Federico García Lorca (1898 - 1936)
Few poets have written so eloquently about the guitar as Federico García Lorca. He felt a great love for the instrument, not only because of its ancient roots, but also as a form of flamenco expression.
Lorca, born in Fuente Vaqueros, a small village near Granada, is the most-read Spanish poet and playwright of all time. Much of his work was inspired by folk traditions as well as by flamenco and gypsy culture. In 1922, Lorca organised, along with his friend, composer Manuel De Falla, a cante jondo contest in Granada, concerned that otherwise ‘these generations-old treasures would go to the grave with the last of the old artists’. In 1928, his poetry collection entitled Romancero Gitano (Gypsy Ballads), earned him great renown. The following poems are excerpts from his Poema del cante jondo (Poem of the Deep Song, 1921). Adivinanza de la guitarra (Riddle of the Guitar) is one of the poems that García Lorca dedicated to Spanish guitarist Regino Sáinz de la Maza and which inspired, in 1956, the guitar solo El Polifemo de Oro that British composer Reginald Smith Brindle wrote for Julian Bream..
Above and right, two drawings by García Lorca.