Lorraine Williamson
Granada’s summer nights have always carried an air of enchantment, but over three sold-out evenings this August, the gardens of the Generalife became something else entirely.
Beneath the Alhambra’s cypress-lined open-air stage, flamenco singer Miguel Poveda unveiled Había mil Federicos—a spellbinding tribute to Federico García Lorca that fused music, theatre and poetry into one immersive experience.
The show was less a concert, more a journey. With the starry Andalucian sky as witness, Poveda invited the audience to walk through Lorca’s life—the child at play in Granada, the restless young poet in Madrid, the tormented artist in New York, the joyous traveller in Cuba, and finally the silenced voice whose words echo still.
“There are a thousand Lorcas”
Poveda himself framed the evening with a line that captured its essence: “There are a thousand Federicos, and a thousand ways to feel him.” From the first note, it was clear this was not about nostalgia but about presence—how Lorca’s voice continues to shape Spain almost nine decades after his death.
Eva Yerbabuena’s choreography intensified that presence. Her dancing was fierce yet delicate, embodying Lorca’s pain, defiance and tenderness in each movement. Alongside Agustín Barajas, who appeared as the youthful Lorca, the performance became a dialogue between body, memory and spirit.
The haunting finale: “No me encontraron”
As the final chords faded, Poveda delivered words that stilled the audience: “No me encontraron”—“They didn’t find me.” The line comes from Lorca’s Poeta en Nueva York, but in Granada it sounded heavier, almost prophetic.
It was Lorca’s fate—executed by Francoist forces in 1936, his body never recovered. The phrase cut through the theatre like a lament, carrying both historical weight and universal truth about silenced voices.
Poveda’s bond with Granada
Though Catalan by birth, Miguel Poveda has become something of an adopted son of Granada. His affection for the city and for Lorca is well-known. He has even opened a cultural centre dedicated to the poet on the very ground Lorca once played as a child. His long-term dream, he admits, is to see a statue of Lorca placed at the Fuente de las Batallas, near the house where the writer lived.
That emotional connection was clear throughout. At times Poveda’s voice trembled not from technique but from raw feeling. By the curtain call, tears streamed down his face as the audience rose to their feet in applause that seemed unwilling to end.
Granada and its highlights in one day
Who was Lorca?
For many in Spain, Lorca’s legacy needs little explanation. Born in 1898, he became one of the country’s most celebrated poets and playwrights, known for Bodas de sangre (Blood Wedding), Yerma, and La casa de Bernarda Alba. His work embraced themes of love, repression, gender, and the rhythms of Andalucian folklore.
But it was his political voice—and his homosexuality—that marked him for execution in the early days of the Civil War. His body was never found. And so Lorca became not just a literary giant, but a symbol of freedom, resistance and artistic courage.
Today his plays remain compulsory in Spanish schools, his routes through Granada are retraced by students, and his words are painted on walls from London to New York.
A legacy that refuses silence
What made Había mil Federicos resonate so deeply was not only its artistry but its urgency. Lorca’s insistence on love over hate, on peace over violence, feels painfully modern. Poveda and his company did more than remember him—they made him present.
As flamenco rhythms clashed with poetry, Granada was reminded that Lorca’s voice has never truly been silenced. As Poveda himself put it: “Lorca lives in every note, every tear, in memory and in flamenco.”
Source: Granada Hoy