Lorqueñas
Origin and history
The lorqueñas were born from the encounter between the poetry of Federico García Lorca and the flamenco compás, specifically that of the bulería, which gives them their festive character and rhythmic vitality. It was Pastora Pavón, known artistically as la Niña de los Peines, who took texts from the poet from Granada—who was, moreover, very close to the world of cante thanks to his interest in flamenco and his participation in the 1922 Concurso de Cante Jondo in Granada—and turned them into a style of her own within her repertoire.
This crossing between highbrow literature and popular tradition took place at a time, the first half of the 20th century, when several intellectuals and poets from the circle of the Generación del 27 showed a special interest in cante jondo, while some cantaores, in turn, incorporated authored texts into their traditional repertoire, in an uncommon dialogue between both worlds.
The lorqueñas thus remained a singular example of a cante with known authorship and performer, something unusual in a genre traditionally anonymous and orally transmitted.
Musical characteristics and compás
With clear bulería nuances in its development, the lorqueñas are sung to the twelve-beat amalgam compás typical of this festive palo, with marked accentuation and lively rhythm, adapted to the meter of Lorca’s poems that serve as lyrics. The tone and phrasing draw directly from the style of cantiñas and bulerías from Cádiz and Seville, with which they share a group.
The guitar accompanies with the characteristic toque of the bulería, agile and rhythmic, leaving room for the vocal ornaments typical of the style of la Niña de los Peines, highly influential in the phrasing of this and other festive cantes of the 20th century.
Representative cantaores and performers
The creator and reference performer of the lorqueñas is Pastora Pavón, la Niña de los Peines, one of the most influential cantaoras in the history of flamenco, whose version set on texts by García Lorca became fixed as the model for the style. Later, other cantaores have occasionally revived this repertoire as a tribute both to the cantaora and to the poet.
Relationship to other palos
The lorqueñas are grouped within the cantiñas, a family of festive cantes with bulería compás typical of the Cádiz area, together with the alegría, the mirabrás, the romera and the caracola. They share compás and festive feel with the bulería itself, of which they constitute in practice a thematic variant due to their authored lyrics.