Are there other songs that feel/sound like Bolero and Andalucia?

September 9, 2009 3:54 PM

Do "Andalucia" and "Bolero" fit within a specific genre of music?

Their lumbering gait and cyclical motif give me the sense of slow travel over great distances … and I wonder if these two pieces are part of a larger musical genre. In my head, I've always thought of them as "caravanserai" music. And if they're not of specific genre … do any of you have any suggestions for other pieces that would feel of-a-kind with them?

posted by silusGROK to Media & Arts (11 answers total)

I don't know Andalucia, but Bolero is tone poem.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 4:02 PM on September 9, 2009

There's Bydło (means "oxcart") from Pictures at an Exhibition — famously orchestrated by that same guy who wrote Bolero. It's even more lumbering and less snappy (and also way shorter) but it's got the same slow cyclical build and fade.
posted by nebulawindphone at 4:04 PM on September 9, 2009

The Saturn Theme from "The Planets" is much like that, as well. (Pictures at an Exhibition and The Planets are also tone poems.)
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 4:07 PM on September 9, 2009

Rufus Wainwright's "Oh What a World" (which you'll find quite familiar).
posted by Jaltcoh at 4:07 PM on September 9, 2009 [1 favorite]

Also "Elephants" from Saint-Saens's Carnival of the Animals.
posted by Jaltcoh at 4:11 PM on September 9, 2009

Oh, and while it's not the name of a musical form, I can offer a bit of terminology — a short repeated figure, especially a rhythmic one like the dreaded snare part in Bolero, is called an ostinato. If that's part of what gives you the impression of travel, you wouldn't be the first one. Check out the use of ostinato in Autobahn, f'rinstance. It doesn't otherwise sound much like Bolero, but it's pretty explicitly about travel and it's got that same stubbornly cyclical rhythm.
posted by nebulawindphone at 4:15 PM on September 9, 2009

Er, the same cyclical rhythmic structure, that is. The beat is different, but it sure does go around and around and around.
posted by nebulawindphone at 4:16 PM on September 9, 2009

It looks like Bolero itself is the name of a form. That article says about Ravel's Bolero that "It was originally called Fandango, but has rhythmic similarities with the Spanish dance form as described in this article, being in a constant 3/4 time with a prominent triplet on the second beat of every bar."
posted by dubitable at 4:49 PM on September 9, 2009

"Bolero" is an example of theme and variation. "Andalucia" also fits this definition. So does Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nacht Musik."
posted by onhazier at 6:18 PM on September 9, 2009

Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik is theme and variations? I don't think so -- the first movement is sonata form.
posted by Jaltcoh at 8:19 PM on September 9, 2009

Response by poster: I want to thank everyone for their help … no one really nailed the question firmly closed for me, but each helped me forward … 

So a little background on the question: on a 12 hour drive to see my mother, over the Continental Divide (two or three times, actually) in Montana, I listened, captivated, to Pink Martini's versions of Bolero and Andalucia. And in my mind, I saw a story acted out. An animated movie, actually. But the store needs a third act, so I've been on the look out for a piece to round out the set.

The search continues — but y'all have gotten me a lot further down the road than I could have hoped. Thank you.
posted by silusGROK at 12:27 PM on October 10, 2009