La Movida Madrileña
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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La Movida Madrileña (English: The Madrid movement) was a sociocultural movement that took place in Madrid during the first ten years after the death of Francisco Franco in 1975 and represented the economic rise of Spain and the new emerging Spanish cultural identity. This hedonistic and cultural wave, also took place in other Spanish urban centers, such as Barcelona and Vigo. La movida is also characterized by the large use of recreational drugs by the youth and the utilisation of slang known as cheli.
Outside of Spain, the best known artist from that period is Pedro Almodóvar, whose first films, such as Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón (1980), reflected the freedom of the moment. Other important artists in la movida are musicians Kaka de Luxe, Aviador Dro, recording artist Alaska, who hosted the children's TV show La Bola de Cristal, pop groups Mecano and Los Nikis, Radio Futura, graffiti writer Muelle, photographers Ouka Leele, García Alix, Pablo Perez Minguez or Miguel Trillo, and painters like Ceesepe, Mariscal, Guillermo Perez-Villalta, Costus or El Hortelano. Some other TV programs contributed to expand la movida culture like La Edad de Oro, conducted by Pilar Chamorro. Some claims of la movida were "Madrid me Mata" (Madrid kills me) and "De Madrid al Cielo" (From Madrid to heaven). Some fancines and comics also helped to distribute la movida like "La Luna" and "Factori".
Nacha Pop, Los Secretos, Derribos Arias, Gabinete Caligari, Joaquin Sabina, Aviador Dro, La Unión, Loquillo y los Trogloditas, Hombres G, Mecano, Los Toreros Muertos and many others musicians of this movement, are now part of the strongest pop-wave of Spanish history. In moods, looks and attitudes it resembles British New Wave and Neue Deutsche Welle, sometimes mimicking styles as New Romantic (e.g. Tino Casal). Another important figure outside the artistic world of la movida was Francisco Umbral, writer for El País who was the journalist writing for and documenting this movement.
The musical Hoy No Me Puedo Levantar, composed by Nacho Cano, former member of Mecano, portrays a love story with la movida as cultural background. The musical explains the condition of young people in la movida, trying to survive in Madrid under the shadow of drugs and AIDS. The musical has been a great success and has been running for three years in Madrid and one year in Mexico City.
See also
[1] [May 2007]
