Allá Cosquín; A look at Latin America's Largest (Folk) Festival

Live music is something that has played a significant role in my life, as a vehicle and venue for forming and maintaining friendships, entertainment, and escape into other cultures and societies. While many of the concerts I have been to seem to have their own communities, none compare to those of the multi-day camping festivals that have become increasingly prevalent this decade.

I set out to find parallels in Latin American live music, with a focus on the particularly vibrant Argentinean music scene. I found numerous “festivals” in Buenos Aires that seemed to be more concert series than anything else. However, one event, a folk festival almost one thousand miles from Buenos Aires, offered a very strong sense of community, and a great deal of dedication and enthusiasm. Despite its prominence in Latin America, and especially Argentina, there is not a great deal of English scholarly work on Cosquín, nor is there much scholarly work on modern music festivals. While this made researching challenging, I enjoyed the fact that my interest in Cosquín might yield somewhat unique conclusions.

Cosquín






In 1961 residents of the Argentinean city of Cosquín, about a thousand miles from Buenos Aires, organized a festival celebrating national folklore in an attempt to reinvigorate local tourism. It took place over nine days in January, during the Argentine summer vacation season. Instant success led the Fetival Nacional del Folklore Cosquín to become an annual event and one of Latin America’s largest cultural celebrations. The festival still takes place over nine days, referred to as the nine moons of Cosquín.

Cosquín’s size and history set it apart from the majority of other Argentinean music festivals, but its attendee experience is also quite different. Most notable are the peñas- impromptu street performances- that are a constant presence throughout the streets of Cosquín. These take place during the day, as visitors walk through the exhibitions lining the streets, at night during the featured concerts, and late at night, after the featured concerts.

The performances are one of the most important features of the festival. Relatively unknown artists, as well as some artists who come off of the main stage, find an audience in the hundreds of thousands of fans that make their way through the streets of Cosquin each year. This video, featuring the less-known Leandro Romero , shows an enthusiastic and diverse crowd. (Diversity refers to age and gender diversity in this context. Argentina is one of the countries in South America with the smallest black populations.) Because of Romero’s status as a relative unknown artist, that so many are singing along leads the viewer to believe that he is performing a traditional song, and to very positive reactions from his audience.

As outside influences begin to settle in and cultural miscegenation proliferates, Cosquín has become a sort of litmus test for folk arts, and especially music. A 2008 Rolling Stone article reviewed a performance by Divididos, a popular Argentine rock band, at Cosquín. The band recognizes strong folk influences, and opened their performance at Cosquin with an acoustic set consisting of traditional folk songs. They then played a late-night electric set. At the end of it, wearing the traditional white ponchos of Cosquín, the band’s leader said “Cosquin, thank you for accepting us as we are.” (Rolling Stone)

Beyond the musical, Cosquín becomes a hub of all things endemic to Argentina. Jones describes a scene in which all of Argentina’s best artisans come to sell their works, as well as to educate both countrymen and visitors. Musical instruments, mate cups (designed for drinking the traditional Argentine tea), and other crafts are displayed and sold in a church square. The market is the National Fair of Handicrafts and Popular Art. Even beef, the country’s culinary specialty, makes a showing at massive barbacoas, back stage. (Jones)

Whereas the majority of all festivals held in Argentina seemed to be based in Buenos Aires, Cosquín located 1000 miles away. This distance may have actually played a significant role in maintaining the identity of Cosquín. Argentina’s chief musicial export is the tango, widely performed over the twentieth century (and recently revived) throughout the world. In the mid-1900’s, the blend of Peronism and conservatism, generally did not favor the tango, which was seen as vulgar and subversive. Though Peron seems to have, at different times, favored and persecuted the tango, he was ousted in the 1950’s, and the new government saw the tango, which peron had then aligned himself with, as being as bad as Peron himself. Initial years of Cosquín, those shortly after the coup, did not feature the tango very heavily. Subsequently, in 1963, a presidential decree established the third week in January the National Week of Folklore. (aquicosquin.org) Of course, over time tango became less vilified and rose to a more accurate degree of representation in the festival. (Denniston)


Cosquín features several symbols and themes with explicit ties to Argentine and Indian folklore. These serve to solidify the strong sense of representing and promoting the country’s proprietary culture. Many have distinctly anti-Spanish roots, and serve as a reminder of Argentina’s colonial past (Spanish rule ended in the early nineteenth century.)

The festival grounds feature a stage built in 2001, with seating for about 10,000 and two stages that revolve, speeding up time between acts. The stage is named for Atahualpa Yapanqui (Héctor Roberto Chavero Aramburo), perhaps Argentina’s most prominent and influential folk musician. (Jones) Aramburo’s adopted name comes from those of two Incan kings, and makes clear his populist standing (he was a communist for about 20 years, and his popularity and radio play increased greatly only when he ended his affiliation.) (Tiempos)






Every year a trophy is awarded to those who have made significant contributions to folklore. It is named for a folk hero, Casique Camin. Camin is said to have killed a Spaniard who was after his wife and died at the hands of the slain man’s compañeros. The story takes place in the immediate vicinity of the festival.

