The Guitar Player and the Economic Crisis

While my blog will be covering a wide variety of topics, I will be focusing on two key themes over the next year. First, I will report on during my time in Spain is the country’s current economic crisis and its impact on Spanish society; the other theme will revolve around the issue of immigration and Spanish society.

This post will focus on the story of the impact of the economy on a guitar player who plays in Sol, the heart of the Madrid. I’ll give a brief background on the crisis before I report on the first story in this series.

Background on the Economic Crisis

Since Spain’s emergence as a major democratic nation in Europe, the country has seen its economy grow into the fifth largest in Europe and the eight largest in the world, based on nominal GDP. Most of its exports are construction equipment and agricultural products.
The presence of construction equipment as one of Spain’s major exports is telling for various reasons.

First, the country experienced a major construction boom over the last ten years as construction firms developed large numbers of suburban housing communities to meet demand for new homes outside the vicinities of cities such as Madrid and Barcelona.

Second, the construction boom allowed the country to absorb large numbers of immigrants into its labor market to meet demand for workers in the construction sector. In this manner, the construction boom directly impacts the perception and role of immigrant laborers and immigration in Spanish society, a theme I will explore in other reports and posts on my research.

Finally, the construction boom contributed to the country’s GDP growth to outpace its neighbors in the EU. Given the strong economic performance over the last four years, some commentators have suggested that the construction boom also contributed to the PSOE’s success in maintaining control over the presidency in the 2008 elections.

When one takes into account the importance of the construction boom to Spain’s economy, it is possible to begin to understand how a construction bust would contribute to a major economic crisis. Over the last few months, the global credit crunch, failure of major financial institutions, and the onset of growing consumer debt have contributed to the decline of the industry as an increase in unemployment, a decrease in housing prices, and weak financial system weakened demand for new homes and construction projects. With one of its main engines of economic growth falling apart, the Spanish economy has experienced a major crisis that impacts socio-economic and political dynamics of Spanish society.

The Story of Luis, the Guitar Player

During our orientation, the Commission invited the rector of the Universidad de Antonio de Nebrija and an avowed conservative to give a presentation on the current state and future of Spain’s economy and society. In addition to expressing major reservations about the increase in Spaniards’ reliance on lines of credit, the presenter criticized Spaniard’s ‘addiction to fashion,’ stating that the country was literally shopping itself into debt amidst a major economic downturn. Political differences aside, I have generally observed two trends in the consumption of goods in Madrid that reflect his argument.

First, Spaniards – at least, those individuals who seem to belong to the middle class – continue to shop for clothes, electronic goods, furniture from IKEA, etc. Like individuals from other developed countries such as the United States, many Madrilenos spend their Sunday afternoons shopping at major fashion outlets such as Zara, El Corte Ingles, SFERA, and Mango as well as trendy boutiques that dominate the city’s fashion district, Salamanca.

Several of my European friends have stated that Spanish retail outlets offer goods at lower retail prices than their counterparts in other European countries such as France. While hearsay may or may not confirm the actual price index of a country’s goods, it informally demonstrates that Spanish retail outlets continue to offer products at lower prices to maintain strong demand for said goods from consumers.

Clearly, these trends carry the rector’s reflections on major trends in the consumption patterns of Madrilenos. However, these two observations do not reflect all of my observations of consumption in Spanish society during the economic crisis. While the economic crisis does not appear to impact consumption patterns in Spain, I have found that the effects of the decline on these decisions manifest themselves in other ways. One example is the crisis’ impact on the livelihood of street musicians.

During a late night trip to the center of Madrid, I met Luis, a middle-aged guitar player who plays on the sidewalk of a thoroughfare that leads to the heart of the city, Sol. Luis told me that he began playing guitar in this area after the police informally gave him permission to perform in the area a few years ago. Ever since then, Luis arrives around midnight to set up his equipment: a stool, a small amplifier, a nylon string guitar with a pickup, and a tiny booklet of songs. Depending on the amount of donations he receives during the evening, Luis will play for three hours before heading home.

Although Luis can play a few Jazz and Ragtime standards, he generally focuses on classical compositions, flamenco, and Spanish folk/popular music. As he explained, the general public in Spain recognizes and appreciates street musicians who play Spanish compositions. Given that many of the passerbys are Spaniards, these songs generally earn him more donations from the late night audience. Of course, this observation does not account for every street musician in Madrid; many street musicians play popular music from other countries such as the United States and Great Britain.

While Luis generally earned enough money to support his regular income, he noted that passerybys were donating smaller amounts of money - if they even donated money at all – in the last year. I asked him if a change in the demographics of the late-night passerby or the public’s tastes in music contributed to this trend; he disagreed. In his opinion, the economic crisis has hurt the public’s inclination to donate money to street musicians around the city. Still, Luis generally seemed optimistic about his situation as a late night street musician. He explained that his nightly gigs allowed him to practice music in spite of the fact that the general public was less inclined to give him money.

To preempt a few questions: Yes, I do tip Luis whenever I see him in Sol. Do I think playing at night for a crowd of rowdy party goers might decrease his income? Perhaps, with one caveat. Given my sociological research on the use of public space, the agreement between a street musician and local authorities can vary. If a street musician can secure an agreement in a particular location, it provides a stable location for playing music, receiving donations, etc.

That said, I think Luis’ story exemplifies the obscure – but important – manners that the economic crisis of Spain is impacting the lives of people in this country. One can measure economic crises through various means such as GDP, inflation, unemployment figures, stability of financial markets, etc. As I have argued in previous research, one must also use qualitative means to analyze the development of an economy. The rector’s presentation demonstrated how quantitative and general qualitative observations capture a snapshot of a company’s economic crisis. At the same time, other means of research and social activism allow a society to develop a comprehensive portrait of economic development, regardless whether it is a boom or a bust.