The Influence of John Cage on Spanish Experimental Music

The influence of John Cage's music and ideas on Spanish experimental music is far-reaching and extends from the 1950s to the present day. In order to analyse this influence, we have divided it into three important periods. In the first one, which began during the Franco dictatorship, we find Juan Hidalgo and the Zaj group that he co-founded with Ramon Barce and Walter Marchetti, in 1964. The second period, from the last breaths of Francoism to the political transition toward democracy, was marked by the arrival of the Merce Cunningham Company with Cage in 1966, and by the Pamplona Encounters in 1972. Carles Santos and Llorenc Barber are prominent during this period. In the third one, with democracy restored, Cage's influence has been more diffuse and involves musicians bridging the gap between Santos and Barber's generation, and younger composers born in the 1970s and 1980s.