Los grupos de Música Tradicional en Catalunya o la construcción de una identidad alternativa

An important musical event, labelled traditional or folk music, has been carried out in Catalonia since the mid-eighties. Such musical event uses concepts of archaistic resonance and follows an apparent process of folklorization of a supposed musical past. A first observation of this musical environment (centred in the Danses in Plaça del Rei, in Barcelona) hads us to a paradox: the image of social and musical identification created in those dances does not share much in common with an ancient oral tradition or with the values that could be associated to such "traditionalism". The social attitude of the usual participants is a progressive one, it is one of willing alternative; alternative to different aspects of a social model considered to be hegemonic, as for both personal relationship as well as ideological postures.