Galicia’s voice: Ana Kiro, reception and national identity

When an artist’s work is identified with a particular national identity, the artist usually becomes an object of debate and gives room to antagonistic readings. That is the case of Ana
Kiro, a singer who since the 1970s became an enormously popular figure in Galicia by dealing with the experience of emigration, local landscape or traditional culture in pop songs with folk
elements. For years, Kiro was often interpreted (and criticized) as a conservative icon, but many voices have appeared during the last decade looking for her resignification as a feminist, lusist
or LGTBI referent. This text analyses Ana Kiro’s reception and its connection with the debates around Galician national identity.