The copla or copla andaluza ("Andalusia

Andalusia

Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...

n copla") is a form of Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 popular song, deriving from the poetic form of the same name

Copla (meter)

The copla is a poetic form of four verses that provides found in many Spanish popular songs as well as in Spanish language literature. There is a related musical genre of the same name. The form is also found widely in Latin America...

. The genre arose in the 1940s, and is epitomized by songwriters Antonio Quintero, Rafael de León and Manuel Quiroga

Manuel Quiroga

Manuel López-Quiroga Miquel better known as Maestro Quiroga, was a pianist, composer and author of couplets and coplas, one of the authors Quintero, León and Quiroga....

.

One of the first singers of coplas was Raquel Meller

Raquel Meller

Raquel Meller , born Francisca Marqués López, was a Spanish cuplé and tonadilla singer. She was an international star in the 1920s and 1930s, appearing in several films and touring Europe and the Americas...

. Initially she sang cuplé

Cuple

Cuple is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Bełżyce, within Lublin County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. It lies approximately west of Bełżyce and west of the regional capital Lublin.-References:...

, which later evolved in Andalusian and Spanish song into the copla as it is known today. Other well-known singers of coplas are Imperio Argentina

Imperio Argentina

Magdalena Nile del Río was a professional singer and movie actress who was better known as Imperio Argentina. Although born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she became a citizen of Spain....

, Manolo Corrales, Estrellita Castro, Concha Piquer

Concha Piquer

Concha Piquer , born María de la Concepción Piquer López, was a Spanish singer and actress, sometimes billed as Conchita Piquer...

, Miguel de Molina, Lola Flores

Lola Flores

María Dolores "Lola" Flores Ruiz was a Spanish singer, dancer, and actress.- Professional career :Flores was born in Jerez de la Frontera, Cadiz . Although thought to be only part gypsy, she strongly identified with the Spanish gypsy culture...

, Marifé de Triana, Juanita Reina

Juanita Reina

Juana Reina Castrillo, Juanita Reina , alias La Reina de la Copla was a Spanish actress and copla singer....

, Manolo Escobar

Manolo Escobar

Manuel "Manolo" García Escobar is a Spanish singer and actor. He may be best-known for his songs Y viva España, El porompompero and Mi carro....

, Juanito Valderrama, Sara Montiel

Sara Montiel

Sara Montiel is a Spanish singer, and actress. She is still a much-loved and internationally known name in the Spanish-speaking movie and music industries....

 and Antonio Molina

Antonio Molina

Antonio Molina was born in Málaga, 9 March 1928 - Madrid, 18 March 1992. Flamenco and popular singer and actor in films and on theatrical stage. He had a high, brilliant voice, which he perhaps abused until he lost it prematurely. He was very popular starring in many theater shows. After a few...

.

Particularly of note is Carlos Cano, who was a key figure in reviving the popularity of the copla in the later 20th century. More recent singers of coplas include Rocío Jurado

Rocío Jurado

María del Rocío Trinidad Mohedano Jurado , was a Spanish singer and actress. She was born in Chipiona, Cádiz, Spain and was nicknamed "La más grande" . Jurado was once married to boxer Pedro Carrasco, with whom she had a daughter, Rocío Carrasco...

, Bambino, María Jiménez

María Jiménez

María Jiménez Gallego is a popular Spanish singer, who started her career in tablaos María Jiménez Gallego (born 1951, Triana, Seville) is a popular Spanish singer, who started her career in tablaos María Jiménez Gallego (born 1951, Triana, Seville) is a popular Spanish singer, who started her...

, Isabel Pantoja

Isabel Pantoja

Isabel Pantoja is a popular contemporary Spanish singer. She is of Romani origin, born in the Triana district of Seville, Spain. She has released more than a dozen albums throughout a career spanning many decades, and is known for her distinctive Andalusian style.-Biography:She was born into a...

, Martirio

Martirio

Maribel Quiñones or María Isabel Quiñones Gutiérrez in full, known under her stage name as Martirio is a Spanish singer born in 1958 in Huelva, Spain....

, and Miguel Poveda and, even more recently, Pasión Vega, Clara Montes, Pastora Soler

Pastora Soler

Pastora Soler is an Spanish singer.A precocious chanteuse, she started singing coplas and flamenco songs at several events when she was a child. She has made versions of classical songs by León or Quiroga and worked with musicians like Carlos Jean...

, Aurora Guirado, Diana Navarro, Concha Buika

Concha Buika

Concha Buika is a Spanish singer. Her album Niña de Fuego was nominated for the 2008 Latin Grammy Award for Album of the Year.Buika's family is originally from Equatorial Guinea...

, La Shica, Montse Delgado. Some of these artists, particularly Pasión Vega (born 1976) and Diana Navarro (born 1978), have bent and stretched the genre in directions that have come to be known as Nueva Copla ("New Copla").