Antonio Machado y Alvarez
Antonio y Manuel Machado
Federico García Lorca
The early influences:
Flamenco as we know it today has traveled a long way through history and geography. The early forms of poetry that have the most influence and thematic links to flamenco are probably the romance, a lyric form traditional in the Iberian peninsula and popular in Spanish language beginning in the 13th century, and also from the Spanish, the seguidilla, a form that arose in the 16th and 17th centuries. Both are frequently improvised, and carry a similar meter as even older forms, Judeo-Spanish jarchas, some of the earliest evidence of poetry in an early Spanish language. The seguidilla is an important development because one danced while the singer improvised, and because it was common among popular as well as educated poets.
The traditional Andalusian (Al-Andalus) muwáshahas are another form that early on had a clear influence in flamenco development, and, these were frequently short verses added on to the end of a longer, more formal poem to finish off a piece on an improvised note. The themes that are sung about also present a common thread across the history and different genres of poetry: death in the family, a young one in love, the meetings of lovers, and other basic elements of humanity are frequently heard in each of these early forms.
Flamenco is always personal, is always concrete, but it ranges from the deepest human tragedies to the silliest insults and oldest jokes. All parts - the cante, the baile, the toque - are centered around this basic expression, and teach us that it is more important to look for this very center of our human experience, than to make it pretty and "artistic".
Anonymous verse:
Below are some examples of anonymous verse in flamenco, the most traditional verses sung by cantaores all the way down to today. Antonio Machado y Alvarez (Demoófilo) was the first aficionado to truly study flamenco cante and collect its verses, and the examples here are taken from his work Colección de cantes flamencos, originally published in 1881. Both of his sons would become some of Spain's most celebrated poets, and would be heavily influenced by flamenco. The spelling changes you see in the Spanish are not mistakes but rather Machado's representation of how the verses actually sound, since they are rarely sung in a perfect and clear Spanish. It would not be accurate or respectful of the art to present it in any other way, though it may be "easier" for us to understand it.
Soleá (in three lines):
Anda y no presumas tanto;
Que otras mejores que tú
Se quean pa bestí santos.
Soleá (in four lines):
Compañera, no más penas,
Mira que no soy e bronse,
Que una peña se quebranta
A fuersa e muchos gorpes.
Seguiriyas jitanas:
Doblen las campanas
Doblen con doló
Que s'ha muerto la mi compañera
E mi corasón.
Coplas de Autor: (Songwriters)
More to come on this page!
