El Soldáu slip jig

Asturian Traditional Music.

I got it from the album of the Asturian band Llan de Cubel called Un tiempu meyor.

This is not a slip jig, it is an Asturian xiga. The rhythm of the tune is 9/8 but it is kind of “crooked”, my take on the ABC has been to use a single bar in 6/8. Interesting to see a really long F natural in the second part.

This tune was actually arranged by Llan de Cubel by merging two traditional Asturian tunes, which they found in the Torner’s songbook (collection of Asturian songs and tunes first published in 1920).

The A part is #355. A xirandiya from Ḷḷamo, County Riosa. The B part is #471, a “dancing song” (not sure how to better translate this) from Luiña, in County Ibias.

The lyrics for #471 say:

“Señores, para cantar licencia les pediré, porque no digan mañana que sin licencia canté”.
“Sirs, I will ask for a licence to sing, don’t say tomorrow that I sang without a licence”

I’ve taken the tunes for this setting straight from Torner’s book. The original time signature is 3/8.

As a side note: “xigues” is just the Asturian translation of the word “jigs”.