Popular Music in Spanish Cinema analyses the aesthetics and stylistic development of soundtracks from national productions, considering how political instability and cultural diversity in Spain determined the ways of making art and managing culture. As a pioneering study in this field, the chronologically structured approach of this book provides readers with a complete overview of Spanish music and connects it to the complex historical events that conditioned Spanish culture throughout the 20th century to the present day, from the Second Republic, the Spanish Civil war, and the dictatorship through to democracy. The book enables an understanding of the relationships between the recording and film production industries, the construction of collective imagination, the formulation of new stereotypes, semiotic meanings within film music and the musical exchanges between national and international cinema. This volume is an essential read for students and academics in the field of musicology, ethnomusicology and history as well as those interested in the study of diverse musical styles such as copla, zarzuela, flamenco, jazz, foxtrot, pop and rock and how they have been used in Spanish films throughout history.

Made in Spain: Studies in Popular Music will serve as a comprehensive and rigorous introduction to the history, sociology and musicology of 20th century Spanish popular music. The volume will consist of 16 essays by leading scholars of Spanish music and will cover the major figures, styles and social contexts of pop music in Spain. Although all the contributors are Spanish, the essays will be expressly written for an international English-speaking audience. No knowledge of Spanish music or culture will be assumed. Each section will feature a brief introduction by the volume editors, while each essay will provide adequate context so readers understand why the figure or genre under discussion is of lasting significance to Spanish popular music. The book first presents a general description of the history and background of popular music, followed by essays organized into thematic sections.

In this volume, eighteen experts from a variety of academic backgrounds explore the use of songs in films from the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking worlds. This volume illustrates how – rather than simply helping to tell the story of – songs in Hispanic and Lusophone cinema commonly upset the hierarchy of the visual over the aural, thereby rendering their hearing a complex and rich subject for analysis. Screening songs... constitutes a ground-breaking, interdisciplinary collection. Of particular interest to scholars and academics in the areas of Film Studies, Hispanic Studies, Lusophone Studies and Musicology, this volume opens up the study of Hispanic and Lusophone cinema to vital, new, critical approaches. The soundtracks of films as varied as City of God, All About My Mother, Bad Education and Buena Vista Social Club are analysed alongside those of lesser-known works that range from the melodramas of Mexican cinema’s golden age to Brazilian and Portuguese musical comedies from the 1940s and 1950s. Fiction films are studied alongside documentaries, the work of established directors like Pedro Almodóvar, Carlos Saura and Nelson Pereira dos Santos alongside that of emerging filmmakers, and performances by iconic stars like Caetano Veloso and Chavela Vargas alongside the songs of Spanish Gypsy groups, Mexican folk songs and contemporary Brazilian rap.

Miguel Mera and David Burnand present a volume that explores specific European filmic texts, composers and approaches to film scoring that have hitherto been neglected. Films involving British, French, German, Greek, Irish, Italian, Polish and Spanish composers are considered in detail. Important issues that permeate all the essays involve the working relationship of composer and director, the dialectic between the diegetic and non-diegetic uses of music in films, the music-image synergism and the levels of realism that are created by the audio-visual mix.

This volume offers a detailed chronological account of the history of Spanish cinema.

Emerging as one of the most exciting, fascinating, and special kinds of filmmaking in the world, Spanish cinema has been producing excellent directors, actors, and films for decades, including during the dark times of the Franco regime. With directors (Pedro Almodovar), actors and actresses (Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz), and films (Abre los ojos and Alatriste) amassing popularity, the outlook for Spanish cinema appears brighter than ever, and it is deservedly winning numerous fans abroad. --

Emerging as one of the most exciting, fascinating, and special kinds of filmmaking in the world, Spanish cinema has been producing excellent directors, actors, and films for decades, including during the dark times of the Franco regime. With directors (Pedro Almodovar), actors and actresses (Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz), and films (Abre los ojos and Alatriste) amassing popularity, the outlook for Spanish cinema appears brighter than ever, and it is deservedly winning numerous fans abroad. --