Little Spain’s meteoric rise: from alternative production company to creative institution

Little Spain flourished around 2017 on the basis of a collective desire for audiovisuals. From the stage of Los Angeles, that strong feeling or dream shared there by Rogelio González and Santos Bacana, materialised in an audiovisual production company that would end up being joined by other directors, filmmakers or creatives such as the director of photography Cristina Trenas or the iconic artist Antón Álvarez. A relationship that began in Las Vegas in 2017: the moment in which Bacana and Tangana met, crystallising their union shortly after in their first joint video clip ‘Un veneno’, which reflected their shared love for the nostalgia of a Spain that perhaps no longer is, or does not exist.

In 2021 they would take a step further to become a company after the success of El Madrileño’s video clips, which were already marked by a phase of defining their identity around the traditional spirit influenced by cinema and the quinqui aesthetic, and their strong link to popular culture.

Over the years, the film label has been updating and versioning its retro aesthetic, making it evolve in different sequences or films that unite tradition with contemporaneity in fictitious realities such as ‘Tú me dejaste de querer’ or ‘Demasiadas mujeres’ by Tangana.

The construction of El Madrileño

The Little Spain universe thus became a cultural institution that broadened the spectrum from a classic production company to other artistic expressions or productions that have ended up having a great impact on culture. Something that we could see reflected in the creation of the whole imaginary and the concept of the tour ‘Sin Cantar ni Afinar’ by El Madrileño through a hypnotic staging characterised by the fusion between Latin American music and flamenco, taken off on an elegant tabletop, and surrounded by a great orchestra.

Unbridled ambition

All that narrative with which to intensify Antón’s artistic language would also be transferred and projected in the documentary ‘Esta Ambición Desmedida’, which focuses on the creative process and/or the construction of El Madrileño, and its iconic tour turned into an ode to ‘Spanishness’ that reinterprets images or symbolism associated with the nation.

In this film we can see how C. Tangana faces the challenge of creating the most ambitious tour of his career and revolutionising the concept of live performances, dancing between cathartic episodes of decadence or hostility in business, to euphoric encounters or moments of euphoria at his concerts. Santos Bacana returns to direct this documentary, as he has been doing for some years with C. Tangana’s project, his videoclips or contents, reimagining the retro aesthetics and the nostalgic, traditional photography that captures the collective gaze.

Little Spain‘s evolution is thus reflected through a transversal project that positions it as a cultural agent that not only creates or produces audiovisual pieces, but also collaborates with brands and production companies to cover everything from cinema to advertising, based on a boundless ambition to transcend emotionally regardless of the format.