Colonial voice: representation of otherness and racialised exoticisation in the contacts between the chilean musical field and the concept of world music

Abstract

The aim of this article is to address the concept of world music and its contact points with the Chilean cultural field. The document examines the meaning of the concept, defining it as a device for postcolonial representation that distinguishes between Western and non-Western musics, building a hierarchical narrative that subordinates and exoticises the latter. At the same time, the category can be appropriated and resignified by the colonised subjects through hybrid artworks that represent their identities in the Western musical discourse. The article introduces the concept of colonial voice, which puts together the processes of exoticisation and representation operating in world music. Based on specialised literature and the musical analysis of selected examples, the article identifies three moments of contact of world music in Chile. In the first, between the decades of 1950 and 1970, traditional and popular Chilean musics were recorded by European ethnographic and phonographic endeavours, driven by the embryonic development of a Western musical narrative of global scope. In a second stage, between the decades of 1980 and 1990, some Chilean artists strategically used musical elements circulating in world music as references to enrich their artistic vocabulary. Finally, since the 2000s to this day, the category of world music was consolidated through local record labels and festivals, being actively and critically received to characterise the music of the Otherness present in the country. The article concludes with a summary of its interpretations and offers some thoughts on new research questions, relevant for academic study and the development of public policies on the subject.