The Bravú Movement: The Rebel Pulse of Fin-de-Siècle Galicia
Authorship
D.P.F.
Cultural Management Degree (2nd Ed.)
D.P.F.
Cultural Management Degree (2nd Ed.)
Defense date
02.18.2026 11:30
02.18.2026 11:30
Summary
This study aims to analyse the bravú movement as a cultural and communicative phenomenon in Galicia at the end of the 20th century, considering both its musical manifestations and the associated processes of dissemination, reception and media impact. Drawing on the contributions of mass communication, the sociology of culture, social and cultural anthropology, ethnography, and studies of popular culture and cultural identities, an interdisciplinary approach is proposed. This approach allows the bravú to be understood as a form of cultural communication that emerged on the margins and was subsequently incorporated into media circuits. In this way, bravú can be seen as the musical crystallisation of a broader sociological phenomenon. This phenomenon is characterised by the union and conflict between tradition and modernity. The introduction of elements typical of punk culture and the ‘do-it-yourself’ philosophy, together with the electric guitar in rural and peripheral contexts, gives rise to a new sound. This sound combines global references with a strong symbolic grounding in Galician culture through the use of Galician. This fusion had consequences not only aesthetic but also social. Music acted as a means of expressing identity and exalting the place, using contemporary languages. This allowed a unique space to be occupied in which music became a vehicle for identity expression and local celebration. One of the main objectives of this work is to examine the role that the media play in constructing a collective image of bravú, as well as to analyse and study the tensions between the desire to reach a wide audience with a message, and the risk of simplification, in order to avoid losing its critical force. It also analyses how elements such as the use of Galician, the “retranca” (a form of ironic understatement) and the celebration of rural life contributed to the generation of collective identification processes and to changing notions of cultural modernity in Galicia. As a main conclusion, it is established that bravú cannot be understood solely as a musical style, but as a complex communicative and cultural phenomenon, in which artistic practices, identity discourses and media visibility dynamics converge. The analysis reveals that bravú functioned as an early experience of participatory and community communication, characteristic of an analogue context, and that its study is key to understanding the relationships between culture, the media and identity in contemporary Galicia. Finally, the importance of approaching bravú from an interdisciplinary perspective is underlined to capture the complexity of a movement that transcends traditional categories of cultural analysis.
This study aims to analyse the bravú movement as a cultural and communicative phenomenon in Galicia at the end of the 20th century, considering both its musical manifestations and the associated processes of dissemination, reception and media impact. Drawing on the contributions of mass communication, the sociology of culture, social and cultural anthropology, ethnography, and studies of popular culture and cultural identities, an interdisciplinary approach is proposed. This approach allows the bravú to be understood as a form of cultural communication that emerged on the margins and was subsequently incorporated into media circuits. In this way, bravú can be seen as the musical crystallisation of a broader sociological phenomenon. This phenomenon is characterised by the union and conflict between tradition and modernity. The introduction of elements typical of punk culture and the ‘do-it-yourself’ philosophy, together with the electric guitar in rural and peripheral contexts, gives rise to a new sound. This sound combines global references with a strong symbolic grounding in Galician culture through the use of Galician. This fusion had consequences not only aesthetic but also social. Music acted as a means of expressing identity and exalting the place, using contemporary languages. This allowed a unique space to be occupied in which music became a vehicle for identity expression and local celebration. One of the main objectives of this work is to examine the role that the media play in constructing a collective image of bravú, as well as to analyse and study the tensions between the desire to reach a wide audience with a message, and the risk of simplification, in order to avoid losing its critical force. It also analyses how elements such as the use of Galician, the “retranca” (a form of ironic understatement) and the celebration of rural life contributed to the generation of collective identification processes and to changing notions of cultural modernity in Galicia. As a main conclusion, it is established that bravú cannot be understood solely as a musical style, but as a complex communicative and cultural phenomenon, in which artistic practices, identity discourses and media visibility dynamics converge. The analysis reveals that bravú functioned as an early experience of participatory and community communication, characteristic of an analogue context, and that its study is key to understanding the relationships between culture, the media and identity in contemporary Galicia. Finally, the importance of approaching bravú from an interdisciplinary perspective is underlined to capture the complexity of a movement that transcends traditional categories of cultural analysis.
Direction
VEIGA IZAGUIRRE, MARTA (Tutorships)
VEIGA IZAGUIRRE, MARTA (Tutorships)
Court
González Pereira, Miguel (Coordinator)
CABANA IGLESIA, ANA (Chairman)
RIOS RODRIGUEZ, RAUL (Secretary)
FREIRE PAZ, ELENA (Member)
González Pereira, Miguel (Coordinator)
CABANA IGLESIA, ANA (Chairman)
RIOS RODRIGUEZ, RAUL (Secretary)
FREIRE PAZ, ELENA (Member)