This article investigates the development of a novel communal art form called pasacalle that is associated with the district of Villa El Salvador on the outskirts of Perú’s coastal capital city, Lima. The main performers of pasacalle are youth of rural Andean descent whose parents migrated to the city seeking to improve their lives. They belong to a community that has always existed on the lower rungs of Limeño society in terms of socioeconomic status and political agency. The genre of pasacalle, driven by drum music of Afro-Brazilian origin, has become central to their expressive culture while serving as a vehicle for solidifying communal bonds and resisting marginalization. Este artículo investiga el surgimiento de un nuevo arte comunal llamado pasacalle, que se practica en el distrito de Villa El Salvador, Lima, Perú. Los artistas del pasacalle son, en su mayoría, adolescentes amerindios o mestizos, cuyos padres migraron de áreas rurales buscando un futuro promisorio para sus hijos. Estos artistas pertenecen a una comunidad marginal que ha sido siempre relegada a los niveles más bajos de poder sociopolítico y económico en Lima. El género de pasacalle, el cual se nutre especialmente de música percusiva derivada de la batucada afro-brasilera, se ha convertido en un medio vital por el cual los habitantes de Villa El Salvador no solo expresan sus formas culturales sino además refuerzan lazos comunales y enfrentan la marginación social.
This chapter builds on sonic repatriation studies to explore the act of regulating the dissemination of songs through radio playlists in Lima, Peru. Using as a case study the broadcasting policies designed by a powerful media corporation, the article shows how marketing specialists have produced a range of class-oriented radio stations seeking to persuade Lima’s audiences to comply with the corporation’s hegemonic discourse, as it becomes manifest through the aesthetic composition of their stations’ playlists. The type of programming used by this corporation functions as a social technology that allows Peru’s influential criollo groups to reinforce the hierarchical organization of the society by promoting race-specific aesthetic concepts in media consumption.
ResumenEste artículo investiga las formaciones de parentesco y mutualidad desarrolladas por jóvenes activistas en Villa El Salvador (VES), un distrito pobre ubicado en los límites urbanos de la ciudad de Lima, Perú. La investigación se centra en las sesiones de práctica de "tambores" y artes circenses llevadas a cabo semanalmente por organizaciones culturales que buscan efectuar una transformación política en VES. Partiendo de una conceptualización del parentesco como práctica cimentada en la "mutualidad del ser" (Sahlins 2011) se busca mostrar como la acción rítmica coordinada que sustenta cada uno de estos ensayos musicales emerge como estrategia política para cimentar lazos de afinidad basados en la creatividad grupal y el esfuerzo cooperativo. Como se verá, la prác-tica de tambores se ha convertido en una técnica de acción comunitaria que no solo refuerza sino además genera relaciones de parentesco por medio de la sincronización de cuerpos en sinergia.Palabras claves: Parentesco, música; etnomusicología; identidad andina; comunidad; acción política. AbstractThis article investigates the modalities of kinship developed by young activists in Villa El Salvador (VES), an underserved district located in the urban fringes of Lima, Perú. My research focuses on the weekly practice sessions of "tambores" and circus performing arts that grassroots cultural organizations promote to propel political transformation in VES. Building upon the concept of kinship as "mutuality of being" (Sahlins 2011), I show how the type of coordinated rhythmic action that takes place during rehearsals is used as a strategy to strengthen affinity through group creativity and cooperative effort. Rehearsing tambores has become a technique of communal action that not only reinforces but also generates forms of kinship that depend on the synchronization of bodies in synergy
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