What is a choir in the Carnival of Cádiz, how is it different from a chirigota and all the COAC choirs

“Carnival, Carnival, Carnival, I love you!“Who doesn’t know this song? The truth is that in Cádiz this is the least original song: every year, while the Official Contest of Carnival Groups (COAC) lasts, the Gran Teatro Falla hosts numerous groups that offer, each one in its format, stories in the form of humorous music. And among them are the choirs, the most numerous formations of each Cadiz Carnival, much more even than the comparsas and the chirigotas. Of the many meanings that the RAE collects, perhaps the first two are the ones that best define the choir of the Cadiz carnivals.

“Group of people who in an opera or other musical performance simultaneously sing a concerted piece” or “group of people gathered to sing, rejoice, praise or celebrate something” and there is no mistake with this explanation: they go out to sing and about all to rejoice and celebrate. The choirs of the Carnival of Cádiz are made up of a minimum of 12 people, but they could have up to 45 components (ten of them, orchestra), accompanied by instruments such as the guitar, the bandurria or the lute. This year the number of members of the choirs has increased, and there may be choirs with up to 63 members.

The repertoires of the choirs are made up of presentation, tangos, cuplés, refrains and medley. While the comparsas and chirigotas are usually made up of people of the same sex, the choirs, on the contrary, they are usually mixed.

The choirs of the COAC of Cádiz of 2023

• The Voice – January 21
• Those of the Port – January 22
• The Martinezes – January 23
• It lives! – January 24
• An Ideal World – January 25
• No one gives up here – January 26
• Tomorrow – January 27
• Al Andalus – January 28
• Casa Remedios corner with Cádiz – January 29
• The truth – January 30
• The Bubble – January 31
• The fair – February 1
• The Blacks – February 3
• The Queen of the South – February 4

Which choir won the COAC in 2022?

In 2022, in a peculiar edition of the contest —the final was in spring and not in winter, as has been the custom for more than three decades—, the choir that was in the lead was Pachamama, which got a total of 688.23 points. Closely followed by the Químbara choir, which obtained a total of 667.58 points, followed by Los babeta, with 642.22 points.