Latin American Music, Migration and Diaspora
JISLAC (Joint Initiative for the Study of Latin America and the Caribbean)
Americas Research Group – International Centre for Music Studies
Symposium
‘Latin American Music, Migration and Diaspora’
University of Newcastle, 24 April 2008, 1pm - 5 pm
Beehive 2.20, Old Library Building 1st floor
1 – 2 pm Buffet lunch
2 – 2.45 pm
‘Migration, diaspora and music: “Africa” in Colombian popular music’
Peter Wade, University of Manchester
This paper explores how ‘Africa’ and the idea of the Afrodescendent diaspora in the Americas get continually refigured through the musical styles that accompany migrations - and displacements - of people within Colombia (e.g., from the two coasts to the interior of the country) and beyond (e.g., to Europe, the USA). I focus on cumbia, vallenato, champeta and currulao as styles in which Africa and blackness have come in and out of focus during the last half century, and in different political contexts - including post-1991 official multiculturalism. I show how fundamentally constructed the idea of Africa is, how the ‘local’ and ‘traditional’ are always already ‘global’ and ‘modern’ (and vice versa), and how multilateral movements disrupt the concept of diaspora as movements outwards from a point of origin.
2.45 – 3.30 pm
‘Gender issues in a migrant music: the case of cumbia in Argentina’
Pablo Vila, Temple University
Cumbia, a Colombian popular music genre, was introduced in Argentina in the 1960s. Since entering the country it established a very close relationship with both, immigrants from the countryside who moved to Buenos Aires since the 1940s, and the music of those immigrants, above all the music of the NE part of the country, i.e., chamamé. While cumbia has been very popular from the beginning, in the 1990s its popularity increased exponentially and now has totally dominated the musical repertoire of Buenos Aires’ province popular sectors (the grand children of those internal immigrants). One of its most popular sub-genres is called “cumbia villera”(cumbia from the shanty town or ghetto) and, among other things, is characterized by a very explicit sexual discourse that, at first glance, appears to totally objectify and denigrate women. This paper wants to go beyond that first impression and explore the complicated picture many Argentine males confront when they relate to what I call “the sexual activation of young females.” In this regard I argue that the fantasized “voracious” girls of many cumbia villera songs perform the role of the imaginary scenario that tries to address the anxious question these young men do not know how to answer: “what really do these young women want from us.” As such, it also provides the coordinates of these young male’s desires, constructing the frame enabling them to desire something.
3.30 – 4.00 Tea
4.00 – 4.45
‘The Provocations of a Postcolonial Performance Analysis’
Tina K. Ramnarine, Royal Holloway College
This paper considers two case-studies to ask what we can learn about the politics of musical performance in diasporic contexts. The first case-study deals with a colonial context. There are some interesting details about musical practices in the Indian-Caribbean colonial context inviting us to question some assumptions about nineteenth century Indian indentureship to the New World. The second case-study looks at postcolonial performance politics in the Caribbean Diaspora, focusing on British calypso. Two main questions to be addressed are 1) What kinds of historical insights are provided by examination of performance practice? 2) How does performance help us to revise our understandings of belonging in the diaspora? The aim of this paper is to present a performance analysis engaging with postcolonial re-assessment to explore music in two historical moments in two different but related migrations.
4.45 – 5.00
Discussant: Hettie Malcomson, Cambridge University
All are welcome
There is no charge for this event. However, to assist us with catering, please let Kathy Johansen know you are coming by 10th April. kathleen.johansen@ncl.ac.uk tel. 0191 222 7441
Other enquiries to Nicholas Morgan, Nicholas.morgan@ncl.ac.uk
This event is sponsored by the British Academy.
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Last updated 28 January 2008