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| https://www.instagram.com/fer.coy/ |
Rock music is a genre that emphasizes strong sounds made with instruments, especially the electric guitar and electric bass. This genre of
music broke all the basic rhythms made before by musicians. But Rock music
not only represents sounds; it is an ideology, and it is involved with history.
Rock music was born in the United States in 1954. However, in South America it was
borne two years later (Wikipedia). Spanish
Rock born because of the influence of different rock bands in the world and the
political situation in South America.
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| Jimmy Hendrix https://pixabay.com/en/jimi-guitarist-woodstock-881410/ |
The United States was the most important country
with different artists to represent the rock genre. After the end of the World
War II, different musicians like Elvis Presley started with the Rock and Roll
genre (Wikipedia). The 60’s was the age where the Rock music was stronger
because it was an instrument to protest about the Vietnam War. Moreover, in the
United Kingdom borne one of the most famous bands in the world The Beatles, who
represented with their music all this ideology about peace and love. The hippie
culture was the metamorphosis of the traditional society. Free love, drugs, and a natural life style were the basic statements for this culture (Wikipedia). The
Rock Music communicated to the world this ideology. The most representative
artists in this decade were; Jimmy
Hendrix, The Doors, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan,
The Who and others. (Wikipedia)
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| Carlos Santana Live in Hamburg, November 1973 Photography by Heinrich Klaffs |
Latin America listened to this music. The musician
community started making covers of different bands. The first song
that represents the beginning of the Spanish rock is “La Bamba” by Ritchie
Valens. He was a Mexican living in the United States (Musinetwork). Another
important figure in the Spanish rock is Carlos Santana, a Mexican guitarist. He
started playing in North American clubs with his band, and his music was a
combination between English and Spanish. He played in Woodstock next to the
most famous artists like Jimmy Hendrix and Janis Joplin. He showed to the world for
the first time how the Spanish Rock sound. (Musinetwork).
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| Sui Generis 1974 From left to right: Charly Garcia (Keyboards and vocals), Juan Rodriguez, (Drums) Nito Mestre (Vocal, guitar and flute) and Rinaldo Rafanelli (Bass guitar). Source: Revista Pelo |
In South America, Argentina was one of the most
important countries in the Spanish Rock History. It was the cradle of the
Spanish Rock because of the political situation. The dictatorship in the 70s impacted the musician community; consequently, they started to protest with their
lyrics. People went to the streets, parks, bars, and squares to have meetings
and sang their sounds. The government saw the rock as a threat. The
musicians used love and daily life topics to hide the real meaning which was politics. For example; people's disappeared by the
government (Wikipedia). Luis
Alberto Espineta, Charly Garcia and Gustavo Santaolalla made songs with a deep
content. One of Charly's Garcia songs was “Rasguna las Piedras” (Scratch the
stones) talked about the people kidnapped of the government. Using metaphoric
meanings in their lyrics, the artist community was the most involved with
this cause. The hippie culture ideology was lived in South America. Argentina gave to
the world the most important Spanish Rock bands. Charly Garcia said to the
world “I am the father of the Spanish Rock”. However, artists like Fito Paez,
Fabulosos Cadilacs, Andres Calamaro, Soda Stereo, Ratones Paranoicos and Ataque
77 contributed in the history of the Spanish Rock.
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| Gustavo Cerati https://www.flickr.com/photos/cristiansoto/543427221 |
Rock
music started representing a change not only in the music; the society changed
their ideology after all the situations lived in those days. Music was a
communication medium. The world in the 60’s and 70’s had a lot of political
transformations; as a result, rock music was an instrument of peace against of the government. Spanish Rock followed the movement of other countries. However,
Spanish artists created lyrics and rhythms representative of the Latin
culture. The language is a tool to make people understand their content, but the rock essence is the same in all the world.
