Jazz and Foreign Art in the Press: A Socio-Historical Study of Cultural Propaganda in Francoism

Abstract

This article deals with a socio-historical investigation of how art, in general, was used as propaganda for the naturalisation of the transition, where cinema and music were manifestations that were directly related to the ideological projections of the regime. The aim is to show, specifically, the entry of jazz as a subversive, popular and free tool in Spain during the early Franco regime. Methodologically, the analysis of the press shows how, with the arrival of the Second World War, a paradigm shift began to take place on the basis of the cultural propaganda of the time. The relevant results highlight how jazz played a significant role in the Spanish context within the framework of the restrictions imposed by the regime's biopolitics. In conclusion, jazz was a medium for Franco's propaganda, initially by banning and censoring it on the model of Nazi Germany and, later, by allowing and programming it to show Spain's modernity and openness to the United States of America, becoming, in this respect, an omnipresent tool in the music scene of the 1940s, thus setting itself apart from the confines of music.