Radio Eye

In Malaga and Granada a traveller is seeking traces of the celebrated Spanish poet and dramatist Federico Garcia Lorca.

A visitor from Australia, originally from the Philippines, she is partly at home in Spanish but constantly discovering nuances and unfamiliar fragments of history as she explores tourist destinations and bars, flamenco cafes and mountain caves. She encounters singers, actors, artists and tourists, gypsy buskers at the Mirador, Leila in her teashop who knows the Arabic origins of flamenco; and above his textile shop Senor Romero shows her his extraordinary recreation of the Café de Chinitas, the flamenco theatre/café made famous in one of Lorca's poems. Perhaps the Asian women of the café were Filipinas? Perhaps the traveller has another connection to Andalusia?

Everyone she meets, from Chile, Colombia, Portugal, the locals, the lovers from Madrid and the teachers from Britain all believe they have found something of Lorca.

He disappeared at the age of 38 at the beginning of the Civil War, killed, it's said, by Nationalist militia. His body was thrown into an unmarked grave somewhere between Viznar and Alfacar near Granada.

Location recordings by
Merlinda Bobis

Produced
in collaboration with the writer, by Russell Stapleton and Jane Ulman with the assistance of the ABC regional production Fund.

Due to copyright restrictions this program is not available as audio on-line or podcasting

Presenter

Brent Clough