Derived from flamenco’s earliest root forms, the tonás, siguiriyas is one of flamenco’s oldest and deepest forms. Its name is a corruption of the term seguidillas, a group of 18th Century songs and dances. Siguiriyas first emerged in the 18th Century in Cádiz, Sevilla and Jerez de la Frontera. Slow, majestic and tragic, Siguiriyas is the most jondo of cante jondo forms. Its lyrics focus on tragedy, inconsolable sorrow, and pain. When performed without a dancer, siguiriyas opens with a solo introduction on the guitar, followed by a temple in which the singer warms up, matching tone and tempo with the guitar. The singer then sings one or more letras. The guitarist accompanies the letras with a fairly regular chord and bass note pattern, maintaining a steady pulse. As with other forms, the guitarist can insert a falseta between the letras or between the lines of a letra. If a dancer is present, they interpret the letras and falsetas, and insert escobillas and other percussive sections accompanied by a quicker, more rhythmic pattern on the guitar. The underlying compás for siguiriyas is a 12 count pattern with beats grouped as 2, 2, 3, 3, 2, and with an accent on the first beat of each group.