Angelitos Negros: reflections on the representation of cultural identity in the “New Songbook”

Abstract

Within the research field based on the school of cultural studies, ethnomusicology applied to such endeavors supply us with a highly interesting and valuable vision when it comes to creating academic discourses. This is due to the focus not being solely on the musical product, but also in its relationship with the identity of a territory. Based on this idea, the following article’s intent is to establish a consideration of various concepts pertaining to identity present in a Latin America that, having experienced certain historical processes, provides us with a perfect canvas to contextualize such considerations. For this purpose, we will take, as a starting point, a few examples of popular songs that carry the everyday life and the idiosyncrasy of the population through to an artistic plane, allowing for the examination of the message as well as the medium. Thus, this research will show a sociocultural analysis of the lyrics of a series of musical pieces that will serve to delve into the explanation about the construction and the representation of identity-searching purposes. Following this same line, we will touch on subjects such as hegemonic identity, changes in its consideration depending on the historical moment, and the problems surrounding the representation of the “other individual”.