This musical form, highly influenced by the gypsy presence in Spain, flourished in rural towns and the countryside. Today I want to touch on the Andalusian music known as cante jondo, or “deep song”. “When I sing as I please, I taste blood in my mouth.” Primitivo canto andaluz." Centro Aristico. New York: New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1998. Thoughts, artists? Are you visited by a muse? An angel of inspiration? The duende? Or something else?Ĭitations: Lorca, Federico Garcia. The duende paints, not with oil or watercolor, but with the very blood of the artist. Only in the brokenness can they truly create the “marrow of forms” rather than the forms themselves. Thus, the duende breaks the artist in order to bring forth their art. In the healing of that wound, which never closes, lie the strange, invented qualities of a man’s work”.
#Cante jondo full
While Lorca believes that the muse and the angel of inspiration attempt to mask death with pretty words, the duende looks it full in the face. Death and the duende are inextricably linked and that is what makes duende the dark spirit. But it only appears where the certainty of death exists. Lorca notes its existence among poets, artist, composers, dancers, singers, even bullfighters. And in order to beat the duende, an artist must put aside their training and allow something within to possess them and rob them of reason. Lorca quotes the famous singer, El Lebrijano, as saying, “On days when I sing with duende, no one can touch me.” It is the duende that separates the good artist from the genius. If they win, and training is suspended in favor of raw evocation, they create something insurmountable. If they lose, they create something artistically sound, but not moving. They must fight against their intellectual and artistic training. The artist must actually battle the duende. According to Lorca, “it is a struggle, not a thought”. It does not visit one with wisdom, like the angel of inspiration. The duende does not sing to one, like the muse. He attempted to explain the unexplainable to those outside the culture of southern Spain. Federico García Lorca encountered it while exploring the deep song. Those who sing the cante jondo discussed yesterday are familiar with this spirit. The idea of a dark spirit – a hobgoblin of sort – exists within certain circles. But what of a darker influence? Where does one figure in? Or does it? Spaniards believe so. We have all heard of the muse and the artistic angel and their light and airy connotations. Or he is simply gifted with angelic virtue – the God-granted ability to create art.
He writes with a rose-robed muse at his side – whispering, murmuring, guiding him toward his genius. What separates a good writer from a great writer? The great writer is not alone in his art. Anyone familiar with art has heard these terms. The Hallucinogenic Toreador, Salvador Dali