The festival has its own rallying cry, of sorts, as well as a theme or fight song. Each evening of the festival begins with a performance and interpretation of the “Himno”, followed by the cheer “Aquí Cosquín. Capital de Folklore”, with the last syllable of each of the first two words substantially elongated. Even outside of the festival, it is used as a sort of identifier. Many YouTube (as well as blog) commenters used the phrase to demonstrate that they were Cosquín attendees and fans. The “himno” performances can be seen in the following videos. They are incredibly elaborate and rich with symbolism- flags, livestock, soccer, dress of all varieties. The musical arrangements (as well as choreography) seem to mix modern musics- electric guitars and electronic sounds- with the traditional.

See also this video for another performance of the himno.

In spite of these numerous anti-colonial symbols, there are strong public and private efforts to encourage tourists to come to the festival. In fact, the majority of English-language internet search returns were tourism pages, this despite the general Latin-American sentiment (egged on by Hugo Chavez’s calls for a “second independence”) (Economist, 2009) that the United States are a colonialist threat. This demonstrates a certain confidence in the integrity of the culture.

Clearly, Cosquín is a very special experience for attendees and performers alike. Responding to the earlier posted Cosquin trailer, one Youtube commenter wrote: “It gives me good bumps… when [the main plaza] is empty you can feel the applause… it’s my dream and that of every artist to rise to that stage.” (Youtube) By elevating folk music to such a prominent stage, aspiring musicians are given even concrete motivation to pursue their music. Furthermore, in the days leading up to the official festival, Cosquin hosts “Pre-Cosquin” a showcase of rising and regional talent from throughout the country. These artists are selected at official auditions held throughout the country in the three months before the festival.

The Cosquín National Folklore Festival is an amazing microcosm of Argentine culture, aggregating and synthesizing hundreds of years and millions of people into a rich sampling of all that tradition Argentina chooses to present. Frey (1994) indirectly points out that music festivals encourage independent artistic expression because there are so few explicit expectations, and so many other acts serving as infrastructure- supporting each other. Cosquín’s massive collection of Argentinean folklore allows artists to explore their own culture with and in front of their peers. In doing so, it stokes the people’s nationalist sentiments, and gives Argentines both a symbol, something they can be proud of, and an anchor, which they can look to as their country and culture interacts with the rest of the world. It also gives would-be folk artists a stage to aspire to, and a sense of purpose and acceptance, in their pursuit of a personal interpretation of traditional Argentine folk culture.

See also:
www.aquicosquin.org
Has an amazing collection of information, pictures, etc. Go to Gallería for pictures, posters, videos, and the like.

A couple Buenos Aires Festivals: Pepsi Fest and PersonalFest. Both are corporate sponsored and pop-music focused, bringing bands from around the world.

Cosquin Rock is Cosquin's rebellious nephew. It features rock bands of all kinds, and a very different crowd and culture.

Works Cited:
"Bolívar's continent." Economist, 13 Nov. 2009. Web. 14 Nov. 2009. .
"Cosquin 2009 Trailer." Cosquin 2009 Trailer. Youtube, 5 Jan. 2009. Web. 20 Oct. 2009. .
Denniston, Christine. "The Dark Age of Tango." The History of Tango - 150 years of Tango Dance and Music History. History-of-Tango.com, 2003. Web. 14 Nov. 2009. .
(I recognize that this is merely a website, however, I researched Denniston and she is the world's most prominent tango scholar.)
"Divididos, la aplanadora del folk." Rolling Stone, 22 Jan. 2008. Web. 12 Nov. 2009. .
"El Payador Perseguido." Tiempos 30 Jan. 2005: 4-5. Print.
Florine, Jane. "EL FESTIVAL NACIONAL DE FOLKLORE Y LA BÚSQUEDA DE IDENTIDAD NACIONAL ARGENTINA." Anais do V Congresso Latinoamericano da Associação Internacional para o Estudo da Música Popular: 1-7. Print.
Frey, Bruno S. "The Economics of Music Festivals." Journal off Cultural Economics 18.1 (1994): 29-39. Print.
Jones, Dennis. "Aquiii Cosquiiin." Americas 2009: 60-63. Print.
"National Festival of Folklore." 2009. Web. 20 Oct. 2009. .

Frey: Economics of Music Festivals

After struggling with ILL, this article came through.

