Description
Cabaret Iberia
Book Summary
A fascinating journey through Spain in the twenties and thirties, where modernity, nightlife, and show business experienced their golden age before the Civil War brought it all to an end. In this essay, Alfonso Domingo reconstructs the universe of the cabaret, the music hall, and the variety revue, exploring how jazz, the Charleston, the copla, and drag performance coexisted on the same stage. The reader will discover the social, cultural, and political agitation that bubbled behind the neon lights, with vedettes, anarchists, entrepreneurs, and artists serving as the protagonists of a unique and unrepeatable era.
What is it about?
Cabaret Iberia is a work of historical reportage that explores nightlife and the world of show business in Spain between 1920 and 1936. The book delves into the theaters, nightclubs, and cabarets where rhythms arriving from America, such as the foxtrot, swing, and blues, lived alongside the milonga, flamenco, and risqué songs. Alfonso Domingo portrays the characters who populated that galaxy: from writers and journalists to doormen, courtesans, tango dancers, vedettes, musicians, comedians, acrobats, visionary businessmen, and anarchists. The work shows how nudity and drag burst onto the scene amidst the moral reproaches of the right and accusations of frivolity from the left, all while feminist and labor movements fought to transform the old regime. The book is, in essence, a choral portrait of a Spain that dreamed, danced, and enjoyed itself on the edge of the abyss.
Main themes
- History of entertainment and nightlife in pre-war Spain.
- The arrival and influence of American popular music (jazz, Charleston, swing).
- The cabaret, the music hall, and the variety revue as spaces of modernity and social conflict.
- The role of women, feminism, and drag in the public sphere.
- The tension between tradition and modernity in Spanish society in the 20s and 30s.
- The Civil War as a turning point that cut short a period of cultural effervescence.
Who is it recommended for?
This book is aimed at readers interested in the social and cultural history of Spain, especially the period of the Second Republic and the years leading up to the Civil War. It will also be attractive to those who enjoy journalistic reportage, histories of popular music, show business, and bohemian life. It is an ideal work for fans of non-academic history, written with a narrative rhythm and an informative spirit.
What this book offers
- A vivid and well-documented portrait of a golden age of leisure and culture in Spain.
- The recovery of figures, places, and musical genres that are often forgotten.
- A perspective that connects entertainment with the social and political transformations of the time.
- An enjoyable read, with the pacing of a journalistic chronicle, combining historical rigor with an engaging narrative.
Technical specifications
- Author: Domingo, Alfonso
- Publisher: LIBROS DEL K.O, S.L.L
- Language: Spanish
- Subject: Variety shows, music hall, cabaret, music, reportage and collections of journalistic articles, regional and national history, history of Spain, social and cultural history, Spanish Civil War
- Collection: NON-FICTION
- Publication date: June 2025
- Number of pages: 336
- Weight: 410 g
Editorial review
Cabaret Iberia is an essay that successfully combines documentary rigor with the agile and evocative prose typical of the best narrative journalism. Alfonso Domingo constructs a fascinating mosaic of a Spain that danced, sang, and transgressed while heading toward conflict. The work offers an original and necessary look at an underexplored aspect of our recent history, connecting popular culture with the great social and political tensions of the era. A book that will captivate both history buffs and those curious about nightlife and show business.