Hello everyone, my name is Ramon and I am the host of YRock Internacional, a specialty show that brings you alternative rock and independent music from places in the Latin world as well as the most obscure regions of the Universe, every Saturday afternoon from 5 to 7 pm.

So, my first post in this here blog is obviously going to have to be about music from Spain; the Iberian Peninsula, and also the “motherland” o Madre Patria for many of the inhabitants of South, Central, North America and the Caribbean.

This is a really good map of the country and you will need to refer back to it once we start getting into some of the bands I will be discussing here shortly.

Getting back to music,  Spanish music is primarily known for its Flamenco. An autoctonal style of music that combines florid flourishes of guitar playing (toque) and mournful singing with deep roots in the Moorish influences of the middle ages and the gypsy, nomadic cultures of Europe (cante) and the dance or “baile”. It generated in the Andalusian region of Spain which comprises Cadiz, Sevilla and Malaga principally. Some of the biggest names in flamenco are Paco de Lucia, Camaron de la Isla or La Paquera de Jerez, Tomatito and the incomparable Joan Manuel Serrat. The Gypsy Kings brought wider acceptance to the genre in the early Eighties within the Anglo-speaking world.

Here’s a good example of flamenco music with two of the legends, Camaron and Paco de Lucia. Enjoy!

Here’s an example of the Gypsy Kings and their song Bamboleo which is, in large part, taken from a composition (lyrics and all) by Simon Diaz titled Caballo Viejo for which he didn’t receive a cent (but that’s another post):

So anyway, that’s flamenco. It is now considered the classical music of Spain and many artists continue to derive feeling and song from its meter, melody and sunctuous rythmns including modern bands like Estopa, Los Planetas, Ojos de Brujo, Macaco and Manu Chao among many.

Moving on to the 80’s and the New Wave or better known in Spain and the world as “la movida.”  La movida refers to a revolution of the arts that occurred in Spain after the death of  Generalissimo Francisco Franco “El Caudillo”,  Nazi sympathizer, commander of the Falange army, dictator-for-life and cold-blooded assassin responsible for Guernica among other atrocities, who subyugated the Spanish peoples for over 50 years of a regimen where censorship, hunger and police brutality were the norm.

After Franco’s death in 1973, groups of artists, musicians and otherwise repressed people came out of everywhere to redefine the Spanish cultural and social landscape giving the world movie geniuses like Pedro Almodovar and new musical maestros such as El Ultimo de la Fila, La Union, Paralisis Permanente, Gabinete Caligari, Aerolineas Federales, Siniestro Total, Golpes Bajos, Mecano and another hundred or so bands who took the sounds of the new wave and post-punk created in England and meshed it into their homegrown flamenco and buleria sound. There are a million bands and videos I could post here but I will do two of the most representative and keep in mind, these were the 80’s in Spain (so no laughing please).

Paralisis Permanente: Autosuficiencia (”Self Sufficiency” by the classic post-punk band Permanent Paralisis. Eduardo Benavente, singer and guitarrist, was killed in an auto crash on the way to a gig in 1983 at age 20)

Mecano: Perdido en mi Habitacion (”Lost in My Room” from the supergroup of the Eighties in Spain and Latin America. Notice the mini-Casio synth the guy is playing and the horrible clothing…ha ha ha ha)

And two flamenco-influenced bands from that era are:

El Ultimo de la Fila (The last in line) - Aviones Plateados (Silver Planes)

Duncan Dhu - En Algun Lugar (In Some Place)

Finally, after a period of dormancy, when the Spanish bands lost ground to the more popular sounds of grunge and Brit pop during the Nineties, there is a resurgence of truly remarkable Spanish bands coming out and making a push for more international appreciation. In the last 7 years, bands such as Los Planetas, Maga, La Habitacion Roja, Cooper, Dover, MUS and La Buena Vida have given way to younger upstarts with a new lease in the rock ‘n’ roll life.  I am talking about amazing new sounds coming from the likes of Lagartija Nick, Dorian, Triangulo de Amor Bizarro, Havalina Blue, OVNI, Delorean, Love of Lesbian, Deluxe, Facto Delafe y Las Flores Azules, Sidonie, La Celula Durmiente, The Sunday Drivers, and many, many more. Let me start by giving you the best bands from 2007 in an informal poll I did with some of my friends and you can make your own judgement:

Love of Lesbian (Barcelona): Universos Infinitos (”Infinite Universes” from their album Cuentos Chinos para Niños del Japon or Chinese Stories for Kids in Japan)

Dorian (Barcelona): Cualquier Otra Parte (”Any Other Place” from their 2006 CD, El Futuro No Es De Nadie.)

Lagartija Nick (Granada): Contar lo que no puedo contar (”Tell you what I cannot tell you” from El Shock de Leia. This great band is from Granada, Spain, a superb musical city)

The Sunday Drivers (Madrid): Do It (from the excellent album titled after the San Francisco studio where they recorded it in 2007 “Tiny Telephone.” Mushroom pillow records.)

Pajaro Sunrise (outskirts of Madrid): Sunday Morning Birds (from their self-titled debut album “Pajaro Sunrise” on an excellent indie label called Lovemonk records).

La Habitacion Roja (Valencia): La vida moderna (”Modern Life” from their album Cuando Ya No Quede Nada (When there’s nothing left) which was recorded and engineered by the master Steve Albini in Chicago. Also signed to Mushroom Pillow records).

Facto Delafe y las Flores Azules (Catalunya): El Indio (”The Indian” from the trip-hoppy album “La Luz de la Manaña”, Light of the Morning)

OVNI (Barcelona): Tu necesidad (”Your necessity” from the band that most resembles The Strokes ever, anywhere, great new and young band from Spain. “Aterrizaje!” is the name of the album, signed to Nacional records in the States.)

Delorean (Barcelona): As Time Breaks Off (”from their album Into the Plateau, this amazingly good band from Barcelona has been tearing it up since 1996 and YROCK has been, probably the only station to play them on regular rotation. Sounding like The Rapture before there was even a band called The Rapture, these guys are huge in Spain and hopefully soon in the US. Recently played at SXSW in Austin and hopefully their new record will come stateside soon.)

The Pinker Tones (Barcelona): Karma Hunters (These crazy dudes from Barcelona are the perfect example of a multi-cultural, polyglot and user-friendly dance machine. This song comes from their amazing album The Million Colour Revolution of 2006, which has songs in English, Spanish and German (one of my favorites is called Pink Freud). They are set to release their newest album Wild Animals on June 3rd on Nacional records. They are also all set to conquer the Universe when they go on the whole Warped Tour this Summer. If you like dancing, you will love this band. Professor Manso and Mr. Furia are funny, eclectic, smart and very, very satisfying. They absolutely rule!!) Check it!!!

Well, that is all I have for now, I could’ve spent a lot more time fishing for more videos of great Spanish bands but then again, it would get boring and there is a finite length oftime I can do this for. Check out their records, their mySpace pages, support them by buying their records and hope you love it as much as I do. It is music to enjoy and listen to it with your friends and loved ones and remember where you heard it first, YROCK Internacional on YROCKonXPN.org.

Let me leave you with my favorite song, from my favorite Spanish band, Los Planetas (Un Buen Dia): CRANK IT UP!!!

Your comments are definitely appreciated. Write me at ramon@yrockonxpn.org

Adios!!!!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 at 2:53 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.