Francisco Franco was the dictator, and head of the State of Spain, from October 1936 till his death in November 1975. Franco maintained his control in Spain through the implementation of severe measures – such as concentration camps, the implementation of forced labor, censorship, and the use of the death penalty.
He strove to protect the country’s territorial integrity, enforce Catholicism, and reinforce the nation’s traditional values, such as promoting bullfighting and flamenco as national traditions while suppressing traditions that did not fall under Franco’s view of Spanish tradition. With a clear vision on what Spain should be like, and his reign left its footprints in Spanish culture as both bullfighting and flamenco remain an important part of the nation’s cultural tradition.
After his death, Juan Carlos I ascended to the throne of Spain. Once in power Juan Carlos began the long process of transitioning Spain into a democracy. The transition was long and difficult, since there were many people that had not forgotten about the civil war and distrusted a king who owed his reign to Franco. Those in favor of Franco's regime had the military's support, so it proved to be a difficult political landscape that needed careful management, so that the leftest would restrain from provocation and and the military would refrain from intervening in political matters.
The transition began with the introduction of The Law for Political Reform. This law allowed for the legislators to legally dissolve the he Francoist system and allowed for an election as well as the formation of a new constitution and brought Spain into a new era of democracy.
Today the king is not unlike a figure head for the government, but is the only one with prerogative to nominate and appoint the President of the Government. The role of the monarchy is essentially to safeguard the rights of the people while still maintaining a democratic stance.
Walking down the street of any Andalusian street, you might be surprised at the diversity that is presented in the faces of the locals. You might see a mix of cultures, traditions and genes all bound together into one common denominator; that is the Spanish identity, or more specifically, the Andalusian identity. Spain has long been known to be a mixture of different worlds, but it is in Andalusia that this is seen at is most prominent. The southern region of Spain is best known for its diversity in and harmonization of three very distinct cultures and religions - Jewish, Muslim, and Catholic.
As a true history buff, I must point out that Spain has been unfortunate enough to be one of the continent's most conquered regions; from the Romans, to the Moors, to the Muslims and the Arab, it is easy to see the impact that these peoples have had on the this much invaded corner of Europe.
After seven centuries of fighting the Muslim invasion of the Iberian Peninsula, Christians drove the Muslims from their last vestige in Granada. They attempted to secure the region by expelling Moors, Berbers and Jews from Spain. In what would today be called ethnic cleansing, and replaced the former conquerors with immigrants from northern Spain but overlooked the Gypsies who had moved into the country during the Middle Ages. It is thanks to this oversight that we are now able to the enjoy the wonderful art form that is known all around the world, as Flamenco.
Flamenco is a dance form that is associated with Spain, but in truth, actually originated in Andalusia. Although not gypsy in origin, flamenco was, and continues to be, heavily influenced by these people. The actual dance form is inspired by many different origins, such as Jewish, Byzantine, Hindu, as seen in the hand movements as well in the hips, and after the colonization of the Americas, even latin as well. Traditionally, it has been passed down within families for many generations, and like any art, continues to evolve, with different fashion styles as well as routines.
Flamenco has three distinct expressions that some together to form what is flamenco. The first one is "El Toque" - touch. this includes mainly the guitar, but also is used in ccordance to rhythm and the beats and taps that they produce in order to enhance the performance. the second element is "El Canto" - song, which, as its name implies, is the sound and song that is sung during the dnace. The last and most important expressions is of course, "El Baile" - Dance. Without this, Flamenco is nothing, and this is the heart of flamenco.
Flamenco has over a dozen different forms of expressive forms, and varies according to the mood and emotion that the dancer wants to portray, whether its happpiness, to sensuality, to even death and mourning. Flamenco has evolved to express all kinds of moments in everyday life, and at its core, tells a story though passion, strength, and precision.
Today, in Cordoba, we went to one of the few synagogues left in the region, if my understanding was correct. The song she is singing is Turkish in origin, but because of the common ancestry, that is, Sephardic Jew, the Spanish can still be heard in the song. Its really very neat, the way a culture can transcend so many very different countries.
The Rabbi told us the history of the Sephardi Jews, whom originated in the Iberian peninsula, which includes both Spain and Portugal, and after, sung us several traditional song like the one above. One of the things that surprised me most was what he said about the hams you see everywhere hanging from the ceiling in almost all of the restaurants we've been to so far. The reason for the hanging hams is thanks to the Christians forcing out all the Jews, Arabs, and Muslims out of Spain, and in order to prove that they were Christian, they started to hang pork legs by there window to show that they ate it, since that would prove they were practicing Catholicism because for Jews and Muslims, it is against their religion to eat pork, and now the tradition has stuck. I had been wondering about that, and now that I know, I feel it's less creepy than I did before, which is a good thing because I couldn't stand sitting by the horrible things when I'd go out to eat.
Its narrow streets and white walls makes Cordoba immediately different than Madrid on many, many levels. It makes me wish I knew how to ride a motorcycle so i could own a cute little Vespa and ride around the city and get lost in it. The hostel we are currently staying in, which is by a convent, is very pretty and decorated with traditional Andalusian flavor.
It's love at first sight. Its so different than Madrid and this is the Spain that I've been yearning to see. The mixture of different worlds and cultures and the romantic views. It's gorgeous and as we explored the city more, I couldn't help but become enchanted by this wonderful city.
The Mesquite was amazing, as if I had a doubt. It is a centuries old mosque with a Gothic cathedral at its center (although I might be wrong on the style). It is way bigger than I thought it would be. I had seen pictures but actually being inside and seeing it for myself was a whole different experience.
