El vito

{{Short description|Spanish traditional folk song and dance from Andalusia}}

"El Vito" is a traditional folk song and dance music of Andalusia whose origins can be traced back to the 16th century.{{cite web | url=http://www.flutetunes.com/tunes.php?id=858 | title=Sheet Music: El vito | publisher=Flutetunes.com | accessdate=2014-05-01}} Its name refers to Saint Vitus, patron of dancers.{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/peopleofsierra0000pitt | url-access=registration | quote=El Vito andalusia. | title=The People of the Sierra | publisher=University of Chicago Press | author=Pitt-Rivers, Julian | year=1971 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/peopleofsierra0000pitt/page/170 170] | isbn=0226670104}} It was created in the nineteenth century as a dancing song typical of the bolero. It includes steps in the art of bullfighting{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WFHpsnOH4cQC&q=%22El+Vito%22+bullfight&pg=PA84 | title=Spanish Dancing | publisher=Interlink Book | author=Meri, La | year=1948 | pages=84 | isbn=1566568897}} and is usually played by women. The typical costume includes jacket and brimmed hat.{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/touristsspainan00woodgoog | quote=El Vito jacket and brimmed hat. | title=The Tourist's Spain and Portugal | publisher=Dodd, Mead and Co. | author=Kedzie Wood, Ruth | year=1913 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/touristsspainan00woodgoog/page/n86 61] |oclc=370539}}

The melody of El vito is played fast in a 3/8 time signature,{{cite web|url=http://lema.rae.es/drae/?val=vito|title=Diccionario de la lengua española|publisher=Real Academia Española|accessdate=2014-05-01}} and it uses the harmonic minor scale for the ascending motives, and the phrygian mode, which is the most characteristic of Andalusian music, for the descending mode, which generates an harmonic accompaniment based on the Andalusian cadence. It is also sung with different lyrics, humorous or serious.

Pablo de Sarasate composed a "Vito" as part of his Spanish Dances, as well as briefly in an Allegretto section toward the end of his Airs espagnols, Op. 18.

It also serves as part of the melody for the "El Quinto Regimiento", an anthem of socialist and communist troops fighting on the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War.{{cite web |last1=Folkways Media |title=Liner notes for "Songs of the Spanish Civil War, Vol.1" |url=https://folkways-media.si.edu/liner_notes/folkways/FW05436.pdf |accessdate=25 June 2020}}

Folk duo Esther & Abi Ofarim recorded a version of "El Vito" for their 1967 album 2 in 3.{{Cite web|url=http://www.esther-ofarim.de/Disco.htm|title = Esther Ofarim - Esther and Abi Ofarim - Esther & Abi Ofarim - Ofraim אסתר עופרים}}

The melody of John Coltrane's song "Olé" on his album Olé Coltrane is an interpolated version of "El Vito".