In his blog El Rincón del Tándem Spanish school will take you to the past, to the SPANISH MOVIDA years. If you are passionate about Spanish music and history, as our Spanish students are, do not miss this post.
Although it is said that the origin of “Movida” dates back to mid 70es – after the death of the dictator Franco – it was in 1981 when this word became popular and the movement started to spread and involve an entire generation, willing to enjoy the first years of democracy freedom.
The so called “hijos de la democracia” (democracy’s sons lit.) broke the chains of a social and political repression that had lasted almost 40 years, emulating youth from cosmopolitan cities like London, New York or Los Ángeles, with the purpose to enjoy freedom fully.
The 80es were times of changes in Spanih, not only music-wise. In fact, this movement encompassed also literature, journalism and cinema.
THE TRIBUTE CONCERT AND THE BEGINNING OF PUNK ERA
The turning point of this era was represented by the concert tribute to José Enrique Cano Real, “canito”, that died in a car accident in 1979. Canito was the composer, drummer and founder of the band “Tos” (later “Los Secretos”), together with his brother Urquijo. The concert took place on the 9 th of February 1980 and brought together artists and bands like Nacha Pop, Mermerlada, Alaska y los Pegamoides, Los Bólidos, Trastos, Paraiso, Kaka de Luxe, ect.
From this concert La Movida Madrleña (Madrid “movida”), characterised by eclectic punk bands, arose.
Several music bands from other provinces joined the movement, like Orquesta Mondragón – that was very successful among young people -, the Galician Siniestro Total or Golpes Bajos and Loquillo that became a reference of this artistic and musical movement.
All this bands used to meet at legendary spots that went down in history such as El Pentagrama (known as El Penta), Vía Láctea, la Sala El Sol, Galileo Galilei and Clamores. That was the golden era of La Movida and they are still remembered by many people who were young at those times.
Among the 20 most popular songs, we find “Escuela de Calor” by Radio Futura, and the legendary “La chica de ayer” by Nacha Pop.
POSTMODERN AND LIBERAL CINEMA
As mentioned above, also the cinema started changing by talking about all the issues that had been censored and forbidden by the dictatorship. Issues like prostitution, drug-addiction or homosexuality were widely shown in the movies.
A niche urban and postmodern cinema talked about aspects of a country that had been hidden until then. Fernando Trueba, Fernando Colomo, Iván Zukyeta and Pedro Almodóvar played a leading role at that time. Movies like “La vida alegre” by Fernando Colomo, dealing with issues like sexual diseases transmission, “Caín” by Manuel Iborra or “Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón”, the first Almodóvar’s feature film, belonged to the Spanish Movida.
LITERATURE, FANZINE, POETRY AND PAINTING
Althougth the Spanihs Movida was mainly a social and musical movement, at that time different type of fanzine, pamphlets, journals and newspapers (most of them funded) begun to be spread. Freedom that originated from the first years of democracy was fertile ground for many writers and artists.
The point of departure of this “modern Literature” (many experts that studied these works afterwards state that it was not a proper modern literature but something different) was the Tertulia de Creadores, held on the 13 th of March 1984.
At that time poets like Leopoldo María Panero and Haro Ibars, writers like Franciso Umbral and a famous magazine called “Luna deMadrid” in which popular names like Pedro Almodóvar, Quico Rivas o Moncho Alpuente wrote, became popular It was not a magazine by writers and journalist; it was a magazine open to everyone, that means that all kind of artists of any field could write in it. “Luna de Madrid” succeeded to sell 300.000 copies per month. “Madrid me mata” was another popular magazine. It was created and run by Óscar Mariné who was able to publish 14 issues in one year.
Comics, illustrations and photos has a great importance during the Movida. Important photographers and illustrators became popular, among them Pablo Pérez-Mínguez, Ouka Lele, Alberto García Alix and Ceesepe (Carlos Sánchez Pérez) whose irreverent stories like “El capuyo Verbenero” and “Clavelito Ceespudo” were published on the journal “Star” (1975).
However, the Spanish Movida did not bring only positive things. During this social and cultural movement the drugs boom pushed many youngsters, willing to enjoy freedom, to destroy their on lives and in many cases, their family’s life also. Undoubtedly, this Spanish historical period wont’ be easily forgotten. It was sort of a crazy time but also deeply stimulating thanks to acreative force that has been lasting till nowadays.
We hope this blog helped you get to know one of the most typical movement of the modern Spanish culture. El Rincónd el Tándem Spanish school encourages you to keep learning about Spain, its language, society and history.
Finally, we remind you that our Spanish school continue delivering online Spanish lessons. If you are interested in them, get in contact with us.
See you soon!
