Linares lived a period of intense mining activity that had its greatest splendour by the end of the 19th century. Since 1849, the need of manpower brought to our city many people from different places of Spain: from Almería (or tarantos), Castilla la Mancha, the Alpujarra of Granada and Murcia (or mangurrinos).
The British pastor Hugh James Rose wrote in his chronicles about a monotonous song, sung by the miners when they were going to their workplace or when they gathered in taverns to evade themselves after a hard day labouring. The first cafés with entertainment were born in this context. The mining fandango, –originally from the Andalusian province of Almería– together with our traditional local folklore became the antecedents of our flamenco style par excellence: the Taranta, considered by prestigious flamenco experts as the mother of mining singings.
The Taranta, mining singing from Linares, is a long and hard singing, being its main topics the mine, the pain and the sorrow. The Tarantas from Linares have a different musical structure, more personal, which means more quality. This style is a variety that is longer than usual. Its tonal variety is also longer in the last verses, which are harder and have a difficult interpretation.