Over centuries, Andalusian Gypsies developed cante jondo, or deep song, which grew from the experience of exile and marginalization. Although flamenco music enjoys wide popularity today, the words of the songs are often lost in the passion of the performance, or because they are sung in dialect. This is a bilingual sampling of the lyrics and brief commentaries by aficionados.

Will Kirkand is a San Francisco Bay Area writer and translator whose translated works include Lorca’s The Gypsy Ballads and Rómulo Gallegos’ classic novel Canaima. He is the author of a volume of short stories, Ixat Tales.