Pago de la Serrana (siguiriya). Composed and performed by Diego del Morao.
The origins of the flamenco siguiriyas(a.k.a., seguiriyas) can be found in a song called plañideras from the mid 19th century. These were typically sung by women hired to sing for post-duel funerals. The theme was, unsurprisingly, death and sorrow. By the end of the mid 1800s these songs began taking on their flamenco structure and were called playeras gitanas and by the late 1800s they had become seguiriyas gitanas. Finally, in the early 1900s they were simply called seguiriyas. Today, the “death and sorrow” theme is not necessarily present in every composition and interpretation of the style. Here, Diego del More plays a very expressively rich and varied instrumental version.
Tarantella. Composed by Joseph Kaspar Mertz and performed by Vera Danilina.
The tarantella is a traditional style of music and dance from southern Italy (esp. the city of Taranto in Puglia) dating back to 186 B.C. Apparently, it was believed that a bite from the wolf spider — then called “tarantula” — would make people hysterical. It seems that this was a good enough inspiration for the musicians of the time to create this very fast and upbeat style of music. The tarantella was originally an instrumental style of music played mostly by mandolin, guitar, accordion, and tambourines. Here, Vera Danilina shares a very virtuosic solo guitar version of the style.
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