Jorge Luis Borges, who needs no introduction of his own had described Garcia Lorca as a

“Professional Andalusian.” In his interview with Richard Burgin he accused Lorca of

creating a highly romanticized landscape in his works which was far removed from

reality and populated with “stage Andalusians”- a cultural stereotype portrayed to appeal

to the paltry imagination.1

It can be argued that the fatalistic ambience, starkly beautiful and ominous landscapes

and the doomed characters that permeate most of Lorca’s poetry and plays might reveal

an exaggerated effort at over-sentimentalisation of some clichéd cultural primers. Plays

like Blood Wedding and Yerma at first glance seem to reiterate this point.

However when read closely the plays reveal how a new layer of mystery and disquietude

is reworked into the hackneyed tropes of honour, love, desire and revenge- a fact best

reflected in their use of poetry.

The lullabies, work songs, festival and wedding songs that insinuate themselves into the

plays are not mere shorthand tricks that add “regional flavour” but serve a vital dramatic

purpose. This hypothesis is best proved through House of Bernarda Alba which is

considered to be the last play of the “rural trilogy” (although not explicitly stated so by

the playwright himself). Being more of a social drama than a tragedy unlike the

previously mentioned plays it uses folk music sparingly and realistically despite having

the perfect opportunity to exploit the premise and present a pseudo-rustic cultural

document of Andalusian folk traditions. Instead the play demonstrates “a conscious

rejection of the poetic, a purging of images not rooted in natural speech”.2

Moreover the songs that at first seem to redundantly celebrate the banal and the common

help to introduce the audience to a higher, symbolical realm that dwells beyond

observational reality.

The Flamenco is a style of music and dance native to the Andalusian region of Spain.

Like most oral traditions the origins of the flamenco are obscure. It demonstrates a wide-

range of influences from diverse cultures -Moorish and Indian to Catholic and Gitano or

Gypsy.3

The flamenco has various palos or styles of musical expression. The cante jondo or the

“deep song” form is arguably the most ancient of the styles4 and has a history of being the

cultural mainstay of such socially and economically marginalized groups such as the

gypsies chiefly and the Andalusian peasants.

Aside from the anthropological interests that it poses as an oral art form, the cante jondo

helps to reveal the continuous life-struggles of the social outcasts embittered by

disappointment, lack, ailment and death. Hence violence and mortality form the chief

themes of the genre which when studied outside the cultural context would come across

as needlessly melodramatic.

The cante chico on the other hand is the exact opposite of the “deep song”. Cante chico

literally meaning “little song” helps capture the lighter side of life through bawdy humour

and eroticism.5

Garcia Lorca’s “rural trilogy” makes prodigious use of both these forms of the flamenco

in various types of songs to heighten the tragedy and to introduce the comedic relief in

situations.
The Lullaby

Yerma, the second play of Lorca’s “rural trilogy” begins not with dialogue but with a

lullaby. The stage direction indicates the stage being suffused with a dreamy, bluish light

while an unseen voice sings the song presumably in the eponymous heroine’s dream.

“Hushaby, hushaby we shall build

A little wooden hut in the middle of the field

Our little hut will be three feet wide

And all of us will creep inside.”

This apparently simplistic lyric sets the mood of the play. The audience is lulled into a

false sense of security by the haunting melody that seems to promise refuge. However in

light of the later events of the play that focus on frustrated maternity, the repeated

emphasis on the “hut”- the metaphorical womb, not only strikes an ironical note but

suggests a threat of single-minded regression that Yerma succumbs to as she continues to

remain barren.

The first song in Blood Wedding also serves to inject a similar strain of foreboding into

the play through the seemingly innocuous medium of a lullaby.