Frey’s article attempts to identify why music festivals (particularly opera- and classical-focused festivals) are so prominent in Europe. He identifies a couple less significant reasons, which are the most relevant to my paper of those he discussed. Firstly, for attendees, there are advantages in economies of scope, and transaction costs. Patrons often go to these festivals as part of a vacation, which is often booked by a travel agent. Thus, they can simplify the ticket buying process (by having an agent handle it) and get both culture and a vacation. The crux of Frey’s argument is economic, and specific to the labor climate in Europe. Festivals liberate promoters from the strict laws that dictate payment, hiring and firing, and the like of laborers, artists, and employees. Those stakeholders also benefit by picking up extra work. The only other interesting point Frey made was that government subsidies often lead to deficits, because they tend to remove incentives for revenue maximization.

Comments Response

Christie, I'm glad that you pointed towards Yoni's comments about politics. I'm going to go back and relisten to the interview, and likely follow up with him, about his point about politicization of such events in Argentina. This will be useful in looking at Cosquin, which has such a strong meaning for national identity. I've not yet found much evidence of explicit politicization, though I think the subtleties will be the most important part.

I think I have a reasonable sense of what Argentinean festivals aside from Cosquin look like, and I've been really amazed by all the different varieties of festivals there are- both in Argentina, and as I try to compare Argentinean festivals to those in America. I don't know that American cities have for profit concert series on the scale of those in Buenos Aires. I think that that this question is as much a business and economics discussion as an ethnomusicology discussion, though. Cosquin drew me in because I don't think that any event means as much to American culture as Cosquin seems to mean to Argentinean folk culture (though I can't help but draw some comparisons to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival).

Kiri, my final, if unpublished, field notes analysis will be one of comments on youtube videos. I neglected to include them on my most recent post, but I do think they'll be quite helpful, where available.

On that note, I've been underwhelmed by the English-language body of information on Cosquin. Considering both America's particular interest in Argentina (relative to many other South and Central American countries) and Cosquin's importance to Argentinean heritage, I would have thought there would be considerably more scholarly work.

Critical Reviews

I'm still waiting on one article from the ILL, and am translating several article from Spanish. This is where I am now.

Aquiii Cosquiiin
This article published in Americas, is a sort of transect of the Cosquin music festival, with some history mixed in. Some new revelations were the sort of “scouting” of new folk music talent. Those discovered compete in pre-Cosquin, for slots on the main bill. The author also described many of the cultural offerings of the festival- handmade instruments, mate mugs, and the like being sold throughout; massive barbecue pits filled with beef, spontaneous dancing, peñas musical gatherings), etc. Ultimately, this is proof that Cosquin, for those nine days, is Argentina in one town- every aspect of the culture is present and celebrated.
(I’ll also cite the article for some of the facts and figures it included when I write a bit about the history of Cosquin.)
Source: ¡AQUÍÍÍ, COSQUÍÍJN!
Text and photographs by Dennis Jones
Published in Americas

This article, which I attempted to read in Spanish, talks especially about some of the symbolism at Cosquin. It starts by saying that symbols like these are often resurrected as pieces of nostalgia, after falling victim to industrialization and the associated loss of culture. One symbol mentioned is a trophy given to those who’ve made significant contributions to folklore. The story behind the statues model has a strong anti-Spanish bent. Other symbols include the white ponchos seen on stage and in the official logo, and a song sung before each night. The song and associated performance includes many cultural symbols, and is followed by a cheer: “Here, Cosquin, the Capital of Folklore.” The “himno” is religious, but the author references others who say that tourism is like a secular pilgrimage, and that you can’t have (religious) pilgrimages without music. Above all, the music, the symbols, and the festival itself is a means of continuing the people’s relationship with their culture.
El Festival Nacional de Folklore y La Busqueda de Identidad Nacional Argentina
Jane Florine
Anais do V Congresso Latinoamericano da Associacao Internacional para o Estudo da Musica Popular

I tried reading through a number of Rolling Stone articles about Cosquin, thinking that I could compile some conclusions, most likely from passing comments. One article talked about a rock-type band, Divididos, playing at Cosquin. The band themselves are very open about their folk influences, and opened their performance at Cosquin with an acoustic set consisting of traditional folk songs. They then played a late-night electric set. At the end of it, wearing the traiditional ponchos, they said “Cosquin, thank you for accepting us as we are.” Bob Dylan connections aside, I’d like to look at the history of pop and electric acts playing at Cosquin as time permits. Obviously the Argentinean music and culture are evolving, and how Cosquin as a symbol of Argentina is going to have to begin reflecting this as well.

Source: Rolling Stone: http://www.rollingstone.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=980918

This is actually going to be a compilation of a couple different sources. References to Atahualpa Yupanqui were generally passing, and mostly in Spanish.

