By Emma Alías Enrech

“All my friends are called Cayetano”, that is how the chorus of the song Cayetano of the Spanish group Carolina Durante goes. A parody to today’s posh society, to the reckless upper class kids with agendas full of contacts and dads with chalets in downtown.

Carolina Durante is a group formed in La Moraleja, one of the richest and most posh neighborhoods in Madrid, but they wanted to drive away from that life style. They have their own approach to music and don’t want to be compared to anyone, specially groups like Guitarica Delafuente, Melocos and Taburete. This last one, Taburete, has been labelled by the media “the band of the posh”. But as Martín Vallhonrat, bass player of Carolina Durante points out, they are nothing alike.

“Los dos usamos guitarras, pero ellos dan el típico espectáculo rockero, mirándole con gesto de intensidad, nosotros pasamos de eso”

Carolina Durante wanted to betray, both in their video and their lyrics of the song Cayetano,  the posh subculture, their lifestyle and their way of thinking. But not only that, at the same time they wanted to show the differences between the posh and the “normal” middle class. In their video clip Carolina Durante shows the contrast of these two subcultures in a subtle way, for example, when they show the fridge, it is full of Chipis,  the cheapest brand of beer, rather than fancy wine. Later on in the video another example pops up, there is someone looking at vinyl of all time singer Miguel Bosé , but at the same time you can also see a CD of the group Los Nikis, “Marines a pleno sol”. With these images, Catalonia Durante want to contrast the two different worlds that coexist in our society.

But music is just one aspect that divides the different urban tribes in society. Politics is another one. As Carolina Durante mentions in their song, posh groups are related to right wings parties. Here in Spain those would be: PP (Partido Popular), Ciudadanos and Vox. This is linked as well to their ideology, the posh defend the monarchy and are really traditional and patriotic.

Another aspect that differentiates the various subcultures is economy. As mentioned above, the posh are part of the upper class. They live in pretentious houses in the rich suburb neighborhoods or in a modern and expensive flat in downtown. Webpages such as Plantastic, categorize which subculture you belong to depending on what neighborhood you live in. But where they live is not the only economical difference. Trips to exotic places, weekends at their chalet in Segovia or summers in Marbella, Ibiza or Sanxenxo. Those are just some common adventures that the posh, especially teenagers, go on.

Clothes also separate the different urban tribes. Name brands, accessories and high end products are part of the posh dress code. The male posh normally wears really tight pants, plaid shirts and name brands t-shirts such as Lacoste or Ralph Lauren. They also wear moccasins or nautical shoes, like Pompeii. On the other hand, the female posh wear a lot of accessories, they always carry a purse instead of a backpack. They like to wear furry coats, even when is not cold outside and like to dress up for every occasion.

The posh like to have a really busy social life. Seen in the Carolina Durante music video, when the lead singer, Diego Ibáñez, comes out of his car after golfing. Posh enjoy going out to cocktails, hunting, skiing, playing tennis or  padel. As any subculture, they hang out and like to share their lives and achievements in social media.

But in today’s society being called or considered a posh has a bad connotation. One of the most noticeable examples is seen in social media. Influencers such as Maria Pombo, Maria Fernandez-Rubies, Natalia Coll or Maria Garcia de Jaime have been cataloged under the label “posh influencers”. They express their opinion, ideas and lives on the internet, exposing  themselves to criticism, that sometimes goes far beyond small insults. During the summer of 2018, Maria Pombo claimed that she was a Catholic and that she was against against abortion, this statements lead to a wave of criticism and insults like: «Basta de demonizar el aborto», «Cree en Dios, ¿cómo la vais a tomar en serio?» o «Maldita zorra» y «Facha de mierda».

The question that many of you may ask yourselves is where the term posh comes from, and how this subculture was created. The term posh, in Spanish “pijo” comes from the term “pija” that means penis. It was at the beginning of the eighties when this word started to appear here is Spain, being defined by some dictionaries as “teenager, of high social position that follows a trend and has a set of manners, ways of talking and expressing themselves”. As of today the RAE (Real Academia de la Lengua Española) defines this group as:

“Said of the person: whose wardrobe, manners, language, etc., manifests tastes of a well-to-do social class”

The reasons why subcultures exists is simple, people want to feel that they are part of a community, something bigger than themselves. People in society strive to be accepted within the community and that is what urban tribes give, a sense of comfort and union.