Encyclopedia

Garrotín

Spanish musical genre and dance

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Source updated January 18, 2026

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Garrotín is a style of improvised song, featuring (palo) flamenco singing, dancing, and guitar playing, which developed near the end of the nineteenth century in Asturias, in northern Spain. It is played or sung in a Major mode, and a simple 2/4 meter, and has a cheerful and festive character. After being introduced into the flamenco repertoire, garrotín was further developed by singer Pastora Pavón ("Niña de los Peines"), and has been recently popularized by dancer, Carmen Amaya.

01Style

Garrotín is sung in 2/4 metres, normally with 8 syllables per line. It consists of a fixed chorus with a rhythmic melody, and the stanzas are improvised as they are sung. The content of the stanzas is usually burlesque or ironic, with the sole purpose of amusing the people who listen to it. The chorus, which is sung between each stanza to allow time for the next person to prepare, usually follows this pattern:

Al garrotín, al garrotan,

de la vera vera vera de Sant Joan;

al garrotín, al garrotan,

de la vera vera vera de Sant Joan.

In the verses, it is only the second and fourth lines that rhyme.

02Videos

Watch videos about GarrotínExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Garrotín”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

Julia Fons 1911.png by Diego Calvache Gómez de Mercado, Public domain

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