Abstract

MUNOZ, Paloma. Tension between “traditional music” and “popular music”: Mapping the sounds of southern Cauca. Signo pensam. [online]. 2008, vol.27, n.52, pp.120-133. ISSN 0120-4823.

The article approaches practices of consumption and cultural production of popular music (a genre of its own in Colombia) in several areas of the southern department of Cauca, Colombia (municipalities of Mercaderes, El Patía, La Sierra and Rosas), explores the formation of musical identities, and discusses theories, concepts and actions regarding the role of musical practices as the expression of cultural knowledge in the region. The analysis of collected data evidences the tension between the categories of “traditional music” and “popular music”. The discussion combines elements from contemporary ethnomusicology, understood as the study of music in culture and as the study of cultural dimensions of musical expressions.

Keywords : Folk Music; etnomusicology; Cauca; Macizo colombiano; sonorities.