Atahualpa Yupanqui was “profoundly influential” in his playing and writing, and rode the folk boom of the 1960’s (which, among others, was supported by a government mandate that at least half of all music played on the radio be Argentinean.) He was a communist and was imprisoned by Peron. TheAnnotated Bibliography, though, says he was distant and enigmatic, which seems very contrary to the feeling I’ve gotten from the festival.
Source: Annotated Bibliography of Latin-American Popular Music with Particular Reference to Chile and to nueva cancion Author(s): Jan Fairley Source: Popular Music, Vol. 5, Continuity and Change (1985), pp. 305-356 Published by: Cambridge University Press Stable

I’d like to round this out with some articles that I’m working on translating from Spanish. Unfortunately, that is going a lot slower than I thought, and has eaten up most of my time.

Fieldnotes #2

I looked at a few videos from Personal Fest in Buenos Aires, wich took place last month, as well as some videos from last year’s Cosquin Folk festival, in the town of Cosquin.

When I looked at Personal Fest videos, I was struck by the production value of the concerts. The Depeche Mode videos featured a large LED screen with both prerecorded images, and simulcast video of the concert. The stage is set apart from the crowd with a security filled buffer. One video, clearly shot by a concert attendee, shows a sea of digital cameras in the front rows. The latter is quite common across most concerts I’ve been to in the US, and the former is pretty extravagant for shows here. (I include this only to admit my somewhat incorrect and perhaps unfair assumptions about economics and cost structure the Argentinean music industry and music economy.)

The “Cosquin 2009 Trailer”, a three minute video, includes scenes of past performances dating back to the first, scenery, artist and fan interviews. Their content stresses Cosquin’s unique features. In an interview with Julio Paz of the group Duo Coplanacu, shot in the midst of a bustling downtown, Paz says “there are northerners, southerners… here we find everyone, and we get along well.” Another performer says in an interview “there are some things that change, and some essential things, of the heart and the soul, that are common to everyone.” The artists, the producers, and the attendees have an almost spiritual connection to the festival.

Compare this to a series of Personal Fest TV spots:



They are clearly professionally produced. This video, and a number of others in the series, make little mention of the festival itself, except for the subtitles. While the videos imply that the festival is fun, hip, and youthful, comparisons to the (admittedly longer, and not cut for television) Cosquin trailer begs questions about the focus of the festival. Personal Fest, as seen in the commercials and on its website, is sponsored by Nokia. Cosquin, on the other hand is in its fiftieth year. It is sponsored by the municipality in which it is hosted, and includes a host of cultural, social, and musical activities in addition to the traditional concerts

Another video shows Leandro Romero performing for a crowd on the streets of Cosquin. The crowd varies in age and gender, and all express enthusiasm- cheers, clapping and dancing. The older members of the crowd appear to be the only ones singing along, though they do so quite loudly. It appears to be a sort of sing-along for those fans fortunate or dedicated enough to find Romero on the streets of Cosquin.

I have not had much luck finding a web presence for Romero, leading me to believe that this street performance is Romero’s only appearance at Cosquin. The organizers of the festival brought or allowed people to come in and perform their music, or as I believe in this case, popular folk songs (an assumption I made based on what I could understand of Romero’s website, and the age of those singing along to his music.) This demonstrates their appreciation of and dedication to the cultural role that the event plays in Argentina, and South America. It also makes for a much more complete experience for attendees- a full spectrum of acts, sub-genres, venues, activities, and attendees.

The Phish Essay...

I spent three and a half days at Phish’s Festival 8, a three day camping festival held two hours southeast of Los Angeles. An estimated 40,000 people came to see the band perform 8 sets over those three days. I met up with friends who came from Georgia, Massachusetts, Colorado, and Illinois, among others. The festival was the band’s first such festival since 2004, and its first Halloween performance since 1998.

The festival grounds were divided into eight campgrounds, each named after one of the albums remaining on a list of 99 posted by the band as potential “musical costumes.” For their 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1998 Halloween shows, the band covered a complete album in their second set. Surrounding the concert grounds were campgrounds for the 35,000 people who camped for four nights, complete with showers, water stations, portalets , sanctioned vendors, and multiple general stores. There was also one strip of unsanctioned vendors, called “Shakedown” by fans- a reference to the Grateful Dead song “Shakedown St.”The majority of these vendors sell their food outside every Phish concert, and some have done so since the 1990’s. Inside the concert fields, which opened about two hours before each day’s first set, there were dozens of beer vendors and bartenders, food tents, merchandise tables, and other stores selling goods geared particularly towards Phish fans.

