Rediscovering Federico García Lorca

 

Federico García Lorca, Balada de la Placeta

It’s filled with lights

My heart of silk,

Of lost bells,

Of lilies and bees,

And I’ll go far away,

Beyond those sierras,

Beyond the seas

Near the stars,

To ask Christ

Lord to give me back

My ancient soul as a child,

Ripe with legends,

With the feathered cap

And the wooden sabre.

Federico García Lorca, his childhood memories

“When I was a child I used to live in a very silent and fragrant village in the fertile lowlands of Granada.

I was born in this village and my heart was awakened.

 

In that village I had my first dream of distant lands and in that village I will be earth and flowers.

 

That village is called Fuente Vaqueros, and it is located in the Vega of Granada.”

 

Federico García Lorca was born on the 5th of June 1898, during the war of Cuba.

 

In a spacious finca called Soto de Roma, located on either side of the Genil river.

 

His father, Federico García Rodríguez, was a wealthy farmer who owned several lands in the Vega de Granada. 

 

Throughout his life he supported García Lorca’s literary career and even financed his projects. 

 

His mother, Vicenta Lorca Romero, was a school teacher.

 

Aware of Federico’s great sensitivity, she inspired in him love for poetry and encouraged his early literary skills.

 

My childhood is learning lyrics and music with my mother, being a rich kid in the village, a bossy one.

 

During a village festival, Federico came across something new and unknown to him, something marvellous, a puppet theatre.

 

And no one was able to get him out of it.

 

Those puppets, and the magnificent rural landscape of the Vega of Granada, inspired him to unleash his extraordinary creativity. 

 

One day Vicenta brought a puppet theatre as a gift from Granada for Federico.

 

Since then, Federico García Lorca began to create, and perform, plays in which his friends and the house maids used to take part.

 

He loved that puppet theatre.

 

Nevertheless, his true vocation above all, was music.

Federico García Lorca, the musician, among his friends

As a child Lorca certainly didn’t think of becoming a poet.

 

Instead, he wanted to be a musician.

 

Federico’s musical inclination was clear from an early age.

 

Even before he started to talk he was already able to hum melodies.

 

In fact, his friends were very surprised when, at the age of 18, he began to read them his verses for the first time.

 

As far as they were concerned, Federico was “The Musician”.

 

And they were convinced that, one day, he will be famous.

 

As Antonio Bonilla, professional tourist guide, mentioned in his article the poet’s family had always loved music and poetry, hence the origin of his talent.

 

Federico learned songs and melodies from a very young age. 

 

It was evident that music was in the poet’s heart from childhood.

 

He played the guitar and the piano, and became an outstanding pianist when he was only eighteen. 

 

But Federico García Lorca was not only a player, he was a creator.

 

Even the renowned musician Manuel de Falla praised Federico García Lorca as a composer and performer.

 

In fact, they worked together on common projects.

 

So, why did García Lorca give up a promising musical future?

 

Because his old music teacher, Don Antonio Segura Mesa, passed away. 

 

And Federico’s parents refused to allow him to continue his musical education in Paris.

 

An influential point in this decision was the fact that Lorca’s late professor, although he was an outstanding disciple of Verdi, never got to premier an opera of his own composition.

 

“Just because I haven’t reached the clouds, doesn’t mean the clouds don’t exist”.

He said to Federico.

 

Throughout his life, Federico García Lorca, proved to be an artist of inexhaustible creativity.

 

He excelled in all artistic genres he covered, from music to literature and drawing.

 

Indeed, he touched the clouds, but his heart always remained in Granada.

Federico García Lorca and Granada, art in its purest expression

“In the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, there are some delightful sounding bends… They are places where the sound of a mellow, steely, wild scent emanates from the massive slopes.

 

In the pine forests themselves, amidst the divine smell they exhale, you can hear the gentle noise of the pine forest, which are velvet melodies even when the air blows very hard, gentle, warm, constant modulations… but always in the same tessitura…

 

That is what Granada and the Vega do not have, heard from the Alhambra. Every hour of the day has a different sound. They are symphonies of sweet sounds that you hear… And unlike the other soundscapes I have heard, this romantic cityscape modulates endlessly.

 

It has minor tones and major tones. It has passionate melodies and solemn chords of cold solemnity…. The sound changes with the colour, so it can be said that it sings.”

 

Federico García Lorca is one of 20th century’s literary geniuses. 

 

And Granada, his homeland and his inspiration.

 

Andalusian stunning landscape, its people, and especially social injustice, have inspired many of Federico’s poems.

 

Thus, for Federico García Lorca, poetry was his weapon against unfairness. 

 

And gypsies the symbol of persecuted innocents, as well as the true human and artistic aristocracy.

 

Not surprisingly his most famous book, and probably the most notable of all Spanish poetry, is Romancero gitano.

 

Federico García Lorca loved Granada.

 

And Granada still loves Federico García Lorca.

 

While walking through it you can recognise Lorca’s work in every corner and understand it in a deeper and meaningful sense.

 

Following Lorca´s steps

 

In Granada you can enjoy Lorca Routes that include, for example, his birth house; the orchard of San Vicente; the Café Alameda or Rosales’ house. 

 

Also, in the centre of Granada, you can find the Centro Federico García Lorca, a space designed to safeguard Lorca’s legacy.

 

His homeland honours his memory every year by holding a festival ‘Lorca y Granada en los Jardines del Generalife‘ inspired by Lorca’s work and personality.

 

Granada is full of Lorca’s corners, landscapes that inspired his art, gave life to the characters in his plays and whispered music in his ears.

 

Contact me and let’s enjoy together an unforgettable journey through the life and work of Federico García Lorca and his beloved homeland, Granada.