Here we find Leonardo’s wife and mother-in-law singing about a wounded stallion that

refused to quench its thirst. The disturbing imagery of dark forests, silver daggers and

bright red blood that flowed like water unsettles the audience further after the revelation

of the age-old feud in the first scene. The caballo or horse, the symbol of masculine

virility here seems to signify the unfortunate Leonardo Felix who dies by a dagger in

hostile territory. Moreover the water that the stallion rejects could signify the domestic

life that he leaves behind to pursue the Novia or Bride meant for his rival which restarts

the dormant feud.

Despite the topical importance of the lullaby it might seem to be needlessly

sensationalistic as the subject matter is hardly appropriate for a child’s ears.

However as Lorca observes in his 1928 lecture on lullabies6 the distinctive violence of

such songs of the Andalusian folk tradition was rooted in a socio-cultural context.

To the poor mother a child is not an unadulterated source of joy but a burden, hence the

poignant images of sorrow and fatality to lull a child to sleep.

The song unfolds like a miniature play in itself, where the mother is the all-powerful

artist who creates an abstract, preferably nocturnal landscape where the restless child is

taken on an imaginative and interactive journey. The song revolves around an easy-to-

follow plot-point where the repetition of a single problem, say that of the stallion’s,

together with the soporific melody puts the child to sleep.

In Yerma we find a distinct deviation from the norm where the cradlesong is sung to an

imaginary child. A song that is suffused with the anticipation of an imminent birth here

reveals the hopeless yearning that the main character feels as she sings-
 “I am torn and broken for your sake

And still this empty womb must ache

Where your first cradling is to be

Oh when my child will you come to me?”

We find an echo of Yerma’s longing in one of Lorca’s poems titled The Song of the

Barren Orange Tree.7 Here the agony of frustrated motherhood is expressed through the

traditional Andalusian symbol of fecundity, the orange. The repetitive rhyme typical of

lullabies here punctuates a world that had become a prison where the speaker only finds

mere reflections of the self. Hence the request-

“Woodcutter

Cut out my shadow

Free me from this torture

Of seeing myself fruitless”.

This plea could very well be uttered by Yerma whose obsession would lead to the final

tragedy of murdering her husband.

In House of Bernarda Alba the lullaby performs a much more complicated function. We

find the near-senile Maria Josefa singing-

“Little lamb, my little lamb

To the sea-side off we go

 The ant will watch us from the doorway

I’ll give you suck and feed you bread.”

The song originally meant for children comforts the old woman who is as helpless as one

and as easily bullied. The longing for escape and an imaginative adventure that was

designed to entice children here reveals the pitiable tragedy of Maria’s life. She was now

a liability. While her incoherent babble Josefa reveals how she had been relegated to the

margins as she could no longer reproduce and thus be a contributing member of the

family, the tearful cradlesong intensifies the hopelessness of her situation. The lullaby

that punctuates the beginning of life here accentuates the redundancy of old age and

prophesises of human mortality.

The Death Song

Death seems to be the one reality of life. This fatalistic philosophy that seems to pervade

the plays finds its most eloquent expression in the Moon’s soliloquy in Blood Wedding

where the influences of the Andalusian folk music tradition called the cante jondo or

“deep song” is most prominent.

Here the playwright avoids the oft-repeated trope of personifying the Moon as a femme

fatale and intensifies the dramatic potential by portraying the harbinger of death as a

white faced wood cutter who like a sinister reaper removes all the foliage in the woods

that might help the lovers to avoid detection.

The Moon’s soliloquy is prefaced by the choric wood cutter’s invocation which is

reminiscent of the distinctive wailing cry of the singuiriya8 form of flamenco music and

calls for a similar style of delivery-

“Ah! Lonely moon!

Moon amid the green leaves!

Ah, mournful moon!

For love’s sake let the dark branch cast its shade.”

The violin music that the stage direction recommends forms the perfect accompaniment

for this somber and ominous song and also is a modification on the guitar accompaniment

that is generally used for the singuiriya.

The highly evocative yet non-specific landscape, the ominous nightmarish atmosphere

together with the relentless approach of death- are all characteristics of the “cante jondo”

style that the song follows.