The seven traditional sets included almost exclusively songs written in the 1980’s and 1990’s and songs from their most recent album. Of the seventy eight songs performed during these sets, about eight were written in the last year, two were covers, and sixty-five were written before the year 2000. Most fans seemed disinclined to categorize the style of music, “you can’t describe it, and that’s why we love them.” Influences include rock, jazz, bluegrass, and funk, with extensive composed portions juxtaposed with extended tension-and-release jams. Jams usually see guitar and piano work backed up by bass which tends to walk and stay focused in a much more jazz than rock-like approach, and more meandering drum play than is common for rock music. After particular sets or songs, fans tend to get excited about “the cow funk” (a reference to the band’s Vermont origins), guitarist Trey Anastasio’s prowess, and bassist Mike Gordon’s calm, funky bass work. They would regularly compare and rate songs and sets to the others they had seen or listened to- Phish, like many other “jam” bands encourages fans to record and trade their concerts as a way of gaining and exciting fans. The band generally avoids playing songs written during the years of their excessive narcotic abuse, as much for themselves as for the fans. Furthermore, some older songs whose lyrics contain drug references were performed with revised or left out lyrics. During “Run Like an Antelope” for example, the word “spike” in the line “been you to have any spike, man?” was omitted.
Their fourth set of the weekend was a complete performance of the Rolling Stones record “Exile on Main Street.” Horns and back-up vocalists, including Sharon Jones, contributed to about half of the songs, including “Loving Cup” which had been a commonly covered Phish song since they began touring with a grand piano in the 1990’s. The encore that night also featured horns and back-up vocals during original “Suzy Greenberg”. By all accounts, the accompaniment was well-received, and the band’s excitement about the opportunity was visible. Upon entrance to the concert grounds, fans were handed a mock PlayBill, the “PhishBill”, which included an essay by rock journalist David Fricke. Fricke suggests that Phish “are telling through these songs their own stories about ecstasy, madness and survival.” As with the Festival itself, the album choice was another way of communicating with and projecting to their fans with more honesty than any traditional concert could allow.
Given the tens of thousands in attendance, reasons for coming were widespread. Many are drawn by the stereotype, which is grounded in truth and in some way self-fulfilling, of Phish concerts being parties. Certainly, Festival 8 was no exception. I spoke with and observed a significant number of people who were unfamiliar with Phish’s music, and were very open about being there “for the party”. Others had been to Phish shows dozens of times, and used them all as a party, or regularly sought to enhance the show with copious consumption of MDMA, LSD, alcohol, and marijuana. However, the crowd was considerably more sedated than those common in the Northeast. A considerably lower proportion of attendees were strictly chasing the party, and while drug dealing was rampant, organized dealers were not present. Furthermore there seemed to be neither supply nor demand for nitrous oxide, a popular dissociative sold by a violent, organized Philadelphia-based syndicate. Several older fans commented that they felt like the scene was much more like the nineties than the current decade in this sense.

Many more, though, were Phish fans who came for the music and for the festival atmosphere. Common small talk questions all involved Phish- when someone started seeing Phish, which other shows they had seen that year, which festivals they had been to. The majority of the crowd was in their twenties or thirties, though some were much older, and some much younger. However, this perspective is skewed because most older fans stayed at off-site hotels, or in FV’s.
Many find Phish shows to be a special kind of community. One fan said, “I’ve never been anywhere that I feel like I have so much in common with everyone around me.” These “like-minded” comments are very common among fans. Generally, Phish festivals come at the end of a long summer tour, though this was a stand-alone event. Guitarist Trey Anastasio said in an interview that he thought it was “a response to what was happening in the 80’s [with music becoming more about how things look than how they sound.]” He also suggested that “the further away we went…. [the more people wanted go].”

The community infrastructure makes a dramatic change between traditional concerts and festivals. At traditional concerts, the community is disparate, brought together briefly in the parking lot, but still functioning within larger cities, occasionally interacting at rest stops or hotel rooms between concerts. Festivals seem to cull out the more transient fans, usually attracting only those who can commit three days, as well as more significant travel time, to the experience.

Then, a small municipality is erected, with infrastructure provided by the band and their representatives. However, even the infrastructure reflects the band and their fan’s sense of humor. Phones placed throughout the grounds were labeled “request line” and visibly not connected. Campgrounds were divided by streets with names like “Ch Ch Ch Changes Avenue”. Even in the frequently asked questions section, the municipal book of laws, fans were told, for example, “do not offer apples or sugar cubes to any law enforcement official, equine or human.” Throughout the grounds was a series of installations, pieces of art and intrigue intended only to amuse and entertain attendees. These included a metal gazebo which piped a dancing propane flame in through the ceiling, and a series of decorated bamboo oil towers which ignited intermittently. Everyday the Festival 8 Express a newspaper was published. It included information about side-events, TV schedules, reviews of the previous night’s show, and both real and parody advertisements.

