Reinvent yourself or die. This is the necessity of a work Federico Garcia Lorca which has suffered from overuse in recent decades and needs a renewal of his creations, mind you, a renewal of his creations. As if they weren't current. Yes, they're a century old and more current than ever, but if we add that every lyric, every poem, every prose of the brilliant poet has been thrashed to the point of exhaustion, it becomes difficult in these times to be able to innovate and offer a new vision and multifaceted edge to his repertoire. Only a die-hard Lorca fan who knows, feels, and devours his work can achieve a success like the one he reaped. Miguel Poveda in the Generalife Gardens from its new creation There were a thousand FedericosHis artistic restlessness, his need to create –yes, to create, because whether anyone likes it or not, Poveda creates works and creates flamenco music–, provoke a fire of emotions and sensations when, with the multidisciplinary vision of the Granada poet, he is able to give his best to explore a repertoire that is very well-known but that already sounds new, clean, immaculate. flamenco.
Poveda borrows the title of his new release from a fragment of the letter that the poet wrote to Regina Sainz de la Maza to delve into the thousand Federicos that exist, perhaps a few more to which the singer gives life and to which an immense Jesus Guerrero gives music with complete freedom. Thus begins. The poem Alba becomes music alongside the rest of the artists who fill and give color to the stage. This new creation goes a step beyond what the Badalona singer has accustomed us to, because the theater is present. There are no actors, but there is theatricality. There are no poets, but there is poetry. However, there is a singer and there is cante.
«His artistic restlessness, his need to create, provoke a fire of emotions and sensations when, with a multidisciplinary vision of the poet from Granada, he is able to give his best to move through a repertoire that is very well-known but that sounds new, clean, unpolluted now. flamenco»
We saw the young singer Manuel Monk embodying the child Federico, searching for himself, in angelic white, imitating the children's poem Ballad of the Black Heart and the Wildfire de Manuel de Falla what choreography Agustín Barajas immersed in the skin of a young Federico, lively and talkative, whom the dancer represents conscientiously. Monje recites Lorca singing the Galapaguito's Nana that the poet set the piano to music with the little argentinian in those legendary recordings of the 30s, Old folk songs. The original album sounds like an entrance that gives way to the superb hands of Joan Albert Amargos with the indispensable and necessary Four muleteers, The Pilgrims y Go Jaleo in the singer's voice. It's a 21st-century version, with Guerrero's guitar playing notes in minor tones with exquisite taste and the rest of the cast supporting. The choirs of The Makarines, Londro y Carlos Grilo They seasoned like sweet sauce the thousand Federicos who roamed the stages and gardens of the Alhambra. The freshness that Poveda brings to Lorca's popular songbook is outstanding. And not just to the music, because on stage he becomes an actor-artist capable of throwing himself to the ground when Maika Barroso recites the poet in death. In this work, Miguel reveals himself artistically, and is able to break the boundaries of the lyrical constraints that singing to the poet can produce. Hence, at times, we see on stage a sort of Michael Bublé of the flamenco.
Agustín Barajas becomes the adolescent Lorca again, who remembers the letter he wrote to his father, Leave me in this field cryingAnd the caña sounds, the one included in his last album, Poem of the Cante jondo, to the sound of Grito that breaks in the wind. Por alegrías also takes up notes from that album with the Ballad of the three rivers. And ends with cabales and seguiriyas, those of Silverio Franconetti, the legendary singer to whom the poet also dedicated some lyrics and in which Miguel gave his all, an absolute dedication of cante by right.
Eva Yerbabuena She was a special guest and, as it could not be otherwise, she danced soleá, flamenco like no other, returning to her past, to the more classical flamenco Eva, bewitched by the poet. Poveda gave her the change by reciting part of the Theory and game of the Duende, whom Eve ended up deifying.
When Manuel Monje appears on stage again, we expected to hear him sing, but his role was that of the child Federico, one of thousands. And they went off-script, because Monje was able to recite a fragment of what was possibly the last interview they ever conducted with Lorca, telling us about the dramatic moment in which the artist must cry and laugh with his people. The paradox of life, the child Federico giving voice to the poet before his death.
Miguel recited the two odes Shout towards Rome with all its musicians at the forefront, guided by the beat of the drums Manuel Queen, the percussion of paquito gonzalez and the bass of José Manuel Posada Popo. He also gave away the Ode to Walt Whitman and They Are Black in Cuba (which he recorded in 2018).
When Maika Barroso appeared on stage, the poet's death appeared. Dressed in black mourning, she became the poet's yoke, proclaiming Leonardo en Blood Wedding.
«To sing Federico it is not only necessary to know his work, study it and internalize it. You have to feel it, live it, make it yours, live with it, become the poet, think and breathe and even die like the poet. Poveda for a moment was a poet, playwright, draftsman, lecturer, but above all a singer and artist. As Chacón's snails said: knowledge does not take away passion. And in the flamenco There is no one else who feels it and projects it like Poveda. Hence, there are not only a thousand Federicos, but a thousand Povedas.
After this, the Amargós-Poveda duo became a majestic piece, both of them playing music. The poet asks his love to write to him while the visual scenography enhanced the stage with projections of the thousand faces of Lorca, while the lighting effects drew lights and shadows in unison with the sones and coplas that transcended rumbas with a Havana flavor in the Secret voice of dark love. There was another effect that projected the essence of the young Lorca-Barajas with a camera projected from the vertical of the stage that triangulated the images from the real to the visual. Before being able to enjoy the mastery of the touch of Paco Jarana, the soleá por bulería in the form of Song of the Little Death sweetened Poveda's voice again, which ended with a Crack in the cheek with a Levantine air in the air of Jarana and with the Fable and wheel of the three friends.
This new release by Miguel Poveda joins the long list that the singer defends about the most universal poet of our land, especially when he imbues him with a genius that few are capable of. That is where his success lies. To sing Federico, it is not only necessary to know his work, study it, and internalize it. You have to feel it, live it, make it yours, live with it, become the poet, think and breathe, and even die like the poet. Poveda was, for a moment, a poet, playwright, draftsman, lecturer, but above all, a singer and artist. As Chacón's snails said: knowledge does not take away passion. And in the flamenco There's no one else who feels it and projects it like Poveda. Hence, there aren't just a thousand Federicos, but a thousand Povedas.
Credits
There were a thousand Federicos, by Miguel Poveda
Lorca and Granada Cycle in the Generalife Gardens, Granada
August 21th, 2025
Cante: Miguel Poveda
Piano and musical direction: Joan Albert Amargós
Guitar and musical direction: Jesús Guerrero
Percussion: Paquito González
Cante y palmas: Carlos Grilo and Miguel Ángel Soto peña Londro
Choirs and palmas: The Makarines
Drums. Manuel Reina
Bass: José Manuel Posada Popo
Special collaborations: Eva Yerbabuena, Agustín Barajas, Manuel Monje, Maika Barroso, Paco Jarana
