Chirigota is a genre of Spanish choral folksong originating in the Province of Cádiz.[1] The songs are satirical in nature and are performed predominantly in the streets by costumed performers during the annual two week carnival.[2][3] It has been described as a vehicle for gossip and public comment, especially of a political or moral, and sometimes prurient, nature.[1] Suppressed during the Francoist State until 1948, along with carnival in general, there has been a massive resurgence of the art-form since his death and the re-establishment of democracy.[1]
Politicians are often the objects and subjects of the songs. In 2012 an entire repertoire of the chirigota group "Los Gordillos" was devoted to the communist/anarchist mayor of Marinaleda, a utopian village in central Andalucia. The twelve members were dressed as the mayor, Juan Manuel Sanchez Gordillo, and offered songs[4] about supermarket raids led by him that summer to dramatize the increasing poverty in the countryside. [5]