Book Description

"For several decades now, the Andean conjunto has been the preeminent format for 'Andean folk music' groups in the major cities of the world. Easily identified through the musicians' colorful ponchos and indigenous-associated instruments such as the panpipe, these 4-6 member ensembles interpret the music of the Andes in a style that bears little resemblance to traditional indigenous music, notwithstanding the efforts of "world music" labels to market their recordings as if they accurately reproduce indigenous expressions. Developed mainly by criollo and mestizo musicians, the Andean conjunto tradition has taken root in many Latin American countries, from Argentina to Mexico, but it is only in Bolivia that mainstream society has long regarded ensembles in this mold as exemplars of national folkloric music. As this book reveals, Bolivia's adoption of the Andean conjunto as a national musical expression in the late 1960s represents the culmination of over four decades of local folkloric activities that at various points articulated with transnational artistic currents, especially those emanating from Argentina, Chile, France, Mexico, and Peru, as well as with Bolivian state initiatives and nation-building projects. By elucidating these connections through an examination of La Paz city's musical scene from the 1920s to 1960s, this book not only sheds light on the rise of a prominent manifestation of Bolivian national culture, but also also offers the first detailed historical study of the Bolivian folkloric music movement that documents how it developed in dialogue with Bolivian state projects and transnational artistic trends in this period"--