Collective Identity & Music

    The Chilean Nueva Canción movement was a reaction to sociopolitical change in Chile. Beginning in the face of party divisions in a polarized democracy, the musicians sought to bring unity to the nation under their common party. The movement then transformed to face the oppressive military dictatorship of the 1970s. In his book, Mark Mattern declares that “music can be both signs and marvelous aids in the creation of community” (15), and it can be argued that in Chile this was not originally the case. In Chile, a national collective identity was not created through the pre-dictatorship Nueva Canción movement rather the common enemy personified by the military government gave the music, of the transformed Canto Nuevo movement, a universal appeal that then lead to the creation of a national collective identity.

            A ‘collective identity’ can be defined as the sharing of a common mindset by a group of people. It is a feeling of connectivity created through experiencing common events or hardships. For many groups collective identity goes beyond geographic or economic commonality and embodies emotional or spiritualistic associations. It is the former, geographic and economic commonalities, which were stressed in the pre-military coup music. The music created a national collective identity present throughout much of the country in which people felt connected to each other because of their shared citizenship and the oppression their government. In this context the focus on national identity is stressed because of the extensive and pervasive nature of the movement, which was not tied down to any specific denominational limitations or specific geographical regions.

            The Nueva Canción movement’s original goal was to bring about a revival of traditional Chilean music through the use of Andean instruments and themes. Many musicians attempted to recover the past through the music; they used traditional instruments and styles as well as singing about historical events or traditional customs. One example is Victor Jara’s El Lazo which embodies the life of a rural Andean farmer. Both the Quilapayún and the Inti-Illimani, two prominent Nueva Canción groups, used native instruments in their music, including the panpipes, charango, and quenas (Mattern 1998: 40). The cueca, a traditional native dance and style of music was very commonly mixed into new songs. Artists even used past events in an effort to unite Chileans under the banner of their ancestors. Victor Jara’s “Pruegantas por Puerto Montt” is about the 1968 military attack on farmers near Puerto Montt. Jara attempted to bring awareness and sympathy to these farmers, and tried to bridge the gap between the rural populations and the urban ones. Though his music was widely heard throughout Chile, it did not necessarily create a common identity between rural and urban populations. Though technically all Chileans had the customs and histories of their native ancestors in common, this similarity was not enough to create a collective identity because it did not translate into modern times or events.

            In addition to a return to tradition many Nueva Canción musicians used their popularity for political means. Artists such as Victor Jara and the Inti-Illimani where very politically active in Allende’s Popular Unity campaign. They participated in direct promotion of Allende, including singing songs and being present at political rallies. Both Allende and his supporters wanted to unite the politically divided people of Chile under one party. However the political divisions often stemmed from both moral and fundamental divisions as well as economic ones, thus making a unified political party increasingly difficult. Many of Nueva Canción’s listeners were middle class urban citizens. In both poor urban areas and rural regions different music and social needs  prevented simple political and musical propaganda from uniting the nation under a collective identity.

            As stated before, collective identity is a feeling of commonality and solidarity created through shared experiences or ideas that surpass geographic or economic location. In Chile before 1973 the nation was generally divided into economic, geographic, and social groups. The Nueva Canción revival of native Andean music and culture did not succeed in creating any significant collective identity because, while it attempted to elucidate the common ancestral traditions of Chileans, was out of touch with modern day Chilean culture. The original Nueva Canción music was little more than a revival of traditional music techniques; it did not represent a bridge between past and present which could be seen as anything more than a popular stylistic musical transformation. While Nueva Canción can be seen as a musical movement, it cannot be denied the label of a political or social movement. Beginning with the Allende campaign and continuing long into Pinochet’s reign Nueva Canción musicians were highly political. But before the coup this political nature was generally directed towards one party. Although the musicians promoted the Popular Unity party, which in turn promoted national unity, the state of the democracy was not one in which the musicians could have much success in national unity. A long history of political division and the existence of numerous political parties left the nation, at least politically, as divided as ever despite the attempts of the popular musicians. This lack of national collective identity is present in Chile up until the military coup in 1973. After September 11th 1973 the state of Chile was vastly different and thus Nueva Canción music had a more extensive role to play in lives of its citizens.

As previously discussed geographic and economic commonalities were stressed in the attempts to create identity before the coup, emotional and spiritual commonalities created through the military oppression were the focus of collective identity after the coup. When the military overthrew Allende in 1973 the state of the nation drastically changed. Many industries were privatized and censorship and oppression soon became pervasive. The suppression and extermination of some Nueva Canción members drove them underground. The torture and murder of Victor Jara, who by then was a very well known public figure, shocked the nation and was a first step towards collective identity. In the years of the dictatorship thousands of people were killed or abducted. People who vanished in the night became known as “the disappeared” and nearly everyone lived in a state of fear and repression.

The new dictatorship became the source of inspiration for music in Chile. Artists sang about freedom, hope, and talked about ‘the disappeared’ and democracy before 1973. Though the Nueva Canción movement transformed into Canto Nuevo, a similar movement that was not associated with the older ties to Allende and thus not as severely persecuted, it still maintained much of the same spirit. As they had before the artists attempted to bring people together through song. The Canto Nuevo musicians tried to remind the nation of the freedom they had before Pinochet’s rule, a tactic similar to the Nueva Canción’s revival of Andean tradition. The musicians wanted people to feel connected to each other during a time when people were disappearing and being killed. Violeta Parra’s “La Carta” describes the emotional turmoil of finding out a loved one is imprisoned, and Alarcón’s song to liberty speaks to all people who demand liberty from their country. Alarcon also wrote songs such as “Don’t Play Soldier” and “You Come from a Sad World” which are immensely emotional and meant to evoke empathy in his audience. The songs were often emotional and realistic describing events that could happen to anyone despite differences in economic or geographic status.

Though they both tried to get people to remember the past the Nueva Canción and Canto Nuevo movements were not identical. The social climate of Canto Nuevo was considerably more chaotic than that of Nueva Canción, and thus the songs produced in this time had a different effect. The songs of the Canto Nuevo movement were more effective in creating a national collective identity because of their subject matter in their respective social environment. The music was able to create a collective identity of the shared experiences associated with the oppressive military. Most of the citizens of Chile experienced some form of repression or torment, and almost everyone knew someone who was imprisoned or killed. This common experience allowed nearly everyone to receive some emotional reaction from the Canto Nuevo songs. Though some people did support Pinochet and his military regime the majority did not, and thus this nationwide oppression made the music all the more connective which was an aspect that was lacking from the music of Nueva Canción. The persecuted Chileans came together under the common bond of oppression and used music as a means to express their sentiment. The collective identity was then in opposition to the subjugation and counter-mobilization forces enforced by the military. Chile became a nation in which persecuted masses held together through innate emotional commonalities against empowered militants and their supporters.

The collective identity in Chile, which is represented in music of the time, was created by the repression by the military regime. The attempts at creating a collective before the regime were unsuccessful because of the lack of a unifying experience and emotion throughout the country. The Nueva Canción music before 1973 used ancestral and political ties which could not bridge the differences already present in Chilean society. After the coup much of the political and social differences present before 1973 were no longer pertinent in the face of Chile’s new military state. The creation of a common oppressor and the emotional distraught that the activities of the time brought created a universal bond between the people of Chile. The new music expressing hope and return to freedom played on the citizens’ emotions and experiences and thus brought people together more effectively than did playing on their political or economic commonalities. Thus in the face of a universal tyrant a collective identity against that force can be formed, if for no other result than to comfort and maintain the emotional security of the repressed peoples.

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