Thinking about Music from Latin America: Issues and Questions ed. by Juan Pablo González (review)

Noting the interdisciplinary field of musicology, the book’s discourse centers on the renewal and rearticulation of the field based on scholarly dialogue of the mid-1980s by tracing the origins of critical discussions in Latin American musicology as they first emerged in the 1930s. The book’s initial publication in Chile and Argentina in 2013, as well as its publication in Brazil in 2016, was favorably reviewed by Latin American presses and academic journals; the book’s translation to English marks the globalized discussion with its Western origins by framing Latin America in continental, hemispheric lens influenced by americanismo, inter-Americanism, and Latin American studies. The book’s content—influenced by a series of conference proceedings from the International Association for the Study of Popular Music individually published throughout 2002–2012—hones in on Latin America and provides case studies primarily focused on Chilean popular music, with a lesser emphasis on Argentine and Brazilian popular music. The book situates these examples in broader discussions on Latin American musicology and affirms aesthetic influences and trends that mark the multi-disciplinary turn in the field of critical musicology influenced by the humanities and social sciences.

González opens the discussion in four chapters that position the inter-disciplinarity of the field as the overall study framework in postcolonial theory, and listening acknowledges the integral role of regional cultural studies and popular music—and the theoretical positioning of Latin American musicology as it engages in broader epistemological discussions through the analysis of cases taking place between the earlier half of the twentieth century through the first decades of the twenty-first century. The book’s overview gives insight into the colonial processes of the Spanish conquest in the Americas, leading to its resulting mestizaje, or racial/ethnic and cultural hybridity, before delving into thematic case studies in chapters 6–11 that focus on iconic movements, figures, and examples of popular music from Latin America. Ranging from broader discussions in transnationalism, deterritorialized listening, and the appropriation of indigenous instruments and sounds, the book’s primary focus lends itself to discussing Chilean examples of popular music and its cultural phenomena opening with the case study of the legendary foxtrot song “Marcianita” and its ever-evolving variants and hybrid elements regarding jazz and rock and roll; other chapters delve into the role of women, as with cantoras campesinas and neofolk artists such as Violeta Parra, who were not formally recognized in musicology until the early 1990s, revealing a thirty-year gap in inquiry that had been previously addressed by the humanities and social sciences (González 93). The revolutionary consciousness of the political climate of the 1960s and 1970s, along with the role of world music, are integral to understanding the contributions of renowned Chilean Nueva Canción (new song) artist Violeta Parra’s socially conscious art and music, exemplified by her anticuecas that defied conventions and generic codes of the traditional Chilean cueca. Likewise, its subsequent chapters seven through ten engage in discussions with modernity and the avant-garde, in providing countercultural examples that challenged conventional norms, as seen with renowned neofolk artist

Víctor Jara’s own aesthetic involvement with “language, [by] applying strategies of collective creation, and interlacing music with drama and dance,” is reflected in his successful artistic direction and the reinvigoration of widely acclaimed folk music groups such as Quilapayún and Inti-Illmani (González 118). Other countercultural examples include the Chilean rock-folk band Los Jaivas, who were largely influenced by the California hippie movement and its musicians, and their undeniable impact on youth in promoting collectivistic approaches to performances that lent agency to the audience during improvisation and further inspired the revolutionary spirit of the 1970s. These countercultural examples are pivotal when juxtaposed in the following chapter’s focus on military dictatorships in Brazil and Chile, disclosing the “counterfusion” of musical and literary aesthetic...