(...At the end of  the  19th century and beginning of the 20th century,  the question of national identity  was  posed  with  great  acuity  in  Spain.  During  this  pivotal  period,  the  guitar  was repeatedly  claimed  or  criticized  as  "the  national  instrument"  in  the  press  in  Madrid  and Andalusia,  so  that  the  term  seems  to  refer  to  a  mere  platitude.  However,  its  exact  content appears ambiguous, since  it permeated the imagination without ever being made clear.  In my PhD, I try to demonstrate that the guitar is not a simple cliché that caricatures reality. It rather proves to be a paradoxical symbol of an identity that is still under debate: the instrument is a national symbol  which  enables us to observe that the Spanish identity is problematic. It is not limited  to  be  a  stereotypical  image  of  the  country...)

The Guitar and Banal nationalism during the Restoration in Spain