However, even after the music had been influenced, many of the music still had many of the aspects of flamenco, and this meant that the tracks producedd by many early bands were very original and quite different from those producedd by British groups. The most important bands of early pop and rock music, those that still preserved strong flamenco tendencies in their music, were: Triana, Mezquita, Smash, and Crack. It was hoped that by having names that were not traditionally Spanish, people would take more notice of these groups, and there popularity would increase. However, from these groups it was already clear that Spanish pop and rock was going to change and be less influenced by traditional flamenco, bringing an end to the genre of Spanish music known as ‘flamenco fusion’, ‘purist pop’ or ‘flamenco purism’.
From the groups mentioned, the first to challenge flamenco purism was Smash. This was because one of their leading band members, Gualberto, became an expert on the sitar, and placed a lot more emphasis on the music behind the singing, instead of having songs where the singing was often regarded as more important than the music behind it. It is said that he “used instruments to take the part of the flamenco singer”." What led him to place a stronger influence on the music than the voice was probably his learning the sitar, and his being very interested in Indian music. He even went as far as to compare the sitar with a flamenco singer’s voice; and what also makes this interesting is that the first ever fusions with flamenco did not even come from Spain- they were not pop or rock; the music that flamenco was fused with was that of many other countries, proving that it was important, if music was to progress, to be influenced by other countries.
Here is a list of the main instruments used since 1960 in popular music:
- Electric guitar
- Bass electric guitar
- Drum kits
- Traditional guitars
- Electric keyboards
- Other forms of percussion- such as the traditional Spanish ‘castanets’
- Many brass instruments- saxophones, trombones etc…
- Some wind instruments, especially clarinets
These instruments have been used for a variety of reasons, the main ones being the timbre of the instruments, which have singled a lot of the ones on my list as instruments used not only in Spanish pop and rock but worldwide for that genre of music; these instruments including electric guitars and keyboards and drum kits. However, the other instruments have been used especially in pop (which even now has many of the features of traditional Spanish music, including sharing many common instruments with it, namely traditional guitars and some forms of percussion. Of course, many of the early forms of modern Spanish traditional music, especially flamenco fusion, included these instruments) are used because they were used in traditional Spanish music.
There are also certain scales used, especially the blues scale and major and minor scales. Here is the blues scale starting on C E and E flat, the two notes most often used as starting points for the blues scale in rock:
On C:
C - Eb - F - Gb - G - Bb – C
On E and E flat:
E - G - A - Bb - B - D – E
Eb - Gb - Ab - A - Bb - Db – Eb
There are many moods that can be set by popular music, depending on which type of scale, if any (as many tracks in the 1980s had no distinct type of scale used) the music is written using. If a track or song is written with a minor scale, the piece is more likely to sound melancholy than if a major scale is used. If the blues scale is used, then the music will have a distinctive style that comes from using this scale. For example, on the cassette included, tracks 4 and 16 set very different types of moods, even though they were written in the same era. This is because of the notes chosen. There are certain riffs that are also used in much Spanish rock music, written for electric guitar. The rhythms used for these are usually syncopated, that is, they use quite a lot of offbeat rhythms. This is often achieved by not starting the riff on the first beat of the bar, and instead leaving a semi quaver rest before the first note. Many riffs are used as a backing to the track, and are often repeated over and over, although some are played in moments when there is nobody singing, and these tend to come quite close to improvisation in their spontaneity. However, most tracks do follow certain patterns, which is why they are easy to identify a) as Spanish rock or pop as opposed to that of other countries and b) as coming from a certain decade or period.
