Inverted Listening: Situating the Concealed Songs of Mari Trini, Guillermina Motta, and Elisa Serna

Abstract

A review of vinyl covers, songs, and archival materials from singer-songwriters Mari Trini, Guillermina Motta, and Elisa Serna suggests that the role of these artists deserves attention to further our understandings of LGBTIQ+ musical history in Spain. Throughout her career, Mari Trini faced LGBTI-phobic media campaigns and wrote what she called “ambiguous songs,” to which I am referring here as “concealed songs.” Guillermina Motta’s case highlights how audience reception played a key role, considering the subversive potential of certain love songs performed by female singer-songwriters. These romantic lyrics may have prompted “inverted listening”—a way of understanding the songs that challenges cisheteronormative interpretations. This invites us to consider how, during a time of repression, audiences might have found in these songs a way to openly express their emotions, regardless of whom they were addressed to. Elisa Serna’s case involves revisiting the visual iconography of her album covers and some of her lyrics, informed by her personal archive; documents she carefully preserved throughout her life— thus providing insight into her relationships, feelings, and experiences—and are now part of her legacy. These three female singer-songwriters point to the need for further research on the role of protest music on the dissident musical culture of Francoism and the Transition to democracy.