Moreover the monologue borrows from the oral tradition to enforce its dramatic

immediacy and it is predominantly the folkloric depiction of the supernatural that helps to

ground the hitherto realistic narrative in the temporal world.

We find the cold and hard Moon almost begging for entry into the sanctity of life that

seems to invite a sympathetic response from the audience yet in the very next moment his

anticipation of the lovers’ bloodshed paints the plea in a sinister light- an effect that could

only be successfully delivered keeping the rising and falling crescendo of music in mind.
 “So tonight there shall be

Red blood for my cheeks

And for the reeds that cluster

Round the broad feet of the wind

For I must steal into some breast

Where I can warm myself.

Some heart be mine.”

The Moon’s abrupt exclamations and the constant inquiry about the ill-fated lovers not

only add to the dramatic illusion but also maintains a sense of dialogic to-and-fro with the

audience that mimics the oral involvement with a “deep song”.

Much of the imagery of the Moon and the green-clad Death is repeated in Lorca’s other

poems. In the Song of the Rider9 life is metaphorically presented through the horse-man’s

journey to Cordoba that he is destined never to finish-

“Full moon, black pony

Olives against my saddle

Though I know all the roadways

I’ll never get to Cordoba”.

The overhanging full moon continually reminds him of his mortality while the fruit

symbolises the futility of preparation that human beings take on for this unknown

journey.

The Sleepwalker’s Ballad9 is another poem where death looms over the mortals. Here the

anonymous speaker who ostensibly addresses his beloved seems to indirectly invoke

death as he declares-

“Green as I love you greenly

Green the wind and green the branches.”

Whereas the colour green universally symbolizes regeneration and life, it is also

associated with death in this particular culture. Moreover the repeated emphasis on the

key word also seems to remind us of the greenery of a forest. It is in the hostile environs

of the woods where the Novia and Leonardo flee to escape the censure of society. It is

also where Leonardo meets his end.

Outside the security and sanction of society the green-clad Death stalks as a beggar-

woman. Quite like the Moon, Death too proclaims to be cold and covets life- the desire

stresses on the appropriateness of her disguise of a beggar. Also the recurrence of the

imagery of spilled blood not only anticipates the climactic fight but also recalls the

tradition of displaying one’s soiled sheets after the wedding night. The consistent

eroticisation of death is not merely a sensationalistic tactic of a revenge tragedy but has

its roots in the cante jondo where such opposites as love and destruction are brought

together.
It seems that this conflation of irreconcilable opposites together with the transition of the

dramatic register from realism to symbolism is facilitated by the Andalusian spirit of

inspiration called the “deunde”10

The “deunde” as described by Garcia Lorca in his lecture on the subject in 1933 is a

morally ambivalent daemonic deity of inspiration. He cites the Spanish “deep song”

tradition as being infused with this enigmatic energy that inspired awe and terror in the

audience despite being derided as an art form that provided little intellectual stimulation

due to its simplistic theme of conflict between life and death.

The Dirge

Blood Wedding provides the readers with a singular variety in this form of song which

seems to be particularly infused with the chaotic and ironic forces of the “deunde”. The

most typical example of the dirge is sung by the aggrieved mother-in-law. The song is as

quoted below-

“Hide your face with a veil

Your children are your children

That’s all. On the bed

Place a cross of ashes

Where once his pillow lay.”

While the lament here quite appropriately depicts the mother’s sorrow during the funeral

preparations of her only child the same tragic situation when presented from the

viewpoint of the chorus of the third act is quite disquieting as the atypical dirge reveals.

The girls are found winding a skein of wool as they indulge in a seemingly innocuous

conversation which soon devolves into petty gossip-mongering-

Little Girl [singing]

Were you at the wedding?

First Girl.

No.

Little Girl.

Neither was I

What can have happened?

Among the vineshoots?

What can have happened?

Among the olive branches?

What happened

That no one came back?

Were you at the wedding?

