- Federico García Lorca in flamenco
Alicia R. Mediavilla
Translated by: Yasha Maccanico
Federico García Lorca, the Granadan poet from the Generation of 27 (1927), who was neither a gypsy nor a flamenco, has had and continues to have an important presence on the flamenco scene. Many flamenco artists have approached his oeuvre and have attempted to re-create the strength, passion and tragedy contained in his verses.
There have been many flamenco cantaores who have chosen to sing poems by the great poet from Granada: Camarón, Carmen Linares, Enrique Montoya, Enrique Morente, Juanito Valderrama, Lola Flores, Lole y Manuel, Manzanita, Pata Negra, Pepe Marchena…
However, it was Lorca himself, a long time earlier, who was one of the first to understand that culture needed to come closer to popular tradition and, consequently, he approached flamenco. In the first place, the poet himself collected popular songs, among which gypsy and flamenco lyrics were to be found, and brought them together in his Colección de Canciones Populares Antiguas (Collection of Early Popular Songs).
Among these traditional songs, there were some tonadillas, bulerías, jaleos, seguidillas… that Lorca himself recorded in 1931, as he accompanied La Argentinita on the piano.
This record, which was recovered and re-mastered in 1995, represents the most personal audio document involving the poet from Granada.
In 1965, an extremely young Paco de Lucía offered his own version of those very pieces with his guitar in the record Doce Canciones de García Lorca para guitarra (Twelve songs by García Lorca for guitar). They were twelve themes which featured the guitarist from Algeciras, accompanied by Ricardo Modrego, also a guitarist.
The great castanet master Lucero Tena also performed some of these songs that were brought together by Lorca in Lucero Tena y el mundo de García Lorca" (Lucero Tena and the world of García Lorca).
"The great artists of southern Spain, gypsies or flamencos, regardless of whether they sing, dance or play instruments, know that no kind of emotion is possible unless the duende arrives". Juego y teoría del duende. Lorca.
García Lorca's efforts to prevent popular traditions from disappearing, particularly the tradition of gypsy 'cante jondo' (lit. 'deep singing', an expression used to refer to flamenco), led him to organise the I Concurso de Cante Jondo (1st Cante Jondo Contest), which was held in Granada in June 1922, alongside Manuel de Falla. The great Antonio Chacón acted as the president of the jury, and artists like Manuel Torres, Tomás Pavón, Niña de los Peines and Diego Bermúdez took part.
Lorca has been paid some important tributes by flamenco artists. One of the first was by Enrique Morente in the record En la Casa Museo Federico García Lorca de Fuentevaqueros (In the Federico García Lorca House Museum in Fuentevaqueros), in which the cantaor (flamenco singer) used the oeuvre by the Granadan poet as a starting point. Recorded in 1990, it soon became a sought after collectors' item, and has now been re-released.
Moreover, Morente has also used verses by Lorca in other recording works such as Lorca, alongside Juan Manuel Cañizares, Pepe Habichuela, Paquete and Carles Benavent; or like Omega, with the rock band Lagartija Nick.
Manolo Sanlúcar, one of the great innovators of 20th-century flamenco guitar playing, also paid a heart-felt tribute to Federico García Lorca in the record Locura de brisa y trino, accompanied by the flamenco voice of Carmen Linares. It is a veritable display of pure flamenco, both in terms of the guitar playing and the singing featured in the record.
In several of his records Camarón sang verses by García Lorca: Nana del Caballo Grande, La leyenda del tiempo and Romance del Amargo, all of which appear in the record La leyenda del tiempo, as well as Casida de las Palomas Oscuras and El Romance de Thamar y Amnon, from the record Soy gitano.
Finally, there was a collective tribute, Los gitanos cantan a Federico García Lorca" (The gypsies sing to Federico García Lorca). In this record, Camarón, Manzanita, Diego Carrasco, Ricardo Pachón, Lole y Manuel, Pata Negra and Tino di Geraldo introduce flamenco music into Lorca's poems.
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