Early Spanish pop/rock is easy to identify as coming from the early 1960s because it still sounds quite a lot like flamenco or a ‘zarzuela’ (a song that is a mixture between classical music and flamenco, these were very popular from 1870-1960 in Spain) except with a clearer beat, often marked by a percussion instrument. Pop and rock coming from later on in the 1960s still retains a lot of traditional features but has very marked rhythms, some becoming offbeat. There is also the introduction of some electronic instruments. Music from the early 1970s sounds a lot more like the pop and rock known in England, but the subjects tend to be different- something that becomes even more clear in the late 1970s and 1980s. Whilst English rock around this era was often quite anarchic, Spanish rock was a lot more light-hearted, with subjects that many English rock groups would have scorned- ‘Alaska y los Pegamoides’ writes about the horror of finding your boyfriend mangled in a supermarket, and some groups chose to write about the joys of being a bottle of washing powder so that you could be advertised on television! This was probably because rock had not taken such a heavy hold on the population as it had in England, so many bands were in the music business not for the money (as there was not much to be made!) but because they enjoyed it, so they were not under pressure to produced something that appealed to the public, and so were much more experimental. Even so, in many cases, the public did seem to enjoy what was being produced, so many of these tracks became bestsellers and got to number one in the charts.
Los Brincos, one of the first Spanish pop groups (see chapter 3).
In this chapter I am going to talk about three bands that have greatly influenced the progress of Spanish music. I have chosen one of the earliest and most famous Spanish pop groups that made their debut in 1964; a very progressive group with quite experimental ideas that really personifies Spanish 1980s rock and a modern group from the 1990s that I have chosen because it became very famous, probably because their tracks contains all the elements that modern Spanish pop contains. So roll on Los Brincos!………..
Los Brincos was one of most popular bands in 1960s Spain. They were formed in 1964. They were made up of:
Juan Pardo (guitar vocals)
Fernando Arbex (drums vocals)
Antonio "Junior" Morales (guitar vocals)
Manalo Gonzales (bass)
They started of as simply friends playing at each others’ houses, but they felt that they could become famous, as their style of music was very different to the traditional zarzuelas that were available. Before Los Brincos, flamenco purism had resembled flamenco more than it had resembled pop. Los Brincos were to change all that. They were contracted by Zafiro Records because of the originality of their music. Soon after they contracted with Zafiro Records, the record company released their record called Novola. In November 1964 they debuted with a LP, two EPs and two singles.
At first all the music they wrote was in Spanish, but soon they sung in both languages. One of their singles, "Flamenco" was a number one hit. It was Spanish flamenco rock. They had other number one hits: "Borracho" and "Tu Me Dijiste Adios". Their two first albums (called Los Brincos) were the same, except that the second album was released as box with a 12 page colour booklet. After releasing three more albums and many more 45s they disbanded in '70.
The group really started in 1981 when Herminio Molero left the group that had previously been known as ‘Futurama Orchestra’ and Radio Futura became a quartet. Santiago assumed the role of leader and lead vocals. On the 11th of March, Radio Futura appeared officially as a quartet in the Marquee (Madrid) next to Rubi and the Casinos with a repertoire filled with new songs including ‘Nadie’ and ‘La Secta del Mar’. The following disk was a single called ‘La Estatua del Jardín Botánico’. This remained at number one in the charts for many weeks and is included on the cassette. In 1984, they decided to make a disk to be sold internationally. The disk, ‘De Un País en Llamas’, was recorded during six weeks. The tensions in the group that began to appear caused the production team to work quite independently.
The disk was released in May 1985, and served to prove to the public that the group was till going strong. However, Solrac ended up leaving the group because he thought that the band was becoming too influenced by rock from other countries and was losing the style that is so distinctive in all Spanish rock.
In 1986, Radio Futura was a trio (Santiago, Luis and Enrique Mountain) that looked for the support of occasional musicians to carry out their projects. For its following disk they set out to copy Caribbean sounds, Hispanic and rumba to mix them with blues, rock and rock ‘n’ roll. The disk was recorded in New York.
The changes of guitar players in the group followed one another, but in spite of everything the group worked very well live with much support from the public. In 1988 they prepared to record a live LP. Enrique Mountain recovered from a disease and returned to band full of enthusiasm. In the spring of 1989 they began the recording of their next album, but the disk underwent a delay because Enrique became ill again. Cerebral palsy left him with a semi-paralysed arm. The group continued playing live and in November they returned to the recording studio with a recovered Enrique. In January, the recording was finalised. The single reached number one in the national charts.
The tour following this release was the last and most elaborate the group did. They did 36 performances in two months. They finally broke up in 1992.