The band has been very open about their excitement about festivals. In many ways, they see these as a chance to give thanks to their fans. The first unofficial festival was free, and referred to as “a large party for our friends, for our fans” by keyboardist Page McConnell. However, at Festival 8, for the band, there was also a sense of redemption. Coventry, the last festival they put on and their last show before breaking up in 2004, was a rain-soaked disaster. Cars had to be towed in and out by tractors, thousands were turned away, and tens of thousands abandoned their car on the highway and walked in. In addition to this, the band’s performance is considered one of their worst ever, and illustrative of guitarist Trey Anastasio’s drug and alcohol problem. The band very clearly wanted to use Festival 8 as an opportunity to make up for their past mistakes. Anastasio said in an interview, “The first conversation that came up for Festival 8 was about traffic… That was the number-one concern… Coventry was just a nightmare, so I apologize for that.” They were very much successful. I talked to over a dozen fans who had been at Coventry and nearly every one of them, unprovoked, commented on how much better executed Festival 8 was, “I spent 40 hours in traffic for Coventry, and about 40 minutes getting in and out of [Festival] 8. [Phish] was not going to put us through that again.”
Of course, financial motivations should not be overlooked. With ticket prices over $200, charges for camping, as well as vending profits, estimated profits are in the range of a few million dollars. However, it is rare for fans to discuss Phish’ personal financial motivation. I asked several fans what they thought about prices for Phish concerts and for this festival. One answer was indicative of the general sentiment, “not a lot of bands Phish’s size will give fans so much music for the money.” Tickets for the eight set Festival 8 cost $200, or $25 per set. Tickets for normal Phish concerts cost $50 (for a two set performance) but can resell on secondary markets for as high as $1,000. Even in this sense, fans see the band as a benevolent tax collector, only asking for what they must, not what they can, in order to continue providing the services the people want.

Interview Excerpt

This is a part of an interview with Yoni Bard, a musician and friend who studied (not music) and worked in Argentina for 8 months. We spoke briefly, and I'm glad we kept it that way, because listening to the transcript makes me want to change a lot about my approach, and the questions I ask.

YB: I don’t know the name of the event… it was some national holiday in Buenos Aires, in Argentina.And they had an obelisk down town which is really big, and they sometimes have shows at. And they closed down this really busy street… it’s like the widest street in all of the Americas. There was a huge stage, and crazy lighting, and huge speakers. And they had rock bands and pop bands, and uh… there was a guy selling beers.
SH: How much w ere tickets?
YB: It was free, it was an open event.
SH: Do you know if it was put on by the city?
YB: Yeah it was thrown by I think it was thrown by the city of Buenos Aires
…
SH: Did any performance stick out to you, either in terms of, like, how the act was or how it was received?
YB: Yeah, this one group that played, they were playing really funky, I think it was rock, and they had a really nice guitar player.
SH: Cool, were they from Buenos Aires?
YB: Uh presumably, actually, on the record yes.
SH: Cool, and so was it something that appealed to you because you have a unique music preference?
YB: No, it was for lay consumption.
SH: And were people as into it as you were, as into it, more into it than you?
YB: I’d say more into it, but I was interested in other things… I was not as big of a fan of that latin op rock as all the other porteños around me.
SH: And were they all porteños?
YB: I didn’t do a survey, but I would have to say most of them yes, were porteños.
SH: And did you go with Americans?
YB: I went with kids from my study abroad program, we had a group of like 10 or 15 and we all went down as a group and partied with everyone else.
SH: Did you feel like you stuck out as an American?
YB: Um, yeah, yeah, definitely. We were speaking English to each other. When I broke off from the rest of the group I was less conspicuous.
SH: Were there any foreign groups that you knew of?
YB: No, they were all argentine.
SH: Do you think you could make any guesses about the socio-economic mix of the crowd?
YB: Uh, I’d say this was working class.
SH: Was it on a weekend?
YB: On the record? Yes.
SH: Was it a musical event first or a party first for the locals?
YB: Musical.
SH: Were they serving local cuisine and beverages?
YB: Yes, for sale.
SH: Was it particularly expensive?
YB: No it was your typical argentine price.
SH: Did any political figures, did the mayor come out or anything?
YB: Ohhh, I wasn’t there at the beginning, I don’t think, surprisingly enough it was one of the few argentine functions that I attended which were not political.
SH: Did any of the bands seem to have a political bent?
YB: No. It was just music, no politics.
SH: What were they like and how did the crowd react to them?
YB: They were very energetic, and they got the crowd clapping, and they were pumping the crowd up with some “jabber jabber”.
SH: Was it a DJ/MC act or was it a full band?
YB: Full band.
SH: So there were no DJ and MC or keyboard and MC bands?
YB: No it was all pop and rock stuff.
SH: There was no hip-hop then?
YB: No there was no hip-hop.
SH: How do you think hip hop would have fit in or been received?
YB: Probably not been received as well? I think the music of the lower middle class and working class people of Argentina is more is not maybe Reggaeton if you push it but mostly pop and rock

SH: Did the popular bands, were they particularly “Latin”?
YB: No it was just Latin pop, man, it was kind of the same shit… Um, yeah it was all 4/4 straight eight rock. There was almost no improvisation. Um. It was certainly guitar and drum heavy. And it was pop format of songs, chorus verse chorus verse that sort of thing?

