AMANECE, QUE NO ES POCO (At least, it’s dawning, 1989) and ›surruralism‹ in Spanish cinema through music

Abstract

Over the years, the Spanish film AMANECE, QUE NO ES POCO [At Least, It’s Dawning] (E 1989, José Luis Cuerda) has emerged as the paradigm of surreal (or preferably ›surrural‹1) film in Spain. Although recognition of this production is growing as we move away from its release date, there are no studies addressing its music and the role it plays within the general plan of the film. Usually, theoretical approaches have focused on meaningless dialogues and rural scenes, omitting the value of the musical aspect. Therefore, we propose an analysis of this film, with forays into other similar productions, to inquire about how the music played by actors contributes decisively to the surreal pattern that surrounds the whole atmosphere. Also, we will try to identify the strategies that are used to make music essential, aimed at achieving a global understanding of the ›surruralism‹ that is present as the philosophy of the film. Methodologically, we will extract the most relevant scenes that serve to illustrate our thesis and, in addition to this, the study will include mentions to interviews with privileged informants who participated in the realization of these films and other audiovisual documents, in order to provide a thorough picture of the phenomenon described.