All about me
I am an award-winning musician, filmmaker, cultural critic, and professor of Hispanic Studies who lives between California, Spain, Puerto Rico, and Nashville.
David is the author of Spanish Punk: Screaming for Democracy in a Post Dictatorial State and a Professor in the Department of World Languages and Cultures at Cal State Monterey Bay.
David was born into a Galician family that moved to the Basque Country, northern Spain, looking for new opportunities. He started writing poetry and songs at around 13 years old publishing in local magazines and winning a couple local contests. By the age of 22 he’d published two music albums and graduated with a major in Hispanic Literature and Linguistics. He then moved to England where he majored in Contemporary Guitar at the University of East London while playing and touring the UK and Europe. After this, he moved to Nashville, where he spent 7 years playing all sorts of styles and earned a PhD in Hispanic Studies at Vanderbilt University with a dissertation on Spanish Punk.
He has written various academic articles on Hispanic popular music and is the author of the monograph Spanish Punk: Screaming for Democracy in a Post Dictatorial State, published in English by PM Press and in Spanish by Desacorde Ediciones. As a musician, David currently develops his main activity as “The Rumba Madre”. He has published two albums under this name, including “Prisiones y Fugas”, which was considered one of the best albums of 2020 by the prestigious music database AllMusic. As a filmmaker he has co-produced all of his music videos and is recording a musical film based on his latest album.
In addition to this, he is currently a professor in the Department of World Languages and Cultures at California State University, Monterey Bay. Learn more about his different projects here.
David Vila Diéguez, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Spanish, Peninsular Literature and Culture, World Languages and Cultures, California State University, Monterey Bay.
Articles & Book Chapters
- Vila Diéguez, David.“El pobrecito despechado: masculinidades heridas en el rock español.” In Progress.
- Vila Diéguez, David. “Musical Improvisation as an Anti-Racist Strategy in Latinx Music.” Oxford University Press, 2025.
- Vila Diéguez, David. “The Movida Madrileña vs Spanish Punk Culture: Disenchantment, Hedonism and the Youth’s Political Commitment during the Spanish Transición.” Hispanófila, vol 196, 2022.
- Vila Diéguez, David, and Ion Andoni del Amo “Vuelta a las trincheras: El declive del estilo en la música como elemento de movilización política.” Revista de ALCESXXI. Journal of Contemporary Spanish Literature & Film. No.4, 2022, pp. 36-85.
- Vila Diéguez, David, editor. “Música, politización y movilización social.” Special issue of ALCESXXI. Journal of Contemporary Spanish Literature & Film. No.4, 2022.
- Vila Diéguez, David. “‘El canallita machirulo’: una aproximación a las masculinidades del rock español.” AusArt Journal for Research in Art. No. 4, 2021, pp. 261-71.
- Vila Diéguez, David. “Relocalizando culturas alternativas: el kompromiso latinoamerikano del punk español.” ALCESXXI. Journal of Contemporary Spanish Literature & Film. No.3, 2019, pp. 356, 91.
- Vila Diéguez, David. “Estudos galegos e Lusofonia no século XXI: Estigmatismos culturais e abertura de perspectivas.” Boletim da Academia Galega da Língua Portuguesa. 9, 2017, pp. 27-35.
- Vila Diéguez, David. “Should I Stay or Should I go? A Survival Guide for Punk Graduate Students.” Punk Pedagogies: Music, Culture and Learning. Eds. Gareth Dylan Smith, Michael Dines and Tom Parkinson. New York: Routledge, 2017. 43-56.
- Vila Diéguez, David. Review of “Juana María Cordones Cook. La Habana expuesta. Un diseño de Estévez.” Afro-Hispanic Review. Vol. 34, No. 2, 2015, pp. 191-94.
Journalistic articles
PGL (Portal Galego da Língua)
- “Onde o mundo se chama diáspora” February 2016
- “Estudos galegos e Lusofonia no século XXI” September 2016
- “Banjos, uqueleles e Andrés do Barro em Nashville” December 2016
Music Instructional Articles
Articles on world music guitar playing on Cutaway Guitar Magazine from 2010-2012
- “Análisis de géneros: El blues I” December 2010
- “Análisis de géneros: El blues II” February 2011
- “Análisis de géneros: El funk” April 2011
- “Análisis de géneros: El country” June 2011
- “Análisis de géneros: El rock and roll” August 2011
- “Análisis de géneros: El reggae” October 2011
- “Análisis de géneros: El tango” December 2011
- “Análisis de géneros: La música celta I” February 2012
- “Análisis de géneros: La música celta II” April 2012
- “Análisis de géneros: American roots music” June 2012
- “Análisis de géneros: La música pop” August 2012
- “Diccionario de frases: El blues” October 2012
- “Diccionario de frases: El blues II” December 2012
- “Diccionario de frases: El country” Abril 2013
Translations
- Guitar Skills Magazine Issue 2 (translated from English into Spanish) 2013
- Guitar Skills Magazine Issue 1 (translated from English into Spanish) 2013
LANGUAGES
PERFORMING ARTS
- Guitarist, Cuban tres, and Galician bagpipe, tambourine and sea-shell player
- Singer
- Composer & Producer
- Recording engineer
- Music arranger
EDUCATION
2019Ph.D., in Spanish
Vanderbilt University2018Certificate in Latin American Studies
Vanderbilt University2015M.A., in Spanish
Vanderbilt University2011M.A., Hispanic Studies
University of Nebraska, Lincoln.2011B.M., Music, B MUS (Hons)
University of East London. 2011 Dissertation: “Flamenco: An Explanation Through Modern Harmony and Theory” Dissertation Director: Dr. Paul Scott2008A.D, Popular Music Performance
Middlesex University2007M.S., Teaching and Learning
(Specialization in Second Language 2007 Acquisition and Literature) University of Deusto2007B.A., Hispanic Linguistics and Literature
University of Deusto2006Certificate in Digital Humanities
University of Deusto
