Música afroamericana, autenticidad y prensa escrita: La recepción del blues en España durante la década de 1950

Abstract

This article explores the reception of blues in Spain during the 1950s by focusing on the live music productions promoted by the influential Hot Club of Barcelona. The analysis is based on the reception contexts and media discourses about three historic concerts by legendary artists: Big Bill Broonzy (1953), who became the first bluesman to perform in Spain; Louis Armstrong (1955), a key representative of the blues-infused hot jazz that was promoted by the Hot Club; and Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1958), an innovative and eclectic singer-guitarist associated with gospel and blues. The analysis reveals the profound interrelation between musical, sociocultural and racial aspects, as well as the centrality of authenticity within popular music. Overall, the production of these types of concerts and its discursive reconstruction in the written press show the intense fascination and identification developed in relation to the music and history of black people in the United States. In spite of performing, at times, an essentialist and partial treatment of blackness and black music, these initiatives are representative of the construction of alternative spaces and practices regarding the official precepts used by the Franco regime in the configuration of Spanish national identity.