“La movida madrileña” is considered a important cultural
and social movement because
of the huge influence in a generation who had born
in a dictatorship. It is usually defined
as a countercultural movement that
took place in Madrid during the 80’s, after the end
of Franco’s dictatorship.
The concert in honor of Canito in 1980 is the date chosen for
the beginning of
“La movida”. This essay will explain some aspects of the movement
from a
first-hand source, from the experience of a person that lived in Madrid in
those
years and participate with an active role, Pedro Giménez Jareño.
Following a structure,
the essay will start with Pedro’s personal view and
opinion of the movement. Then, we
will explain the importance achieved
depending on the neighborhood, the music bands
born during the movement, the
consumption of drugs, the positive support from the
major of the capital,
photography and the available mass media. Other cultural genders
as painting,
cinema, literature and comics, fashion were also influenced by “La
movida”, but
explanation of those cultural genders is beyond the scope of the essay.
“La movida Madrileña” is defined as a countercultural
movement started in 1980.
Considering Pedro’s personal view, it didn’t start in
1980; it was formed little by little
since Franco’s death. The 80’s was like
the golden years of the movement.
As Pedro said “After Franco’s dead we start
to revive”. The movement has a lot of
importance in Pedro’s life because of the
unique experiences lived. It can be perceived
the nostalgia on his words, when
talking about such special past period.
Referring to the named of the movement, it is name
“Movida Madrileña” because it starts
in Madrid. Pedro has explained me that the
movement was not lived in the same way in
the different parts of Madrid. In
marginal, poor or far away neighborhoods the
movement just means the drugs
consume. On the other hand, central neighborhoods,
with young and worker
people, as Malasaña, concentrate a huge variety of cultural signs.
Malasaña, is
a symbol of the movement. Pedro mention that there were emblematic
bars such as
“Via Láctea”, “Pentagrama”, “Tospiro”, “Café Ruíz”, “Plástico” or “Eligeme”.
Those
places attracted different kind of people looking for good music, nice
conversation
or even debates, in a respectful atmosphere. As Pedro said “People
wanted to express
their ideas, and they were not scared”. We can see that there
was no repression.
In this way, we should also consider other kind of
bars located in different parts of
Madrid as “Montera” or “Avenida de América”.
Those bars gave opportunities to new
music bands which have no experience. For
example, “Los secretos”, “Parálisis permanente”,
“Alaska y los Pegamoides”, “Nacha
pop”, “Gabinete gari gari” or “Almodóvar y Magna”.
Those new music bands became popular,
and began to
have their own public that go where they play.
Pedro told me that there were
too much spontaneity, nerve but not experience,
so most of them were very bad
at their beginning.
Having considered bars and night life, it is also
reasonable to look at drugs. They were
common in the 80´s. The most common were
joints, but also hallucinogen, cocaine and
heroin. As Pedro said “It depends on the person, I mean, there were people who
went
too far and people who control their consumption and used it occasionally.
I think that
those years were not a wild chaos in terms of drugs, like people
believe”. Almost
everyone could afford them. In the 80’ unemployment problems
didn’t exist, so
everyone could have a job and earn money.
Another significant factor for
Pedro is photography. In
“La movida” photographers tried
to reflect their close reality or environment. Important
names as Miguel Trillo, Ouka Lele
or García Lis, started them and continue
working now. In the 80’s Pedro worked as
a photographer for a magazine called
“Sal y Pimienta”. He used to do photos to
illustrate the denunciate reports.
Pedro told me that he also liked to take photos of the
painted walls with original
denunciating phrases such as “No queremos ni infanta de
naranja, ni infanta de
limón”.
There is also, a further point to be considered. It was necessary to transmit
to the population what was happening.
Magazines and radios there the most important
mass media in the movement. There
were commercial radios and free radios. Those free
radios were formed by a
group of people who want to transmit their ideas about a topic.
Pedro told me
that he had participated in a program, in one of those free radios called
“Onda
Verde”. The program was called “Don Quijote de la Marcha” and it was about
environment,
pacifism and ecology. As Pedro said “We used to collected news and
articles
from magazines, and talked about them in the program. Trendy music was
played
between one topic and another. We also invited people to talk about their
opinion on a specific topic.”
To be able to understand the development of the
movement, we should mention a name:
Enrique Tierno Galván. He was the major of
Madrid during the 80’s. Previously he has
been professor at university, but was
expelled because of his ideals. As Pedro said
“Apparently, He was an old,
intellectual and conservative man. But he was really
opened minded, not only
his philosophical ideas but also his conception of life”. He did
many things
for the capital such as support the movement. This support was crucial for
the
well development of the movement.
To sum up this essay, we can said that the experience
of Pedro have given us a clear
idea of what “La movida Madrileña” was.
Confirming or correcting any previous idea
that each of us has about this
movement. I think we all agree that is a real cultural
movement which has
influence nowadays culture in some way. I am very grateful to
Pedro Giménez for
showing us his valuable experience.
Laura Giménez Garcia.
