By the 19th century, these “jotas de Cádiz” began to flatter, approaching the rhythms of the soleá. This favors a differentiation from the rest of the flamenco styles of the time, which tended to be more dramatic.

Singers like Paco Hidalgo or El Quiqui did a lot for the evolution of this style, which was finally called alegrías, because of the way they referred to it when they were going to interpret it, as “happy song”and “for happy”.

At the end of the 19th century, it was Enrique El Mellizo, who molded this style to the flamenco form that we recognize today, pointing the way forward to future singers such as Romero El Tito, José Ortega ‘El Águila’, Gabriela Ortega or Macaca, among others . What it did was slow down its rhythm so it could be sung.

Enrique Butrón fixed the flamenco form of this cante (singing), while Ignacio Ezpeleta introduced the famous “tiriti, trán, trán trán” at the beginning of it, an expression that makes it recognizable from other flamenco styles. Its compass is similar to that of the soleás, although with a more cheerful tone than these.

As for the structure, the alegrías has four octosyllabic verses, which can be linked to the playful (letters that complement the singings by cantiñas) of three or four verses, following the wake of the classical seguiriya, formed by a couplet and chorus.