Olga Ramos

Cuplé is a Spanish theatrical song style that flourished in the early 20th century, performed by star female vocalists known as cupletistas in cafés-concert, varietés, and revista (revue) stages. It is characterized by short, catchy strophic songs with memorable refrains, light dance rhythms (often in 2/4 or 3/4), and lyrics rich in double entendres, urban picaresque humor, and flirtatious innuendo. Musically, it leans on simple, singable melodies and straightforward harmonies (tonic–dominant–subdominant), frequently colored by habanera-tinged rhythms or gentle pasodoble sway, and is usually accompanied by piano or a small pit orchestra. While it shares space with zarzuela and later copla, cuplé is lighter, more risqué, and cabaret-like, foregrounding personality, gesture, and costume as much as the song itself.

Chotis madrileño is the Madrid-specific adaptation of the Central European schottische, transformed into a hallmark of the city's popular culture. Typically played on organillo (street barrel organ), piano, or small wind/brass ensembles, it features a jaunty, "oom-pah" accompaniment and a moderate, steady tempo suited to its iconic couple dance where dancers pivot tightly "sobre una baldosa" (on a single tile). The style became inseparable from the San Isidro festivities and from the imagery of chulapos and chulapas, Madrid's traditional urban characters. Musically, it favors diatonic melodies, simple harmonic progressions (I–IV–V with occasional secondary dominants), and memorable refrains. In the 19th and early 20th centuries it intertwined with géneros escénicos like género chico, zarzuela, and the Spanish revista, producing a large repertoire of witty, costumbrista songs about Madrid's neighborhoods and everyday life.