by Alejandro Postigo (University of West London)
Live Screening at 18:00 UK Time on Thursday 25th June followed by discussion – see Zoom invite for access
‘The Copla Cabaret’ presents Spanish Copla, a genre appropriated by LGTB collectives and transformed into a subversive political tool in Spain 1980s.
Copla is… being Spanish, the past in the present, it’s emotions. It’s the freedom to be who you want to be, to put on a wig and a pair of heels and make it seem the most natural thing. It’s a protest, a tribute, a longing, it’s missing a Spain I haven’t even known. Now… how can I transfer my passion for copla to YOU?
This performance is a subversive attempt to fit into a foreign world through Copla songs and to deal with issues of cultural and sexual identity: being in-between genders, living in-between countries, and belonging to none for survival.
In this show, a queer and international renaissance of Copla happens through participative exchanges with the audience: the cabaret presents Copla in its subversive performance background, a breaking point from the traditional songs that expressed the longing, the memories and sighs for the homeland of those who had to leave the country. Copla was an actual genre of music repressed by Franco’s dictatorship and ultimately lost into history… until you see this cabaret unfold.