Who was Demofilo? Flamenco collections.

There are two poets in Spain that you hear especially in the Spanish schools: Lorca and Machado.

Flamencos usually know Federico García Lorca. He and his imagery has been really important for flamenco dissemination. In the second case we the can read something about the second name in records. But Antonio Machado was not a really important for flamenco. "Sevilla without sevillanos, what a wonderful” was one of his sentences and he prefered to live in Castilla. But, Curiously, his father, Antonio Machado Álvarez, is so importat for flamenco as Paco de Lucía.


A great lover of Spanish folk, Antonio Machado Alvarez used the pseudonym "Demofilo" (Friend of people) to be the first who collect all flamenco lyrics that he could heard and remember and bring them to the considered poetry. What's more, Demofilo got that flamenco start being considered more that marginal music, an outsider music to cultural elite in Spain. It was strange because foreign people could appreciate it before him, but for Spanish a leading figure as Demofilo was necessary.

The book Collection de Cantes Flamencos (1881) included hundreds of lyrics classified by palos. Those lyrics are really old and its reading is a good way to understand the root of flamenco.

I do not know if the book has a specially good translation to English, but you can find the Spanish version in Amazon here. If you read Spanish and love flamenco could be a good incentive.

As well as Antonio Machado Jr., he has other poet son, Manuel Machado, whose lyrics, more close to his father work,  has been sung for great flamenco singers.