Rave to redoblada: the role of modernization and tourism in the traditional music and dance of Ibiza

Ibiza, a small Spanish island in the Mediterranean, embodies the tensions between modem and traditional identities. The development of tourist industries in Ibiza has had a significant impact on traditional music and dance genres. Based on my fieldwork during the summer of 2011, I examine issues of modernization, folklorization, cultural tourism, authenticity, and gender in two genres of rural music: ball pages, a traditional rural courtship dance, and redoblada, a vocal genre unique to the Pitiuses (lbiza and Formentera). I will examine how each genre responded to social changes that resulted from modernization and the development of tourism on the island. In the early twentieth century, there was a decline in the transmission of traditional music and dance due to the Spanish Civil War, political repression, and modernization. The development of tourism led to the rejuvenation of some genres of traditional music and dance, but also fundamentally changed them. Having undergone a process of folklorization during its transformation into a tourist event, ball pages has become a medium for the construction of authenticity and the preservation of traditional gender roles. In contrast, other genres, such as redoblada, have been unsuccessful in adapting to the new social context and performance opportunities in Ibiza.

Grantor dc:publisher

Boston University

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Ortiz, Colleen Lenore

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Dc Identifier Other

(ALMA)contemp

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.bu.edu:2144/12551