Música y negritud en Chile: De la ausencia presente a la presencia ausente

Abstract

This article proposes a long-term view on the question of musical “blackness” in Chile, starting with its current manifestations and reaching back to earlier facts on black musical practice that the historical record has forgotten over the decades. Both moments are articulated by a process of ethnic homogenization that distinguishes three phases: the colonial period with an increasing expansion of black musical expertise, the period of independence with its invisible African ancestry, and a contemporary period that represents and invokes a lost blackness.