Tonás (Spanish pronunciation:[toˈnas]) is apalo or type offlamenco songs. It belongs to the wider category ofCantes a palo seco,palos that are sunga cappella.^[1] Owing to this feature, they are considered by traditionalflamencology to be the oldest survivingmusical form of flamenco. This musical form originated in theCalé Romani subculture of Southern Spain.^[2] The first known flamenco singer,Tío Luis el de la Juliana, who lived inJerez de la Frontera in the last third of the 18th century, was said to have excelled in thispalo.^[3]

Othercantes a palo seco, such asmartinetes and debla, are sometimes classified undertonás,^[4][5] while at other times they are referred to aspalos on their own.

Thetonás were almost in disuse by the end of the 19th century. The reason seems to be that they were considered a difficult style by the general public, and resulted in Tonás on the near verge of disappearing.^[6]

During the 1950s the tonás came back into use,^[6] with singers likeAntonio Mairena,^[7] and came to be considered one of the main flamenco styles together withseguiriya andsoleá.^[7][8]

This article about amusic genre is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it.

• v
• t
• e

• Flamenco styles
• Music of Spain
• Music of Andalusia
• Vocal music
• Music genre stubs

• Pages with Spanish IPA
• All stub articles