duende
Language: Spanish · [ˈdwende] · Pronunciation: DWEN-deh
Pronunciation: Speaker: Marreromarco
Recorder: Marreromarco · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Meaning
the dark force that grips a great performance — soul
The story
In a 1933 lecture, the poet Federico García Lorca made this the measure of flamenco: the dark current a performance either carries or doesn't. Duende rises up through the soles of the feet, he insisted, and cannot be rehearsed into being. English-language critics mostly borrow the word whole; pressed for a translation, they say soul.
The four rounds
- Which language is it from?
- Spanish
- Where does it come from originally?
- A name for a household goblin
- Where would you hear it?
- A flamenco bar when the room goes still
- What does it mean?
- The dark force that grips a performance
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