Paco Ibáñez - Poemas De Federico García Lorca Y Luis De Góngora

Nathan Nothin' here. I've been given the honor of guesting a few posts here at the DM & I'm raring to go. Hope you're not disappointed. Sent Zer0 another post, but in the meantime, I'll post this. I've been wanting to post this one for a long time, but forgot about it. When I was digging through record boxes, I saw the back cover art by Salvador Dali peeking out from a pile of albums.

Born in Valencia in November 1934, youngest son of Basque parents, Paco Ibáñez was forced into exile at 5 years of age when his family took refuge in France to escape the Franco regime. A France occupied by Germany. There his father was arrested & sent to labor camps for anti-fascist militant republicans.

In 1948 Paco began with his musical studies with the violin, but soon it changed to the guitar. Living in Paris at the time, Paco was influenced by Georges Brassens & Atahuapa Yupanqui. His first artistic outings were in the cabarets in the Latin Quarter accompanying Venezuelan singer Soto Carmela. Together they formed the trio The Yares. They traveled around Europe for the next eight years & Paco played guitar on Carmela's first records.

In 1955 Paco finally met Georges Brassens. She inspired him to write a new song. A year later Ibáñez released that song, setting the poem "The Most Beautiful Girl" (La Mas Bella Niña) by Luis Góngora 1561 - 1627 (written about 1580) to music. This idea of turning brilliant Spanish poetry into songs opened the door to a new world for Ibáñez. In 1958 Paco followed up with the poems of Federico Garcia Lorca 1899 - 1936. Paco Ibáñez had found his artistic path.

All of these poems would go on to become part of his first full length record, produced in Paris in 1964. He is accompanied by the world-renowned classical guitarist Antonio Membrado. This record, once published, became a classic, used by teachers of Spanish language & literature as teaching materials & by defenders of freedoms (both Spanish & French) as a symbol of cultural resistance. Ibáñez' prominence amongst the existentialist art community was further enhanced by a drawing created especially by the painter Salvador Dalí for the back cover.



Through his friendship with Dalí, Paco solidified his close relationship with the visual arts. He joined with artists of various medium to form Carraca, where theatrical plays, art exhibitions, literary symposia, film screenings, & music were fostered & promoted.