Jose Cenizo Jimenez (Paradas, 1961) is well known among readers of ExpoFlamencowhere his signature appears regularly. After publishing a book on Antonio Mairena and another on Sevillian poetry, he now combines his two passions in the volume Poet flamenco (Colibrí Ediciones), an effort to unravel the keys to letter writing for the cante which includes practical exercises that invite the reader to get started in this practice, reinforced with QR codes that allow you to listen directly to the canteIn its original form. In this conversation we try to get to know the popularizer, but also the lyricist.
– When did you start writing flamenco poetry?
– Almost in parallel or simultaneously with my hobby, since I've always enjoyed creative writing, I wrote poems and short stories as a teenager. But, of course, I wasn't interested in it until I was almost twenty. flamencoIt was after hearing a live recital in the peña From my hometown of Paradas –Seville–, to Miguel Vargas, about whom I would later write a book and who would become and remains my favorite flamenco singer. From the nineties onwards, I began to take writing flamenco lyrics more seriously, eventually compiling enough for a book. In short, published by Signatura Ediciones in 2007, with a prologue by Félix Grande, a real treat. Now I have another one, which I hope will be published in 2026, entitled To see if it would console me, which I take from one of my lyrics in that book:
To see if it would console me
I started counting to the wind
the hardships I went through.
– Do you hum, do you put the lyrics to the test by singing them, even if only in private?
– Well, the truth is I would have liked to be a flamenco singer. cante That's what I like most about flamencoBut I don't have the talent. In fact, I hum. I sing the lyrics to myself, under my breath, as I say. Many come to me already hummed, but others don't; they just come out and I write them down or jot them down somewhere, on my phone or on a piece of paper, whatever I have handy. It's also happened that a lyric comes to me and I haven't been able to write it down, because I'm already in bed, for example, and then I haven't been able to remember it, at least not completely. Like the lyrics of... cante They are ideally intended for canteIt's fine that they arise in that context, but they are still poetry, lyric poetry, and can be read without detriment, like any poem, at least the high-quality ones.
– In your opinion, what qualities should characterize good flamenco poetry?
– We now understand flamenco poetry as lyrics from cante, so as not to confuse it with authorial poetry dedicated to some aspect of flamenco and in any meter and style. The book discusses what these would be, in my opinion, and I would say logically. Thus, a good flamenco lyric or verse must conform to the characteristics of those already sung, in terms of language, meter, vocabulary, and adherence to the palo for which we want it to be cante, theme, etc. And it has a specific language, which includes, for example, the profusion of diminutives, diminutives of affection or lyricism, not of diminishing size, as in this lyric, so flamenco and so painful due to the seguiriya:
In the small hospital,
with one right hand,
There was the mother of my soul
the made bed.
And things like combining three rhymes in a row or putting strange words into the world flamencoThey can be delicate. There's a litmus test, which is the sense of the canteThe aroma of tradition is present, which doesn't mean that innovation isn't present, and that modern words aren't even introduced. This has already been done in lyrics as well-known as "I am loving you / with the same violence / as the train." Or the more recent one, sung by El Pele: "The sparrow gets used / to the noise of the cars / and I don't." In short, flamenco lyrics should be brief, simple, and profound, like an emotional spark—at least the good ones, because, as in lyric poetry in general, and in every author, there are very good, good, average, and bad things, although... canten. One example could be this, and many more, fortunately, the soleá:
Remember when then
you came downstairs to open the door for me
And now you don't know me anymore.
"I hope, and this is my dream, that thanks to this work, which I consider my legacy in the didactic aspect after many years as a teacher and as an amateur and researcher, the number of poets will increase." flamenco"Yes, from lyricists of all ages, and that these new compositions will become their true destiny, to be sung."
– So, who would be your reference lyricists?
– Although, obviously, there are many I like, or some of their lyrics, I have to choose two personal touchstones, apart from the compilation Demófilo put together, of course. Those would be Francisco Moreno Galván and José Luis Rodríguez Ojeda. The latter, by the way, whom I've had the pleasure of getting to know better, wrote the book's foreword, a true honor. Both have written lyrics for my favorite and much-loved flamenco singer, Miguel Vargas, especially Moreno Galván.
– An old question that keeps coming up: is there sexism in flamenco lyrics?
– It's a delicate but necessary question, and many opinions are valid, as with everything, but now I must give mine. I discuss it in the book. I say that, given the historical moment and the social context, in the flamenco And specifically in the lyrics, as in society in general, from the mid-19th century onwards, we see many examples of sexist content. For one thing, it is almost always a man who writes them. There are exceptions, like the woman who sang tangos. Pastora Pavón, which, at least, are sung from a female point of view:
A lacemaker passes by,
Mom, I'm going with him,
who has a lot of charm.
La Macanita sings this other song in our time:
Alas, from the olive grove to the well
I went out to look for him.
when I saw him in another woman's arms
I turned back.
On the other hand, it is a reflection of society, which, let's not forget, until very recently, and still to a large extent, is sexist, chauvinistic, with all that this implies. In one of my books, dedicated to the literature of cante From Antonio Mairena, I've commented on a lyric that says:
Since my mother died
the little shirt of my body
I can't find anyone to wash it for me.
Is it simply a sexist lyric that should be avoided today? I think it is a sexist lyric, although it reflects certain social positions that assign domestic tasks exclusively to women, to mothers in this case. The author, in his grief, has focused the pain of the mother's absence or loss on a very everyday detail. It's a lyric, a love poem to the mother; that's the message or the basic sentiment there. By the way, Antonio Mairena sings it masterfully as a soleá.
– You encourage the reader to practice writing. Can anyone be a letterer?
– I believe that if someone sets their mind to it, has the vocation and dedication, and follows the instructions in this guide, this manual, anyone can do it, even if they don't have any prior knowledge of flamenco nor of metrics. That is what this book should be for, for everyone: teachers and students of different levels, enthusiasts, artists, readers in general, lovers of literature—there are more than three hundred letters—etc. It is an informative, educational, and enjoyable book, or so I hope, aided by the fact that it includes, from beginning to end, more than one hundred and forty activities of all kinds, from research to listening exercises. canteYes, of creation and recreation… I hope, and this is my dream, that thanks to this work, which I consider my legacy in the didactic facet after many years as a teacher and in that of an amateur and researcher, the number of poets will increase. flamencos, by lyricists of all ages, and that these new compositions will become songs, their true destiny. I am grateful to Manuel Ramos Ramos, writer and editor of Colibrí Ediciones, for proposing that I write such a book, novel for focusing exclusively on the creation of lyrics, as well as to his editorial team and to the author of the prologue, José L. Rodríguez Ojeda. ♦
