Sometimes the stars, or researchers and creators, come together in an impeccable meeting, as is the case of this book written by three hands. It is a guarantee to have the signatures of Jose L. Blanco Garza, award-winning lyricist at the Seville Biennial, Jose L. Rodriguez Ojeda, known for his lyrics in the voices of many good singers and for his educational work, also a fine poet, and the writer Francis Oaks, well known for his works and his articles in the press. With these pens, we are safe, good fans and good writers. The letters of the cante. Approach to the poetry of flamenco It is a reissue, naturally corrected and expanded, renewed, of his previous book The letters of the cante, published by Signatura Ediciones in a wide and excellent collection of flamenco in which we have had the honor of participating with four books thanks to the invitation of its director Antonio González, currently responsible for the collection of flamenco from the Renacimiento publishing house. It came out in 1998 and, therefore, many things have happened since then in the flamenco, and in the publishing house itself, which has closed. Hence the need and urgency of the reissue that we now see thanks to the recently created publishing house Hummingbird Editions, directed by the writer Manuel Ramos, with a catalogue that is still small but competent, and which will surely have a long and fruitful life thanks to the care taken in its editions and the quality of its authors.
We were saying that many things have happened in more than twenty-five years in the flamenco, but in this aspect of the lyrics not as many as it may seem. Thus, the authors focus on the traditional ones, analyzing their thematic aspects –the loving, the social, the loving, the philosophical…– and stylistic aspects –natural, brief, dry poetry–. They add a very rich chapter dedicated to the so-called cultured poets, so to speak, who have contributed a lot to the lyrical flow of the cante, either with molds that are completely suitable for it or through adaptations made by the artists: Manuel and Antonio Machado, Lorca, Juan Ramon Jimenez, Alberti, Villalon, Quinones, among others. They offer a special tribute to a closer great of flamenco lyrics, the painter and lyricist Francisco Moreno Galvan. We remember his lyrics in the voice of José Menese, Miguel Vargas, etc. From compilers –Demophilus, Rodriguez Marin…– even narrators –This unfortunatly , baroja…– or poets who approach the flamenco With visions that are not always laudatory, these traces of the impact of the flamenco In literature, on a path of mutual influence, it is very interesting and has merited several books in the increasingly extensive flamenco bibliography, fortunately.
Here is a documentary about the aforementioned lyricist and painter Moreno Galván, entitled The source of the jondo, on YouTube:
A novelty only possible in these years is the incorporation of QR codes, which allow us to listen to lyrics, in various cantes, which appear in the book. They have been recorded in Performing Arts Rebollar, with musical direction by the guitarist Eduardo Rebollar and editing Pedro Ramirez. We see artists like Manuel Romero, Carmela with Lito Espinosa, Lidia Rodríguez y Antonio López with John of the Kings y Edu Hidalgo and Jose Parrondo with Alec Willis, all accredited artists, some in their mature stage and others in their youth. A gift to add, in addition to the illustrations of Jose Ramon Ramos, to that quality of the work, which does not contain a final bibliographic list, although authors are cited, because it aims to be informative, without academicism, as a personal and close "literary essay". Our congratulations to everyone, editor and participants in the writing and in the cantes. We said goodbye with a cante from one of the singers who have brought the lyrics of one of the authors, José L. Rodríguez Ojeda, to the record and to the recitals, as is the singer Miguel Vargas on his record My illusions in the air, CD from 1996, with the guitars of José L. Postigo and Manolo Franco. YouTube link, malagueña and abandolao:
And also with the same lyrics or flamenco verse that we see on the back cover, suggestive and rounded like many in this book:
I leave the door ajar
in case I ever give you
the temptation to push.
Jose L. Blanco Garza, Jose L. Rodriguez Ojeda y Francis Oaks
The letters of the cante. Approach to the poetry of flamenco (Hummingbird Editions, Seville, 2024)
