Talk:Duende (art)

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James Michener has written the best description of duende that I have ever seen in his book Iberia. I cannot do it justice from memory. MFalu 16:25, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

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[edit] Alternate Meanings

I have a Mexican friend who says that in her hometown, "duende" is a term that refers to, for lack of a better description, a Mexican leprechaun (her description included the phrase "enano magico", literally "magical midget"). This includes rainbows, pots of gold, and mischievous activity commonly associated with the more familiar Irish version. She said that one duende might be helpful, but two together were sure to cause trouble, and if you had a particularly bad one living under your house, you bribed him with tequila and cigarettes to be rid of him.

This sounds ridiculous, and I have laughed about it many times,as I first associated "duende" with a musical feeling. However, I have asked several other acquaintances from Mexico, and they have all confirmed the legend.

I don't know what to make of it, but I can't pretend I didn't hear it. Can anyone else provide some input?

You're right - in fact, the Spanish wiki entry for duende is a very well-developed (not just by es.wiki standards) article that mentions only the mythological definition, and nothing about music. Since it seems you know some Espanol, I suggest you take a look there. That's where I got all the information (I have no clue about this) to make the update I made. Thanks for the tip-off. Adam Mathias 22:29, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

Ha ha ha! You're right! I was starting to think my friends were pulling an elaborate gag on me! Thanks for the info. The Spanish entry is thorough and matches what I'd been told, including the connection to Fiesta de la San Patricio (St. Patrick's day). I wish there was some easy way to translate wikipedia entries to English. I suppose the best wiki articles are written in the language of the people who care most about any given subject. C'est la wiki.

Yeah your last sentence is definitely true. But I don't find that to be a problem. Rather, I think it is telling/informative that certain subjects are well-developed in some languages and not in others, and it is also interesting to see how different wikis approach the same subject. Also, though in this case I think both es and en should have an article about all three: duendes, leprachauns (sp?), and goblins, but in other cases (for example Santa Claus) it's not quite clear where one character becomes another and where it's just the same character with the name translated and slightly different traditions surrounding it. I guess what I'm saying is, I'm glad different wikis are different, but that does of course presuppose multilingualism! Adam Mathias 04:26, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm a native spanish speaker and I've never heard about Duende as a musical feeling or whatsoever, to be true in spanish the word Duende is Always refered as a sort of mythological, fantastic creature; by the way Never seen by any human, but always related with the underground living and the sharpenned ears, but I have to disagree to the popular knowns of rainbows and pots of gold and anything involving the Irish mythology; I agree with the idea of 'calming' this Duende down by putting some sort of gift, 'ofrenda' such as the Tequila and the cigarrettes. Gerardo Navarro 11:27, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

Also forgot to tell that this fantastic legend is related with the 'fary tales' said by grandmothers in practically every town in Mexico. Gerardo Navarro 11:40, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

The word "Duende" means "Goblin" in Portuguese, altough there isn't much mithology about them in Portugal, since is a general Christian country. --Midasminus

The usage of duende as a music term is totally separate from the usage like "goblin," as explained to me by several native speakers; however, the music term as described by Lorca himself is not purely related to music, but also dance and poetry (both tangentially related to music!). It is a wild and mystical inspiration and way of thinking in both written and audible art (and I bet visual as well). SO I'd suggest disambiguating it not into "duende (mythological)" and "duende (music)" but rather the former and "duende (art)."

But mythology is not an art. They're not one and the same thing.--Midasminus 19:25, 6 April 2007 (UTC)