Verdiales are a traditional music, song and dance form from the Province of Málaga in Andalusia, southern Spain. They are closely related to the fandango and are often described as one of the oldest surviving forms of the Málaga fandango tradition. In flamenco terminology, verdiales are commonly treated as a palo associated with the family of cantes de Málaga, although they also retain a strong identity as a rural folk practice independent of professional flamenco.
Verdiales are traditionally performed by ensembles known as pandas de verdiales or pandas de fiesteros. A typical panda includes singers, dancers and instrumentalists playing violin, guitars, tambourine or frame drum, small cymbals, castanets and, in some styles, lute or bandurria. The music is festive, danceable and strongly associated with rural communities in the mountains and villages around Málaga, especially the Montes de Málaga, Almogía, Comares, Álora, Totalán, Cártama, Casabermeja and other localities of the province.
The Fiesta de Verdiales was inscribed in 2010 in the General Catalogue of Andalusian Historical Heritage as a Bien de Interés Cultural, under the category of an activity of ethnological interest.
Flamenco writers often describe the verdiales as among the oldest preserved forms of the Málaga fandango. This does not mean that modern verdiales have remained unchanged, but that the style preserves features associated with older rural fandango practice: group performance, dance, violin-led melody, strong rhythmic continuity and festive social function.