ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the reception and development of blues music in Spain. It acknowledges the origins of blues in the African American community, as well as its profound transnational transformations. It provides a historical overview centred around musicians, audiences and venues. The Spanish blues scene is addressed through three different stages that illustrate its dynamic nature: the origins (1935–1979), the crystallisation (1980–1990) and the post-crystallisation (1990–2020). In political terms, the origins are situated during a brief period of the Second Republic (1935–1936) and during the Francoist dictatorship (1939−1975), where the influence of blues evolved within the more consolidated jazz and rock scenes. In contrast to the official promotion of certain autochthonous music as national music, foreign popular music genres such as jazz, blues and rock represented a modern alternative that was associated with emerging subcultural identities. The crystallisation of the blues scene in the 1980s was stimulated by the political transition to democracy (1975–1982), and it was marked by a conscious specialisation. Finally, the post-crystallisation stage has been generally expansive, despite recurring economic challenges. Nonetheless, the Spanish blues scene has remained a minority and underground everyday construction.
