The Nightingale and the Night. Chavela Vargas sings Lorca

A final encounter between Chavela Vargas and the spirit of Federico García Lorca

The Nightingale and the Night: Chavela Vargas sings Lorca is a poetic journey through the final year of Chavela Vargas’s life, guided by her spiritual and artistic devotion to the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca. Directed by Rubén Rojo Aura, the film intertwines music, poetry, and intimate reflections to illuminate the connection between two monumental figures of Spanish-language culture, separated by time but united through art.

The documentary is born from a striking anecdote: during a tour in Spain, Chavela stayed in the same room at Madrid’s Student Residence where Lorca had once lived. There, she claimed to be visited nightly by a yellow bird that carried the poet’s soul. These encounters inspired sleepless nights spent singing and playing at the piano, sowing the seeds of her final artistic project — a heartfelt homage to Lorca.

Through performances, interviews with Vargas and her closest friends, and evocative archival imagery, the film retraces those emotional nights and the year that followed, when Chavela fulfilled her dream of singing Lorca’s verses. Blending music, memory, and legend, The Nightingale and the Night reveals how Chavela Vargas transformed her admiration into an eternal conversation with the poet who marked her soul.