''Chirigota'' is a genre of

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

choral

folksong Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

originating in the Province of Cádiz. The songs are satirical in nature and are performed predominantly in the streets by costumed performers during the annual two week carnival. It has been described as a vehicle for gossip and public comment, especially of a political or moral, and sometimes prurient, nature.Jerome R. Mintz (1997) ''Carnival Song and Society: Gossip, Sexuality and Creativity in Andalusia'', Berg Publishers, Oxford / New York Suppressed during the

Francoist State Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

until 1948, along with carnival in general, there has been a massive resurgence of the art-form since his death and the re-establishment of democracy. Politicians are often the objects and subjects of the songs. In 2012 an entire repertoire of the chirigota group "Los Gordillos" was devoted to the communist/anarchist mayor of Marinaleda, a utopian village in central Andalucia. The twelve members were dressed as the mayor, Juan Manuel Sanchez Gordillo, and offered songs about supermarket raids led by him that summer to dramatize the increasing poverty in the countryside.

References

{{folk-song-stub Spanish folklore