Milladoiro 3

Galician folk music is the traditional music of Galicia, a Celtic-influenced region in the northwest of Spain. It is best known for its powerful gaita galega (Galician bagpipe) leading dance tunes and laments, supported by a driving percussion battery of tamboril (snare-like drum), bombo (bass drum), and hand percussion such as pandeireta (large frame tambourine). Modal melodies, drones, and characteristic vocal shouts (aturuxos) give it a visceral, communal energy. The repertoire spans lively dance forms—especially the muiñeira in 6/8—as well as carballesa, jota galega, alborada (dawn processional), and foliadas (communal sing-and-dance gatherings). Vocal genres include alalá (often free-rhythmic and plaintive), regueifa (improvised sung dueling), and multi-voice pandeireteira traditions. Besides the gaita, instruments such as requinta (small transverse flute), hurdy-gurdy (zanfoña), violin, accordion, and guitar are common. Melodically it favors Dorian and Mixolydian modes, open-fifth drones, and ornamentation idiomatic to the gaita. While close to other Atlantic “Celtic” traditions (Irish, Scottish, Breton), Galician folk music retains distinctive Iberian traits through neighboring Spanish and Portuguese dance forms, language (Galego), and seafaring themes.