I've been playing flamenco guitar (off and on) and listening to flamenco music for roughly thirty years. I love flamenco singing (cante), but I don't speak a word of Spanish, so I can't follow the words. And Flamenco CDs never seem to include printed copies of the lyrics. So I've pretty much been flying blind all these years, hearing and feeling the emotional impact of the song, without knowing what it was about (except in the most general terms).

This thin volume is just what I've been looking for. It is a collection of flamenco verses presented in both Spanish and English translation. The book focuses on cante jondo, the deeper and more emotional style of flamenco. Most of the verses are soleas and siguiriyas.

The author, Kirkland, is a poet experienced in translating Spanish verse. So the English versions are quite readable---not the stilted awkward prose you sometimes get when verse is translated too literally. Quotations from flamenco aficionados are intermingled among the verses, and the book includes a short history of Flamenco and a brief description of the verse styles.