Songs of the SCW Thesis

I read the introduction as well as Chapter 1 of the thesis detailing the songs of the SCW, with the chapter entitled "Song Heritage and the Civil War." The author describes how the isolation of Spain because of being surrounded by mountain ranges and its location on the Iberian Peninsula led to slower cultural development, which allowed for the preservation of folk songs. Also, he explains that little information can be found on the songs of the war because musicologists studying Spanish music generally focused on more professional styles (ie not folk music). Also, Franco's ban on Republican songs and the domination of pro-Franco historians obscured the history of the songs. Lastly, because of the nature of folk songs, they were passed down via the oral tradition and therefore are rarely found in written form as original source documents. I will continue to read more of the thesis. This chapter went into great detail describing the history and development of Spanish musical genres, which I chose not to write about until I have a better grasp of them. I do not yet know if my project will incorporate the history of Spanish music from the centures before the war.