{"id":11094,"date":"2018-10-10T15:07:37","date_gmt":"2018-10-10T22:07:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/?p=11094"},"modified":"2018-10-10T15:07:37","modified_gmt":"2018-10-10T22:07:37","slug":"keepers-of-the-flamenco-remembering-lorca-and-camaron-praising-canizares","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/keepers-of-the-flamenco-remembering-lorca-and-camaron-praising-canizares\/","title":{"rendered":"Keepers of the Flamenco: Remembering Lorca and Camar\u00f3n; Praising Ca\u00f1izares"},"content":{"rendered":"
BY TH\u00c9R\u00c8SE WASSILY SABA |\u00a0\u00a0FROM THE FALL 2018 ISSUE OF CLASSICAL GUITAR<\/a><\/h6>\n

In Spain, 2018 is the \u201cA\u00f1o Lorca\u201d\u2014celebrating both the 120th anniversary of poet and playwright Federico Garc\u00eda Lorca\u2019s birth and the 100th anniversary of the publication of his first work: Impresiones y paisajes<\/strong><\/a>.<\/i> The Centro Lorca in Granada has an exhibition, under the title \u201cUna habitaci\u00f3n propia: Federico Garc\u00eda Lorca en la Residencia de Estudiantes, 1919\u20131936,\u201d which includes some 5,000 items including letters, paintings, music scores, souvenirs, and clothes that were found in the Residencia de Estudiantes in Madrid, where Lorca lived as a student in the company of Salvador Dal\u00ed and Luis Bu\u00f1uel. (The Residencia was established not only to provide accommodations for students, but also as an intellectual\/cultural center of learning which would further nourish their university studies).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"1.<\/p>\n

Lorca was neither a gypsy nor a flamenco artist, yet his life was intrinsically interwoven with the flamenco world during his lifetime, and continued so after his death during the Spanish Civil War. Many flamenco singers have been inspired by his poetry and also by the popular songs he collected and noted down for future generations. Among these were the flamenco forms of buler\u00edas <\/i>and seguidillas<\/i>. It was his desire to conserve the traditions of the past that led Lorca to work with Manuel de Falla and many other artists (along with the bullfighter Ignacio S\u00e1nchez Mej\u00edas) to organize the first Concurso de Cante Jondo in Granada in June 1922\u2014the earliest national competition for flamenco singers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lorca would harmonize the songs he collected and, in 1931, he recorded some of them for Colecci\u00f3n de\u00a0Canciones Populares Espa\u00f1olas<\/i><\/strong><\/a>, accompanying the singer La Argentinita on the piano. In 1965, a young Paco de Luc\u00eda made a recording of these exact songs with the guitarist Ricardo Modrego: Doce Canciones de Garc\u00eda Lorca para guitarra<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/i>(Polygram Iberica). The titles of these songs are well known now, such as Los Cuatro Muleros<\/i>, Anda Jaleo,<\/i> and Caf\u00e9 de Chinitas.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

On June 5, 2018, we celebrated the birth of Federico Garc\u00eda Lorca 120 years ago. June also saw the release of a documentary film by Alexis Morante called Camar\u00f3n: Flamenco y Revoluc\u00edon <\/i>(Karma Films) about the flamenco singer Camar\u00f3n de la Isla (Jos\u00e9 Monge Cruz; 1950\u20131992). This welcome release comes after a string of
\ntelevision documentaries that have appeared on Spanish television since June 2017, marking the 25th anniversary Camar\u00f3n\u2019s death, including Canal Sur\u2019s Camar\u00f3n: La Garganta de Dios <\/i>(Camar\u00f3n: The Throat of God<\/i>), and their three-part series Camar\u00f3n (Revolution)<\/i>, directed by Jos\u00e9 Escudier, and El Legado de . . . Camar\u00f3n de la Isla <\/i>(The Legacy of . . . Camar\u00f3n de la Isla<\/i>), directed by Alberto del Pozo.<\/span><\/p>\n