La música en el barrio como elemento de afirmación identitaria (El ejemplo de Vallecas)

Abstract

A number of cultural and sociological features give the neighborhood of Vallecas a strong identity and personality. From a cultural perspective, two musical genres, flamenco and rock-and-roll, greatly contributed to this idiosyncrasy ever since immigrants from other parts of Spain started to settle in large numbers in the district in the early 1900s. Coming most of them from Andalusia, the first waves of immigrants brought with them flamenco, which they developed and spread, thereby helping them cope with their sense of having been uprooted from their home towns and villages because of their migration. By contrast, the children of these immigrants, born in Vallecas, rejected this music that their parents would play and listened to, embracing rock-and-roll instead. For them, rock-and-roll became a new basis on which to assert the identity of their own generation as well as a means for socially expressing themselves and participating in the larger society.