Jota (music)

Jota (music)

The jota (; Aragonese: hota or ixota ; Asturian: xota ; Galician: xota ) is a genre of music and the associated dance known throughout Spain, most likely originating in Aragon. It varies by region, having a characteristic form in Aragon, Castile, Navarra, Cantabria, Asturias, Galicia, Murcia and Eastern Andalusia. Being a visual representation, the jota is danced and sung accompanied by castanets, and the interpreters tend to wear regional costumes. In Valencia, the jota was once danced during interment ceremonies.

The jota tends to have a 3/4 rhythm, although some authors maintain that the 6/8 is better adapted to the poetic and choreographic structure. For their interpretation, guitars, bandurrias, lutes, dulzaina, and drums are used in the Castilian style, while the Galicians use bagpipes, drums, and bombos. Theatrical versions are sung and danced with regional costumes and castanets, though such things are not used when dancing the jota in less formal settings. The content of the songs is quite diverse, from patriotism to religion to sexual exploits. In addition to this, the songs also have the effect of helping to generate a sense of local identity and cohesion.

The steps have an appearance not unlike that of the waltz, though in the case of the jota, there is much more variation. Furthermore, the lyrics tend to be written in eight-syllable quartets, with assonance in the first and third verses.

Some non-Spanish musicians have made use of the jota in various works:

• Georges Bizet, French composer (1838–1875), composed the opera Carmen which is set in Spain. The entr'acte to the fourth act (Aragonaise) is a jota.
• Mikhail Glinka, Russian composer (1804–1857), After traveling through Spain, used a style derived from the jota in his work The Aragonese Jota.
• Louis Gottschalk, American composer and pianist (1829–1869), composed the piano work La Jota Aragonesa, Op.14.
• Franz Liszt, Hungarian pianist and composer (1811–1886), wrote a jota for piano.
• Saint-Saëns, French composer (1835–1921), composed an orchestral jota, as did the Russian composer Balakirev (1837–1910).
• Raoul Laparra, French composer (1876–1943), composed an opera entitled La jota.
• Frederick Loewe, American composer (1901–1988), uses a jota as the last (orchestral) part of "The Rain in Spain" from My Fair Lady.