Recordings from 1931.
Federico García Lorca played the piano and "La Argentinita" was the lead singer. Lorca studied piano in his youth and was a gifted musician, he used to play for his close friends and frequently used the piano to prepare stagings of his own plays. His attention was centered on popular art, and in his lectures on Spanish folk music, he would play the piano to illustrate the examples.

La Argentinita met Lorca soon after he arrived in Madrid in 1919. Shortly after, in March of 1920, La Argentinita, already a very successful and well known dancer, collaborated in Lorca's first theatrical debut: "El Maleficio de la mariposa".

Though the opening night was a complete fiasco, the collaboration created an unshakable friendship between these two artists.

Lorca arranged several popular Spanish songs for piano, and ten were recorded and released as records. Prior to these recordings, the two of them rehearsed in the home of Pilar Lopez, sister of La Argentinita, in the same living room where Lorca first premiered some of his new works for them.

In 1931 the records went on sale and were well received. The songs, which were all of traditional origin, attained an extraordinary popularity with this release.

Lyrics: Zorongo gitano ( Gypsy Zorongo ) Tengo los ojos azules tengo los ojos azules y el corazoncito igual que la cresta de la lumbre De noche me salgo al patio y me jarto de llorar de ver que te quiero tanto y tú no me quieres ná Esta gitana está loca, loca que la van a atar, que lo que sueña de noche quiere que sea verdad

My eyes are blue My eyes are blue and my heart is just like the crest of a flame At night I go out to the backyard and weep my heart out because I love you so much and you don't love me at all This gypsy woman is crazy, mad as a hatter Everything she dreams at night she wants it to be real

D. M. - Lydia Nieto. 1997
Translation: Marie Jost, D.M.