Canarian Folk Music

Canarian folk music is the traditional music of the Canary Islands, an archipelago repertory of sung dances — isa, folía, malagueña, seguidillas, polka and the ritual tango of El Hierro — performed by rondalla-style ensembles of voices, guitars, bandurrias, laúdes and the small five-string timple that is the islands' emblematic instrument. Shaped by Spanish and Portuguese settlement, pre-Hispanic Guanche survivals and centuries of emigration to and from Latin America, the repertory is maintained by village agrupaciones and large choral folk groups and sung at romerías, fiestas and the islands' celebrated carnival season.