PhD | Caribbean Music Palimpsests: Embodied Action and Cultural Transmission

Juan Montoya Alzate | University of Amsterdam | Caribbean Music Palimpsests: Embodied Action and Cultural Transmission | Supervisors: Julia Kursell & Barbara Titus 

The following proposal develops a study into the ways in which the social roles of music practices are and have been transmitted in the Caribbean by focusing on two music scenes: champeta and cumbia. Champeta is an Afro-­‐‑Colombian music that has crafted an appealing milieu from the 70’s onwards while the latter has largely spread across the Caribbean and Latin America during the second half of the twentieth century. It seeks to explore how performances and music consumption in the Caribbean scenes hinge on processes of identity and knowledge transmission by concentrating on acts of transfer (performances) and identity-­‐‑building processes in which concepts such as ‘popular’ music, ‘race’ and rhythm play a pivotal role.