By Graham Reid
Federico Garcia Lorca's life has often been overshadowed by the manner of his death, his historical entry reduced to the shorthand of a brilliant poet cut down in the Spanish Civil War.
Yet there was much more to Lorca than poetry and a dramatic end.
In a recent London Review of Books John Butt - considering Leslie Stainton's Lorca: A Dream of Life - notes Garcia Lorca was unforgettable and lovable, of curious political naivety with associations across the difficult and explosive spectrum of Spain in the 30s, but also somewhat of a dandy who liked going to the seashore to awaken the shells by calling out to them.
"It is clear that this poet and playwright, talented pianist, cartoonist and painter, raconteur and wit, noted reciter of verse, theatrical director, mimic, sporadic literary theorist, occasional conjurer and luminary of Madrid's cafes presents a classic case of the life's work threatened with eclipse by the life itself," Butt said.
Today, and especially at this geographical remove, Lorca is reduced to a kind of line sketch: the dark-eyed, brilliant poet and dramatist who enjoyed an affair with the painter Salvador Dali and was shot by the Fascists on August 18, 1936, just outside Granada.
This year is the centenary of Lorca's birth, and a homage to his genius and spirit is being paid - in Spanish and English, in song and dance - in the Auckland Town Hall concert chamber.
Chilean-born Auckland poet Esteban Espinoza will read some of Garcia Lorca's poems and extracts from his essays in Spanish, poet Denys Trussell will read a selection in English (to Spanish guitar accompaniment by flamenco guitarist Paco) and there will be song and Spanish dances by Margot Basilisco and Veronica de Maya.
Lorca so overshadowed his contemporaries - some of whom were considerable talents - with his brilliance that his life cut short robbed the world of a unique voice which literary scholars put alongside the great writers of the 20th century.
What: Duende Flamenco: Homage to Federico Garcia Lorca
Where: Concert Chamber
When: Saturday
Garcia Lorca's reign in Spain
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