Distrito 14 originate from Zaragoza in Spain. They started in 1993 with the release of their first album, ‘El Cielo Lo Sabe’. From this very beginning with a major label the band became successful in Spain, their album being released in Europe and Mexico. In 1995, executive producer John Evans became involved with the band and, after creating their own record label, GEM, they released ‘La Calle Del Sol, which received very good critics from the media. In 1996, D14 made their first tour in Cuba, receiving the "Diploma del Pueblo Santiaguero", a recognition for their great work on stage playing over the eastern provinces of Cuba. After this tour, they returned to Spain to make a great and unforgettable show at the Auditórium of Zaragoza. This concert was recorded and released, Noches Con Sol, became the first live album of the three live albums the band made. In 1998, the band went to Cuba to make their second tour and prepared the recording at the Egrem Studios in Santiago de Cuba. They recorded an unplugged performance at the studios with some of their Cuban fans. The album ‘Contributions’ held a piece of Santiago Symphonic Orchestra, vocals of Orpheon Santiaguero and percussionist Ringo. The album was produced by Carlos Martos (Radio Futura, Los Ronaldos, Enemigos, London Symphony Orchestra, etc.) and was entitled "A Mitad del Camino". The band decided to make a special limited edition 100-pages book with a biography, diary and lyrics.
In 1999, they started their second USA Tour with their Chicago- New York round-trip which lasted three months. They included Washington on their tour, delaying some shows in California after the band's success in the East Coast. They recorded a new live album at Martyrs' (Chicago). They wanted to give shape of the power and feeling on stage during this tour. They choose Jack LeTourneau to produced their album (Jack had worked in live situations with The Psychedelic Furs, Iggy Pop, Elvis Costello, The Animals, The Yardbirds, Andy Summers and many others) to produce their album. ‘Live in Chicago’ is the title of their third live album. In April 2000 they returned to Spain and opened two of Sting’s shows. In 2001 they have been planning another American tour- something which many of their international fans will be looking out for! The band is made up of the following members:
Mariano Chueca- Lead vocals and guitar
Enrique Mavilla- Bass guitar and keyboard
Francisco Jaraba- Guitar
Juan Millán- Drums
On tour in 1999.
Although Spanish pop and rock is not the type of genre of music that I would choose to listen to, it has many interesting features. I find the way that it developed from much more traditional styles of Spanish music very interesting, and the fact that it is a mixture of the music from many countries, as many different types of music have left their mark on what Spanish pop and rock is, making it a unique style of music to listen to. I also find the light-heartedness of 1980s Spanish rock quite endearing! I like the way that it varied so much from decade to decade- the tape enclosed has tracks from both the 1970s and the 1980s, and it is clear when listening to it just how different the music can be from one track to another. It is also very individual, something which I think is important in music, and for this reason I have decided not to write about more modern forms of pop, because globalisation has meant that most modern pop sounds the same- to the extent that many pop songs in Spain are now written in English even when they are to be sung by Spanish singers, not to mention the fact that many of the songs in the Spanish top 40 are not Spanish, but American or English. I also like the fact that Spanish pop and rock is so distinguishable, and not just because of the language, but the fact that it has managed to retain some of the features of traditional music even up to the present (although not in all cases!) but certainly until well into the 1970s. But one of the things that I admire the most is the fact that it managed to develop at all in the 1960s and 1970s, when General Franco placed many restrictions on what people could and could not do- and tried to make everybody in Spain stereotypical. The fact that groups like ‘Los Brincos’ and ‘Los Pekeniques’ managed to transform music in the 1960s and early 1970s seems to me a major achievement.
I used the following sources:
Websites:
- http://www.rockmusic.org/
- http//www.SunsetStrip.60s.musica/Los Brincos.es
Computer Encyclopaedias:
- Britannica Encyclopaedia CD Rom
- Encarta 98
Books:
- Encyclopaedia Larousse
- Musica de los 80s
Cassettes
- La Edad del Oro del Pop Español I
- La Edad del Oro del Pop Español II
- La Edad del Oro del Pop Español III
