Deep Song and Other Prose

"Lorca is someone who is deeply, deeply engaged in this kind of poetic, mystical, surrealist, non-rational theme that is so much part of Spain. And I think he, more than any other person, really gets to grips with it. The essays that I am really concentrating on are ‘On Lullabies’, ‘Deep Song’ and ‘Play and Theory of the Duende’. Those three essays really get to grips with this essence of Spain. The concept of duende is a very difficult concept but it does seem to go to the heart of this sense of mystery in Spain. A duende means a goblin but it has a much wider sense than the English term. And he contrasts it with angels and muses and comes to the conclusion that angels and muses come from outside of you where as the spiritual force of the duende comes from within your blood. And he talks about this connection with the earth itself which is one of the things that I have always been passionate about in this country. There is a sort of wisdom which seems to seep from the earth itself and I think that is what Lorca is talking about. In some of the lyrics that he quotes from the various flamenco songs he talks about there is a real sense of deep understanding of the greater mystery of life. And it is interesting that he makes comparisons with the lyrics of some flamenco songs and some of the Persian and Arabic poets like Omar Khayyam and Hafiz. Absolutely, and that is something I am very interested in, the whole Islamic side of Spain. In some ways it is there in places like the Alhambra in Granada or the mosque at Cordoba but that is just sort of the window-dressing. You feel it goes a lot deeper. And often it is not so easy to see, you half get a sense of it. Lorca, through his poetic sensibility, is very aware of that strand of Spanish culture."