tiranas, trillera, verdiales, villancicos, vito, zambra, and zorongo gitano. Among these, boleras is not accompanied with singing, and milonga and zorongo are not accompanied with dance.
Finally, some classify the palos based on a combination of their origin and compas: Toná family, also known as palo seco: includes debla, martinetes, carceleras, saetas, trilla, and tonás. Soleá family, which all use 12-beat compás cycles: alboreá, bulerías, caña and polo, cantinas group (alegrías, caracoles, mirabras, romeras), peteneras, romance (palo) and solea. Fandango family: includes fandangos de huelva, fandangos orientales, fandangos abandolaos, fandangos libres, verdiales, rondeñas, jaberas, granaínas, media granaína, and malagueñas Seguiriyas family: includes cabales, livianas, serrana and seguiriyas. Tango family, which al use a 4/4 compás cycle: farruca, garrotín, marianas, tarantas/taranto, tientos, tanguillos, and tangos. Ida y vuelta family, also have a tango rhythm and feel, but originate from South America: colombianas, guajiras, rumba and vidalitas. Other palos not belonging to any of the above groups: campanilleros, bambera, serillanas, nanas, zambra and zorongo.
Below, we describe several categories of the latter classification with more detail.