Discourse in Música Latinoamericana Cultural Projects from Nueva Canción to Colombian Canción Social
Pages 65 to 83
Cite this article
- KATZ-ROSENE, Joshua,
- Katz-Rosene, Joshua.
- Katz-Rosene, J.
https://doi.org/10.4000/volume.4500
Cite this article
- Katz-Rosene, J.
- Katz-Rosene, Joshua.
- KATZ-ROSENE, Joshua,
https://doi.org/10.4000/volume.4500
Notes
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[1]
Inti-Illimani’s 1970 recording, Cóndores del Sol, offers a representative example of this approach (see figure 1).
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[2]
This article is based on ethnographic and archival research conducted in several cities of the Colombian interior between 2011 and 2014. All translations from Spanish-language interviews and texts are my own.
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[3]
For example, note how the musician quoted on page 12 alternates between the two terms. While it is difficult to ascertain precisely how the term música latinoamericana came to refer to this specific format in Colombia, it is clear that this usage was already in place by the beginning of the 1980s. The phrase appears to have taken on a similar meaning in Peru (Oliart & Lloréns, 1984: 81) and Chile (Laura Jordán, personal communication). It should be stressed that the term would not be similarly understood throughout Latin America: In Bolivia, this type of music was labelled música nacional (national music), as it in fact drew heavily on Bolivian genres (Rios, 2009: 11).
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[4]
In fact, Fernando Rios has shown that the process through which Andean music took on political connotations unfolded over transnational cosmopolitan networks linking Latin America and Europe from the outset (2008: 154-55).
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[5]
The first half of the lyrical fragment cited appears to be from the song “Venas Abiertas,” which was recorded by Argentine nuevo cancionero luminary Mercedes Sosa.
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[6]
Indeed, political cohesion in a large swath of South American territory under Inca rule had already inspired the pan-Latin approach of Chilean nueva canción artists (Rios, 2008: 156).
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[7]
The folklorist-composers Violeta Parra and Atahualpa Yupanqui, from Chile and Argentina, respectively, are widely hailed as the progenitors of NCL.
In this article, I follow the discourses elaborated around música latinoamericana (“Latin American music”), a broad musical category encompassing a wide range of Latin American—but especially Andean—folk genres within successive, interrelated “cultural projects.” I examine the extra-musical meanings attributed to this stylistic mode in the nueva canción (new song) movements of protest music in the Southern Cone, the transnational nueva canción latinoamericana network to which they gave rise, and ultimately focus on música latinoamericana’s development in Colombia. During the mid-1970s, the initial Colombian practitioners of música latinoamericana adopted several facets of the discourse pertaining to this music—along with the musical models themselves—from nueva canción latinoamericana. However, they later refined claims about the style’s significance, its distinctiveness from other musical genres, and its political symbolism to fit changing cultural contexts in the cities of the Colombian interior. I argue that the discursive “work” undertaken in these cultural projects has ensured that música latinoamericana continues to be equated with anti-establishment politics in Colombia, and hence that it remains closely tied to canción social (social song), the present-day category for socially conscious music.
- politics / militantism
- transnationality
- identity (individual / collective)
- discourses
- mainstream / commercialism / commodification
Publisher keywords: discourses, identity (individual / collective), mainstream / commercialism / commodification, politics / militantism, transnationality
Les discours dans les projets culturels de música latinoamericana, de la nueva canción à la canción social colombienne
Dans cet article, j’entends étudier les discours qui ont accompagné la música latinoamericana (« musique latino-américaine ») - une catégorie musicale vaste, qui inclut une grande gamme de musiques traditionnelles d’Amérique latine, mais plus particulièrement les genres andins – au sein de « projets culturels » successifs et interreliés. J’examine les significations extra-musicales attribuées à ce style dans les mouvements protestataires de la nueva canción (nouvelle chanson) dans le Cône Sud, le réseau de la nueva canción latinoamericana qu’ils engendrèrent, et me concentre enfin sur les développements de cette musique en Colombie. Au milieu des années 1970, ses premiers interprètes colombiens adoptèrent plusieurs facettes du discours relatif à cette musique, ainsi que les modèles musicaux eux-mêmes, qu’ils trouvèrent au sein de la nueva canción latinoamericana. Néanmoins, ils affinèrent plus tard leur conception de la signification du style, de son originalité et de sa symbolique politique, afin de s’adapter aux contextes culturels changeants des villes de la Colombie intérieure. Je soutiens que ce « travail » discursif entrepris au sein de ces projets culturels explique pourquoi cette musique continue à être associée en Colombie à l’opposition au système dominant et qu’ainsi, elle reste liée à la canción social, la catégorie utilisée actuellement pour dénoter la musique engagée.
- discours
- politique / militantisme
- transnationalité
- identité individuelle / collective
- mainstream / commerce / marchandisation
Publisher keywords: discours, identité individuelle / collective, mainstream / commerce / marchandisation, politique / militantisme, transnationalité