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Track 5: A Mi Tio "El Niño Miguel"
Track 7. Callejón De Las Canteras

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But I thought track 7 was possibly a mineras. Same as taranta in this case? Or not really?

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But I thought track 7 was possibly a mineras. Same as taranta in this case? Or not really?

Scott

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6. Another remarkable composition from Tomatito, Callejon de las Canteras (taranta, a track from Barrio Negro) innovates in an original way. Strings 1, 2 and 3 are raised, while the 4th is lowered, as follows, from bass to treble: E, A, C-sharp, A, C-sharp, F-sharp, in order to play por taranta in the G-sharp tonality (i.e. in the E-Major scale). The fundamental chord, G-sharp, in its basic position is the same as that of the taranta, shifted up two frets (with a small difference: the fourth finger is moved up one fret higher than the third finger).

One could say that G-sharp is the tonality of the minera, adding the similarity with the primitive minera fingerings. In fact the likeness stops here, because there is no doubt about the intention: with this tuning, the fundamental chord reproduces note by note, in the same order, the intervals that characterize the dissonances of the taranta, not the minera.

In its usual F-sharp form this style doesn't suffer from a limit in depth, as the open sixth string is already lower than the keynote by one tone. However the purpose –perfectly achieved – of this somehow intricate tuning is, as in the other cases, to gain extension of the bass register. The trick consists in reaching this result not by lowering the sixth string, but rather by rising the trebles, pushing the tonality upward by one tone. What imagination!

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actually he plays a bulería in this tuning as well!