How Rock in Spanish Born

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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.

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)

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).

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.