The playwright here deftly modifies the solea form of singing which demanded

spontaneous innovation on part of the singer to suit the changing mood of the piece while

obeying a strict metric structure.

The conversational style of the song and the normalcy of the situation suggested by the

domestic chores emphasize on the air of spontaneity and flexibility of the exchange that

is able to sustain the fluid changes of subject- from weddings to revenge killings.

The song begins by merely alluding to the violence inherent in the situation to maintain

the spirit of innocuous gossip but it soon succinctly sums up the play-

“The lover is silent

And crimson the groom

On the mute shore-line

I saw them laid down.”

While the solea here is appropriately used to depict the seriousness of the situation, the

dirge-like song not only lacks the pathos of the bereaved mother’s lament but also

maintains an air of detachment and observation instead of mourning.

The capacity to seamlessly combine the tragedy of unnatural and untimely death with the

unaffected normalcy of day-to-day life is the characteristic of the artist inspired by the

deunde who is then able to capture the discordant nature of real life through his or her art.

The Mask-Dance
This very mysterious deundic quality propels the unsettling ambience of the Andalusian

lullabies and infuses its wedding songs with the promise of bloodshed thus uniting the

intrinsically opposed acts of celebration and destruction. The most poignant expression of

this phenomenon can be found in the pilgrimage scene of Yerma.

The journey to the hermitage was regularly undertaken by only women who desired

husbands or children. However under the guise of pious supplication the pilgrimage was

regarded as an easy way to satisfy one’s sexual appetites with the male hangers-on who

tagged along.

In this charged atmosphere of license, expectation and religious fanaticism the play

reaches its dramatic crescendo. The action of the play builds up to the climactic Mask-

Dance sequence with pilgrims’ songs. While on one hand the song that begins as-

“When you were single

I could never see you

But now you are married and we will meet.”

is imbued with sexual suggestion the song that Yerma joins in is more like a collective

ritualistic prayer for children that is reminiscent of pagan rites-

“Lord let thy rose open

In my withered flesh

O hear thy penitent

On holy pilgrimage
 Open thy rose in my flesh

Though it be fraught with thorns.”

The hypnotic quality of the refrain coupled with the onset of twilight and the mildly

hysterical edge to the prayer forms a smooth transition to the almost-Dionysian

atmosphere of the Mask Dance.

Here we find the principle dancers in traditional masks that symbolized the archetypal

Man and Woman. While the stage direction unequivocally states that the masks are in no

way grotesque the very idea of an expectant crowd dancing by accompaniment of

improvised instruments at night far away from society causes unease.

The highly informal environment is enhanced by the uncensored innuendo incorporated

in the verse which is sung in time with horse-collar bells. The Mask-Dance forms the site

where principles of sexual gratification and reproduction are fused whereas previously in

the same scene they had been compartmentalized in the pilgrims’ song and the prayer

respectively.

The dramatic potential of the Mask-Dance can be judged in relation to Yerma’s reaction

during it. Being a woman who could not tolerate the thought of infidelity even though her

husband refused to let her conceive, Yerma’s inner turmoil during the dance can only be

imagined as she as a character, comes into focus only after it.

The impact of the Mask-Dance on Yerma is indicated obliquely. The song is rife with

fertility symbols in form of flowers. Here the woman is regarded as incomplete or rather

“withered” if she fails to take pleasure in the sexual act and then reproduce. Yerma no

longer pursued enjoyment in sex and merely regarded it as a means to an end. This
divorce of pleasure from procreation had been stated as unhealthy by both the dance and

the main body of the play.

The Mask-Dance illumines Yerma’s inadequacy and her rigid and obsessive nature that

prevents her from taking the easy way out. Moreover the eroticized violence in the dance

enhanced by such symbolic imagery as the phallic bull’s horn used to subdue the

quivering female together with the deundic frenzy and the slow build-up of the play itself

seem to precipitate the tragedy as Yerma finally snaps under the pressure of realization

and near-hysteria.

