Name that refers to a group of flamenco types coming from Cádiz, including alegrias, mirabás, romeras, caracoles and cantiñas.

Name that refers to a group of flamenco types coming from Cádiz, including alegrias, mirabás, romeras, caracoles and cantiñas. Its character is festive, reflecting the way of feeling of Cádiz, where 'cantiñear' is synonym of playing, improvising, elements inherent of the spirit of cantiñas. They represented the prototype of the festive song in the XIXth century -like 'bulerias' nowadays-. At that time, cantiñas were the favourite sort of dances in the dancing cafes. Cantiñas songs come specially from Cádiz, rhythmically framed in the alegrias 'toque'. These styles of songs were essential in every flamenco party and they have constituted the grace and the joy of the flamenco 'cuadros' for many years. Thanks to their rhythm, the best insolences were done by La Mejorana, Gabriela Ortega, La Jeroma, La Macarrona... accompanied by voices of specialists like Macaca, Paco El Sevillano, El Quiqui, Romero El Tito. Today we can clearly distinguish the following songs: alegrías (different styles), la cantiña (different styles), las romeras, el mirabrás y los caracoles. With regard to the musical antecedents, cantiñas are associated with the verses of jaleo that had been very welcome by the interpreters during the XIXth century. In the other hand, the rhythmical and metrical elements that cantiñas share with the sorts derived from the soleá have to be linked with the old jaleo verses. Alegrias work, within the cantiñas, as a gender regulator of musical structure elements that define the different types. Cantiñas were borned in Cádiz in the early XIXth through a process of cristalisation of a serial of elements that were dispersed in many other genders until then (jota de Cádiz, old alegrías or juguetillos, cantes de las Mirris, alegrías denominated La Rosa or contrabandista, romances himnos, pregones bajo andaluces or fandango de Cádiz, among others). Cantiñas are done in the 'compás' of alegrías, which means a light soleá. All the cantiñas have a commun characteristic: the major tone realised by the guitar that accompanies the singing,