Losing south? Continuities and (sub)versions of Andalusian musical stereotypes in food commercials

Abstract

This paper analyses the interactions between music, food and the image of Andalusia in audio-visual advertising, with a special focus on the diverse, plural character of the musical representation of Southern Spain as territory. Dealing with music analysis as a tool in order to merge the sound with cultural discourses and practices, in this article it is examined five TV commercials as case-study (from 1997 to 2018) which illustrates three different signification strategies of Andalusia by promoting products such as olive oil, Serrano ham, or beer: the inclusion of flamenco musical stereotypes; the use of border musical repertoires which have been patrimonialized, such as the so-called “rock andaluz”; the subversions and resignifications of Andalusian stereotypes, in which musical omnivority implies a distance with respect to representations that focus on flamenco hybridity. This research tries to reflect on the “fights” about the idea of “Andalusian music” as a dynamic imaginary in audio-visual advertising related to food products.