New Wave & La Movida Madrileña | Milly Burroughs

During a nine-day stay in the majestic Spanish mountain town of Frigiliana, I spent time researching Spanish music's relationship to New Wave.

La Movida Madrileña was the cultural aftershock of Franco's death. A moment when shifts in music, art, film, fashion, nightlife and sexual acted as building blocks for a new identity for democratic Madrid — a city that wanted to portray itself as young, rebellious and culturally liberated.

The sonic and thematic musical identity of La Movida echoes the similarly determined, outspoken and optimistic tones of New Wave songwriting from around the world at the time, while projecting its own singular spirit.