Francisco Javier Auxilia Espinar, born in ArahalIn the Sevillian countryside in 1976, he was a farm laborer, primarily dedicated to the maintenance and harvesting of olive groves. A man deeply connected to nature, this daily experience, even through arduous work, will be evident in some of his compositions, as we shall see. We are with Reflexes, Edited by PangeaRegarding his second book of flamenco poems and lyrics, he said, "They're different things, although flamenco lyrics are poems, lyric poetry, of course." His first book, with the same variety, was titled The woes of time, from 2022. In a short time, then, he offers us another book, which I will comment on.
The flap describes the author as a man who loves... flamencoA great enthusiast of music and poetry, he attends recitals, book presentations, and other events. Driven by his passion, Reflexes It's a mixture, as we said, of poems and flamenco lyrics. I'll focus on the flamenco lyrics, since that's my critical role in ExpoFlamenco –book and record reviews flamenco—, once I stopped reviewing books of literature and recitals flamencoYes, at least for a while.
Let's see in Arahal, his homeland, in 2022, the cante Sandra Carrasco y The Dog, on the guitar David of Arahal, an example of his lyrics to cante:
The foreword is written by the Physical Education teacher and lecturer Kisco Vázquezwho writes: “Auxilia’s stories are not only inspiring acts, but also the roots of her poetry. Verses that run through the you will see "Of love, nostalgia, generosity, pain, hope, and life itself." And of lyrics he says: "They are born without any pretension, free, without ties, and perhaps that's why they tell you everything." He illustrates with some, like these two:
You boast about giving advice,
but wisdom
It is given by old pains.
You stitched the tear
of my first heart.
How beautiful the basting stitches are!
And what a pretty button!
Pangea has produced a good, carefully edited edition of the book, followed by José Peña iron, with a cover photograph of the guitarist and composer David of ArahalA broken chair in the middle of a country lane, very evocative. The photos and drawings inside—some by artists—are also striking. flamencos—are also by the poet, except for the one on the lapel, from Marcos Rodríguez from @cienxcienflamencodemonstrating a high interest in artistic variety.
En This link from Cadena Ser You can see the book presentation in Arahal, May 22, 2025.
These flamenco lyrics primarily adhere to the metrical scheme of three (soleá) or four verses—assonant couplets or quatrains, as well as some seguiriyas—with a few examples of five verses—quintillas, suitable for fandangos and related forms. Let's look at some very successful examples:
I don't care about anything
that you pass by my door
as many times as you want to come.
I always take it one step at a time.
without making any noise,
Don't let your mother find out.
which is not to my liking.
Damn the day
and cursed be the day
when I buried the root of my blood
in my own flesh.
She writes about different themes: mothers, love and heartbreak, pain and sorrow, death, the simplest things, and how to live honestly. In these areas, we generally find good writing, like the examples above or these others:
What I really want
It's a large white courtyard.
with lemons and mint.
What great pain it left me with!
when he left my side
who guided my little steps!
I felt so sad
what white handkerchiefs
little black boys were being put on.
The world is going crazy,
Nobody can deny it,
What truth is the lie?
And what a lie the truth is.
Others, however, strike us as more aesthetic, erudite, cloying, or even clichéd and less luminous, such as "Breathing go the fish / through meadows and gardens, / corals go throbbing / to wet your springs," "I go gathering tuberoses / in a garden of questions, / and the jasmine without an answer / while the sun collapses," or more circumstantial, referring to people or places, without achieving universal appeal. But a good number of good lyrics are enough for this poet, this lyricist, whom we didn't know, to seem worthy of consideration. As some artists who have sung his lyrics already have, and this is very important: Angeles ToledanoThe Little Dog, Manuel de Tomasa, etc.
Let's listen to David de Arahal on guitar and Ángeles Toledano on... cante in the soleá Street of Splendors of the disc Alley of art:
Here's El Perrete performing fandangos on the record Friendly voices, from 2025, with David de Arahal –the second fandango and the refrain–:
Congratulations, then, to this lyricist with deep roots, natural, genuine, intimate with the sun and the earth, the olive grove and the wind, a great enthusiast, a complete man who knows how to draw out the lifeblood and light of flamenco lyrics in just three, four, or five lines. ♦
→ Francisco José Auxilia Espinar, ReflexesSeville, Pangea, 2025
