Diálogos y resistencia: la presencia de la música española en la creación popular uruguaya

Abstract

This article examines the connection between expressions of Uruguayan and Spanish popular music, focusing on those corresponding to so-called “resistance identities”. Mediatized popular and traditional repertories are analysed, demonstrating elements of a Spanish origin used for this purpose, especially during the civic-military dictatorship in Uruguay that lasted from 1972 to 1985. The present study looks at aspects of the canto payadoresco, historically linked to “cantar opinando” (literally, singing while expressing one’s opinion), the lyric genres resulting from local re-workings of Spanish elements (cielito, milonga…) and expressions from popular theatre groups at Uruguayan Carnival (murgas). In regard to the latter, particularly symbolic cases of contrafacta are cited. Mechanisms of reaction with respect to censorship and the methods used to circumvent it, including re-semantization, the use of poetic metaphors and musical quotation, are analysed in these repertories.