Before I go into some of Seville's most famous artists that were represented in the Prado Museum, let me just tell you that the Prado certainly lived up to its reputation as one of the most amazing art museums in the world. It has such a great collection of baroque and contemporary artists, it even had a Rembrandt! Seville turned out many famous artists during its glory days, some of which include Diego Velazquez, Bartolome Murillo, and Fransisco Zurburan.
Diego Velázquez was one of Spain’s leading portrait painters in the court of King Philip IV during the the Baroque period. In addition to many paintings of scenes of historical and cultural significance, he painted scores of portraits of the Spanish royal family, other notable European figures, and commoners, culminating in the production of his masterpiece Las Meninas (1656).
Las Meninas, or the Maids of Honor in English, depicts the oldest daughter of the queen. This is one of the few paintings, if not the first of its kind, where the king and queen are not the subjects of the painting. However, if you look closely, you will notice that they are reflected in the mirror in the back. The point-of-view is a topic of much debate, when I first saw it, I thought that it was from the point of view of the king and queen looking in at the painting, which is why they were reflected in the mirror in the back, but others think that the subject is the royals themselves, even though they aren’t in the foreground, just as many think that this is just a court painting.
I had gone with the intention of looking for any painting that Velazquez had painted besides this one that I could write about because everyone knows about it, but it’s his masterpiece for a reason and none of his other works could really compare. The colors and the detail are really exquisite, not to mention the expressions of the people in the painting. It is a great work of art.
Bartolomé Murillo one of the most important figures in Baroque painting in Spain. He mostly painted religious works, as was common for the times, but he also painted scenes of everyday life, like portraits, women and children, as well as beggars and flower girls. His paintings show a recording of what common life was like during his time.
Of all his works in the Prado, the "Inmaculada Concepción de los Venerables" was my favorite. This painting features the Virgin Mary sitting on clouds as angels are singing in praise as she ascends into heaven. This called out to me because of the blue color of her robe, and the detail inscribed in them. This is also an example of how each ethnicity pictures the Virgin Mary differently, as Murillo depicts her as tan, as most of the people of Spain are of this coloring.
The last artist I saw that came from Seville, although there were more, was Francisco Zurbaran, who is famous for his still life, his religious paintings, and his depiction of monks, nuns, and martyrs. Most of his paintings in the museum were of still life, and as good as they are, technique wise, this style of paintings bore me, as much as it pains me to say it. The painting that I liked was the painting “Hércules lucha con el león de Nemea.” As the name suggests, it shows a nude Hercules battling what appears to be the first of twelve battles that he had to overcome to prove himself to the gods. According to legend, Hercules is nude because he needs to make clothes out of the lion once it is defeated, which is why Zurburan painted him this way. I was actually drawn
I wasn’t sure what to expect of the art in the Prado museum, but what little I did see totally impressed me.
While waiting in the lobby of the hotel, I decided to read some of the get a better idea of the type of news media Spain had, and simply to wait for the rest of the group to head downstairs. I was surprised at how left-wing one of the papers was. It was so different than what I'm used to in the United States where they news media strive towards an "objective" view point. This is because in Western Europe, including Spain, advocacy journalism is the norm.
Advocacy journalism is, at its most simplest, a news medium that advocates for certain point of view. It intentionally leans towards a political or social view point using solid facts, as opposed to propaganda, for example. This brings in a higher readership rate because the reader knows from the get-go that they will agree with the point-of-view of their preferred newspaper. Those that are for advocacy journalism agree that it is impossible to "objectively" report news and there will always be an implicit bias.
Critics often say that it is counterproductive to society because when people only read and hear what they want to hear, they will not have any reason to look at the other side of the metaphorical coin, and see the opposing view of the other side and compromise becomes difficult in the future.
Most newspapers work in a regional level or they are specialised in specific subjects or news formats. There is a newspaper for Seville, Diario de Sevilla, and one for Jerez, and Madrid, and Granada, and many more. Depending on who owns, the papers, these papers will not cover the same nes on the front page, as its localized to the region it pertains to, and all of these papers are advocates
Today, Thursday May 15th, is apparently not only the Festival of San Isidro, the patron saint of Madrid, but also the 100th year of the Gran Via, one of the oldest streets in Madrid, obviously, and one main shopping streets as well (for those of you reading this that have been to Paris, it’s like the Champs Elysees). Before coming on this trip, I knew that the festival was going on, in fact, it was one of the main reasons for arriving early, but I thought it was going to be small random areas where they would play songs or something, but it was apparently a huge thing. They shut down the entire street and covered it with blue carpet, which was the idea of Y+R’s (a world renowned advertising agency) to promote one of the largest telephone companies in Spain called Movistar. When you think about it, it’s a really good idea, because whenever you look down on the street, you saw the logo and the blue color of the brand and its thanks to them that the entire street was shut down, which was a big deal.
Men, women, and children were dressed in the typical outfit from Madrid, in accordance with the festival of San Isidro, or any religious occasion, like the video above shows. All along the street were stages were different types of music were being preformed. One even had music from Abba. (picture 206).
After walking around the Gran Via for a while, I went to have my first real Spanish meal of the trip, vegetable paella and ham and cheese tapas with a glass of sangria, and let me tell you, it was the most amazing thing I have ever had! I loved it, and if you know me at all, you know I tend to be a bit of a picky eater.
I'm a broke college student looking for ways to make my life more exciting and failing spectacularly. I was born in Dallas, Texas, and have been living in Miami for over 10 years. If I could, I would spend all of my free time traveling the world and seeing new places.