SH: Was this a particularly big or small gig for these bands?
YB: Yeah. Probably big for everyone.
SH: Were the nationally touring?
YB: No Maybe a couple of them, but most of them probably not.
SH: How long did the event last?
YB: It was about it was like all evening, maybe six hour in total.

Neustadt

Neustadt compares the Buena Vista Social Club album and film- the best selling Cuban recording artist outside Cuba- with La Charanga Habanera and their album Tremendo Delirio- Cuba’s highest selling album inside the country. Neustadt shows that the Buena Vista Social Club depiction, which insinuates that Cuba has not progressed since the revolution, is off base. La Charanga Habanera has younger musicians, performing a style called timba, which mixes Afro-Caribbean rhythms with hip-hop and rap. La Charanga Habanera’s lyrics include thin metaphors for contemporary and taboo issues like sex and prostitution. They convey a young, rebellious image of themselves, featuring condoms on their album cover, and are known for wild behavior in the media. BVSC, meanwhile, features old musicians, performing son, and its cover implies a timelessness in Cuba. Neustadt finishes by insinuating that record companies (and Ry Cooder and Nick Gold who produced BVSC) are essentially pimping out Cuban music, culture and identity for shared revenues.
DQ: Why might the BVSC aesthetic- music, scenes pictured in the movie, etc.- be more appealing to a world or US audience?

Paper Sources

Three of the Journal Articles I will be referencing will cover music festivals in general. There does not seem to be muhc, if any, academic coverage of Latin-American music Festivals:

-The economics of music festivals by Bruno S. Frey. Published in The Journal of Cultural Economics.

-DOES THE MUSIC MATTER? MOTIVATIONS FOR ATTENDING A MUSIC FESTIVAL Authors: BOWEN, HEATHER E.1; DANIELS, MARGARET J

-A History of Folk Music Festivals in the United States: Feasts of Musical Celebration by Ronald D. Cohen

In addition to scholarly works, I will be consulting the websites of numerous festivals, as well as youtube clips from them.

I will also consult reviews and reports from newspapers like The Buenos Aires Herald, and, should my Spanish prove passable, La Nacion and Clarin. (They have a wealth of articles, so pointing to one or two is premature.)

Lastly, I will look at a range- from Rolling Stone down to individually run- of websites with concert reviews. There are several as well, and i am still distilling which will be the most helpful.

Pacini-Hernandez "Dancing with the Enemy"

Pacini-Hernandez reviews the role of Cuban music in the music industry. Firstly, she describes the two major potential markets for Cuban music: world music (denoted by the valued perception of authenticity) and world-beat (more dance oriented, meaning percussion, meaning African-heavy). Cuban recordings of world music did not take off until David Byrne thrust himself as a producer into the space.
The Cuban government encouraged and subsidized music of all kinds, and particularly Afro-Carribean musics. While this was certainly not the only music whose exploration was supported by the government, it has become Cuba's chief musical export. However, Cuban musicians fall into a trap- they must appeal to the local (Cuban) population enough to gain an American (tourist) audience and these two value different things. The Cuban government has attempted to involve the process of getting groups produced to raise funds. Once groups are "discovered", they are left to navigate a complex and unfamiliar American music industry, economy, and political state.

Field Notes #1

My research has been meandering quite a bit, and has recently settled on festivals. For 10-15 years (all Good Music Festival, Gathering of the Vibes), and especially in the last five to ten years (Bonnaroo, moe.down, Camp Bisco), music festivals were a significant part of the jam band music segment I have been focused on. However, in the last five years, some of the “jam-world”’s largest festivals have made the mainstream jump (Bonnaroo), and other main stream or “independent”, but not jam, festivals (Coachella) have found great success. I wondered whether these festivals, were as popular in Latin America.
I was hoping to find some festivals that reflected what I have come to be used to experienceing. These features included on-site camping, and especially the erection of a brief community, or near-municipality. However, as with looking for bands with similar followings to what I am used to, the festivals I found were much more like concert series than American festivals.
I found a wealth of music festivals in Latin America. By far the most were in Argentina, including: Cosquin Rock, Pepsi Music Festival (formerly Quilmes Music Festival), Personal Fest, SAMC (South American Music Coference).
Cosquin is a folk festival, which takes place in the city of Cosquín. Along with the Buenos Aires Jazz festival, it is the only large scale festival that is not named after its top sponsor. It also seems to be the oldest festival in Argentina, dating back to 1961. Cosquin was originally conceived to bolster the tourism industry, and is scheduled for a prime vacation time.
Cosquín has developed into a full scale festival complete with folklorists, workshops, artist meet-and-greets, and workshops for people of all ages. In large part because my Spanish is so poor, I am having a hard time finding information about camping. I think it is safe to say that, because of the tourism focus, camping is at least deemphasized.
The series of corporate-sponsored rock festivals all take place in large cities, especially Buenos Aires. Personal Fest, which is sponsored by a telecom company, as well as Nokia, will be taking place this weekend. I will tune in to some of the simulcast, which is available on the festival website. The festival, like most large scale Argentinean rock festivals, includes American (non-South-American) bands, as well as Argentinean and South American bands. Though, Personal Fest seems particularly Argentinean focused, despite American and European headliners. The festival takes place over two days in a club that has both a sports and social focus.
The Pepsi festival (formerly Quilmes) seems to be almost entirely Latin American based bands this year. A seemingly official (though not as official as Personal’s personalfest.com.ar website) notes which countries foreign bands are from. Though last year seems to have featured bands like Dave Matthews Band and Kiss, this year’s mentions no American acts. Total attendance over several days is on the order of 200,000.
Going forward, I intend to spend time on youtube, looking at concert footage, and hopefully footage from outside the concerts themselves. I will also watch some of the Personal Fest live broadcast, and find interviewees, both native Argentinean and American students studying abroad.