Aside from the tragic implications the Mask-Dance sequence also successfully

demonstrates Lorca’s masterful application of the cante chico musical form of the

flamenco. The titillation is provided as stated earlier by the lyrics themselves-

“Come and see how she shines,

The woman that was bathing.

She bends like a reed.

She wilts like a flower.

Little girls, away now!”

The song here defines the specific role of the female in the courtship ritual as the

submissive partner. It also prescribes and regulates her sexual behaviour as the allusion to

the exclusion of the pre-pubescent girls implies while preparing them for the future.

Further examples of the cante chico form can be found in the work songs of the plays and

are not merely restricted to the realm of the vulgar.

The Work Song

House of Bernarda Alba provides the readers with a harvest song in Act 2 where it helps

to focus the frustrations of the unmarried hence unfulfilled women of the household. The

song like others of its type has a catchy rhythm to which the workers can time their toil

and keep their exhaustion at bay.-

“Open your doors and windows wide

You girls who in the village bide

The reapers want you to throw them posies

To trim their hats with bright red roses.”

The harvest song here is sung exclusively by men, hired labourers to be exact who not

only excite the women’s sexual fascination but also make them aware of their of lack of

freedom when compared to a man even and especially when he is of a lower class. The

merry accompaniment of the tambourines and the rattles that seem to recreate a

carnivalesque atmosphere also offset the bitter realizations of the Alba women.

The cante chico is again innovatively applied in Yerma where in the guise of a work song

in Act 2 Scene 1 the playwright plausibly creates the informal and maliciously playful

ambience of the village women exchanging gossip at the village stream.

The women sing-

 “In the stream’s cool water

I will wash your lace”

with no other musical accompaniment other than the rhythmic pounding of their washing

on the banks.

In keeping with the spirit of the labour song Garcia Lorca maintains its interactive nature

and also preserves the focus on the the play itself, as is evident when the women soon

adjust their song to include the topic of the day’s discussion, childlessness-

“Weep; oh weep for the barren wife

The wife whose breasts are sand.”

The playwright succeeds in incorporating the light hearted cante chico to comment on

such serious issues as discussed above.

The “rural trilogy” thus reveals the seamless manner in which the Andalusian folk

conventions of the flamenco were utilised by Garcia Lorca in heightening the dramatic

illusion to create a unique style of narrative that was at once fraught with realism and

poetic symbolism.
 Footnotes

1. Jorge Luis Borges, Conversations, ed. Richard Burgin (Mississippi: University

Press of Mississippi, 1998)

2. Nicholas Round, Introduction to Four Major Plays by Federico Garcia Lorca

(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997)

3. “Flamenco”, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flamenco(Accessed on May 3, 2010)

4. Federico Garcia Lorca, “Importancia histórica y artística del primitivo canto

Andaluz llamado ‘Cante Jondo’” trans, A.S. Kline,

http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Spanish/DeepSong.htm(Accessed on

May 3, 2010)

5. “Cante chico”, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cante_flamenco#Cante_Chico,

(Accessed on May 3, 2010)

6. Federico Garcia Lorca, “Las nanas infantiles” trans, A.S. Kline,

http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Spanish/Lullabies.htm (Accessed on

May 3, 2010)

7. http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Spanish/Lorca.htm#_Toc485030355,

(Accessed on May 3, 2010)

8. “Flamenco”, http://www.esflamenco.com/enindex.html, (Accessed on May 3,

2010)
9. http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Spanish/Lorca.htm#_Toc485030355,

(Accessed on May 3, 2010)

10. Federico Garcia Lorca, “Theory and Play of deunde” trans, A.S. Kline,

http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Spanish/LorcaDuende.htm, (Accessed

on May 3, 2010)

Bibliography

 Borges, Jorge Luis, ed. Richard Burgin, Conversations (Mississippi:

University Press of Mississippi.1998)

 Garcia Lorca, Federico, trans. John Edmunds, Four Major Plays(Oxford:

Oxford University Press, 1997)