The soleá (sometimes "soleares" in plural) is widely considered the mother of cante flamenco. It's classed as cante jondo — deep song — and stands at the structural heart of the entire art form: alegrías, bulerías, mirabras and the rest of the cantiñas family all derive from it, sometimes by speeding it up, sometimes by lightening its mode, sometimes both.
Origin
It probably emerged in the gypsy quarter of Triana in Seville during the early 19th century, evolving out of older Andalusian and Moorish forms — the caña and the polo — through the addition of guitar accompaniment that made them danceable. The name itself comes from "soledad" (solitude), and the lyrics tend to live up to the etymology: themes of loneliness, lost love, persecution, mortality.
The compás
Soleá uses the same 12-beat cycle as bulerías, but counted from one and felt in 3/4 sub-divisions:
1 2 [3] 4 5 [6] 7 [8] 9 [10] 11 [12]
The brackets mark the accents. This is the same accent pattern as alegrías — the difference between them is tempo and mode. Soleá lives at 60–80 BPM, in the Phrygian "flamenco mode"; alegrías sits at 120–170 in major.
What dancers do with it
A traditional soleá baile follows a strict structure: salida (entrance), letras (sung verses), llamada (calls to the singer), escobilla (footwork section), and remate, often via bulerías. The dancer carries themselves with restraint — there's a stillness here that bulerías never permits. Watch a great bailaora hold an arm aloft for eight beats and you'll understand the discipline.
Listening notes
For canonical soleá, look for La Niña de los Peines (Pastora Pavón), Antonio Mairena, or Manolo Caracol. For modern touchstones: Camarón de la Isla, especially his collaborations with Paco de Lucía.