Mexican Deejays

Article discusses the Mexican population in the New York area- about 300,000, half of whom are young men, many of whom came to work to support their families in Mexico. The sonidero bailes are dancehall events with a series of five, or so sonideros (DJ's). They each play half hour sets which take the same form. Firstly, a mostly pre-recorded pump-up/"lift-off", which includes boasting (especially about the caliber of their sound system). The musical portion consists of a series of 4 or 5 longer, non- commercial cumbias, over which the sonidero reads, word for word, dedications given to him by attendees. After the performance, many of those for whom the sonidero read dedications buy a tape of the performance (from the sonidero) to send to relatives in Mexico or other cities. Throughout the performance, the sonidero makes travel references (especially space travel, incorporating his use of effects to distort his voice) and jumps between Mexico and New York references.

One of the most important pieces is the sending back (and forth- relatives in Mexico send tapes to relatives in America, as well) of tapes, much like post cards. Whereas postcards tend to draw attention to something different or unique about a place, these seem to say that despite the distance, there are still cultural elements available in America.

Question: The author focuses almost entirely on the sonidero. What do you think the scene is like outside the sonidero "booth"? Also, do you think those who buy tapes make copies for themselves- why/why not?

Which parts of the performance seem most important- music, effects and sound systems, or personality of the sonidero?

Project Topic

Pending (email) replies from people I have contacted, I will be looking into some aspect of live music in Latin America. I'm particularly interested in live music, rather than studio recordings. Moreso, I hope to focus on live music that is considerably different than a playlist of studio tracks reflecting setlists.

I will look for either:
"Unscripted" concerts. Are there formal (paid concerts, rather than informal sessions) performances that feature variety in their setlists, individual songs, etc. I have a sense that popular music in Latin America is very formulaic and one-size-fits-all. But there must be a segment of popular music that takes chances and explores new ideas in a public setting. I'm admittedly biased toward American "jam bands", but there doesn't seem to be much of a "jam band" scene in Latin America. I wonder what other types of music have similar characteristics, fan bases, and/or business models.
(I know that "jam bands" is a vague term, and probably as disliked in its current usage by academia as it is by me, but it's easy to use.)

The other possibility is to look into the fan bases themselves. Are there bands or genres of music that garner cross-country/cross-continent followings? What makes these bands and these fans different than others- musically, economically, culturally? On the other hand, are there events that draw both large numbers of bands and large numbers of fans to one place for an extended event? I will also try to find some niche performers that draw significant crowds with relatively little publicity.

I'm worried that these will end up proving pretty contrived, and turn up some really obvious answers-in the case of the former- or absolutely nothing- in the case of the latter. I have contacted two bands in Latin America and three friends who have studied or are living or studying in Latin America. Communication has been slow. I have looked through some of the library's resources and found very little, so I will rely on direct communication particularly for early research leads.

If all else fails, I will look at the "festival" idea. In America in the 80's, after Woodstock, it was thought that the large scale rock festival was dead, forever. Meanwhile Jazz and Folk Festivals, though hardly attracting hundreds of thousands, and not involving camping or two-day cities, were continuing on with some success. What is the history of festival concerts in Latin America, what makes them successful, and who goes to them? Who produces them and what are their effects on popular music in Latin America?

(This doesn't show that it's been edited?)

Shelemay

More often than not, the ethnomusicologist becomes a(n often significant) part of what s/he is studying. (Shelemay became a significan part of Syrian/Sephardic Jewish music in New York, developed friendships, and more professional relationships). There are three ways that fieldworkers are often involved. Firstly, preserving tradition- multiple scholars were told they would eventually be the last living vestige of the music. Also memorializing musics, as with a book memorializing a musician (or a type of music). The third, mediating, refers to participation in the distribution and education processes. Lastly, Shelemay sets forth some guidelines for responisble and effective interaction with subjects.

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