Jesús Romero Imbroda, Servicio de Neurología, Hospital Quirónsalud Málaga, Málaga, España
Cristóbal Carnero Pardo, FIDYAN Neurocenter, Granada, España

Federico García Lorca created a semantic neologism: “mysterious and ineffable charm”, to define the duende. He himself affirms that “all the arts are capable of duende” but that it is music, dance and spoken poetry where they find more scope for specifying these of a living body that interprets. The duende can only be emotion, and as such, it is dormant and activated in certain circumstances and is accompanied by a florid physiological and bodily response. Emotion is one of the main reasons people engage and interact with music. Music arouses feelings and associated physiological responses. These dynamic changes seem to be associated with the experienced intensity of emotions, sometimes culminating in pleasurable sensations such as “chills” that may indicate the release of endorphins. This could be the neuroscientific basis of what we call “duende”.

Keywords: Flamenco art. Duende. Music. Emotions. Mirror neurons.