Ebook: Gypsy Cante: Deep song of the caves

Over the course of centuries, Andalusian Gypsies developed 'cante jondo', or 'deep song', an art that grew out of the experience of exile and marginalization. The striking imagery and emotional purity of 'cante' lyrics were inspiration for Federico Garcia Lorca and his generation of Spanish poets.

Like American blues, 'cante' is a brilliant cultural legacy long kept alive and aflame by unlettered geniuses. Although flamenco music enjoys wide popularity today, the words of the songs are often lost in the passion of the performance, or because they are sung in dialect. This volume brings together a bilingual sampling of lyrics and brief remarks about them by notable flamenco 'aficionados'.

WILL KIRKLAND is the translator of 'The Gypsy Ballads' by Federico Garcia Lorca, 'Canaima' by Romulo Gallegos, and other poems and stories from the Spanish-speaking world. His own writing has appeared in 'American Poetry Review', 'New Orleans Review', 'Tri-Quarterly' and elsewhere.