The Museu de la Música de Barcelona has identified within its library collection the first known recording of the Jaleo, the hallmark tune used in the town festivals in Menorca.

The recording is on a perforated cardboard disc from around the year 1900 and was documented during the digitalisation of its collection of perforated carbon discs that the Museu de la Música only recently carried out.

The research study was carried out by Sara Guasteví, an archivist at the Museu de la Música de Barcelona, who has posted her thoughts on the Museum’s blog.

What is known as the Jaleo is the moment when the horses cross the squares and dance on their hind legs at the town festivals in Menorca to the rhythm of this tune. The piece is the Jota estudiantina from the zarzuela El Postillón de La Rioja, with lyrics by Luis de Olona and music by Cristóbal Oudrid, which was composed and premiered in Madrid in 1856.

You can hear it here.