Music, Race, and Nation: Musica Tropical in Colombia (Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology)

Long a favorite on dance floors in Latin America, theporro, cumbia,andvallenatostyles that make up Colombia'smÚsica tropicalare now enjoying international success. How did this music--which has its roots in a black, marginal region of the country--manage, from the 1940s onward, to become so popular in a nation that had prided itself on its white heritage? Peter Wade explores the history ofmÚsica tropical, analyzing its rise in the context of the development of the broadcast media, rapid urbanization, and regional struggles for power. Using archival sources and oral histories, Wade shows how big band renditions ofcumbiaandporroin the 1940s and 1950s suggested both old traditions and new liberties, especially for women, speaking to a deeply rooted image of black music as sensuous. Recently, nostalgic, "whitened" versions ofmÚsica tropicalhave gained popularity as part of government-sponsored multiculturalism. Wade's fresh look at the way music transforms and is transformed by ideologies of race, nation, sexuality, tradition, and modernity is the first book-length study of Colombian popular music.Peter Wade is the author of 'Music, Race, and Nation: Musica Tropical in Colombia (Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology)', published 2000 under ISBN 9780226868448 and ISBN 0226868443.