Literature Sung: Movement through Music in Latin America
The power of music is undeniable. It affects — moves — the body not only on an external level, but also on a much deeper, psychological and emotional level.
Just as James Clifford argues that contemporary cultural identity can be understood “not as an archaic survival but as an ongoing process…a form of personal and collective self-fashioning,” so evolves the music of Latin America, forming collective (national/regional) and individual identities: the vallenato and cumbia from Colombia, salsa and the son from Cuba, mariachi from Mexico, merengue from the Dominican Republic, the jíbaro and reggetón from Puerto Rico, zouk from Martinique/Guadaloupe, bosa nova from Brazil…just to name a few.
While music is often considered an act of resistance to domination, the focus of this session moves beyond the idea of reacting or moving against something, and addresses the pro — the transformational power of music. Papers may discuss (for example), how has music served in a way that rhetoric/literature could not? (And why?) What (if any) is the transformational power of censorship/prohibition on music/musicians? How has music made a positive impact in the past, and what lessons can we draw from those experiences to shape our future?
Friday, April 25, 10:15 AM – 12:15 PM
Phyllis Herrin Obregón, UA de Querétaro
“The Jongleuresque and Trobadour Traditions in the Mexican Huapango”
Edwin C. Hill, USC
“To Begin the Biguine: Hybridity and Antillean Popular Performance”
Julia Reineman, Louisiana State U
“A guitar is never just a guitar—the power of the Nueva Canción in Latin America”
Saturday, April 26, 10:15 AM – 12:15 PM
Benjamin J. Harbert, UCLA
“Musical Investigations of Carceral Aporia: Testimony of the Musicians of Two California State Prisons”
Everette Scott Smith, Louisiana State U
“Female Madness in Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Opera Yerma”
Roberto Ignacio Diaz, USC
“Children, Mothers and Latin American Poetry in Adams’ ‘El Niño’”
Elena M. Villa, U of Oregon
“Affect, Memory, and the Dissolution of Self in Flamenco Performance”
Sunday, April 27, 10:15 AM – 12:15 PM
José Macias, UT San Antonio
“Leaving, Arriving, and Changing in the Mexican Corrido”
J. Javier Rodríguez, Notre Dame
“El Corrido Pensilvanio: Between Here and There on the Transnational Railroad”
Jolanta Helena Alkan, Cal State San Marcos
“Crossing Borders: Uniting Communities with Latin Music and Dance”
Luis Casillas, Cal State San Marcos
“Un Trío: How Café Tacvba, Kinky, and Los Amigos Invisibles Represent Latin-American Alternative Rock”