Ignacio Corona - Postnational Musical Identities

Postnational Musical Identities

Cultural Production, Distribution, and
Consumption in a Globalized Scenario

Edited by
Ignacio Corona and
Alejandro L. Madrid

LEXINGTON BOOKS

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Copyright 2008 by Lexington Books

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Postnational musical identities : cultural production, distribution, and consumption in a globalized scenario / edited by Ignacio Corona and Alejandro L. Madrid.

p. cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Discography: p.

ISBN-13: 978-0-7391-1821-4 (cloth : alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 0-7391-1821-8 (cloth : alk. paper)

1. Music and globalization. 2. MusicSocial aspects. 3. MusicPolitical aspects. I. Corona, Ignacio, 1960 II. Madrid-Gonzlez, Alejandro L. (Alejandro Luis)

ML3916.P675 2008

780.970905dc22

2007028344

Printed in the United States of America

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.481992.

To Vanessa Knights,
In Memoriam

Postnationalism, transnationalism, globalization, hybridity, diaspora, and similar buzzwords have not only informed scholarly discourse and analysis of music, but also shaped the way musical productions have been marketed worldwide in recent times. While the construction of identity occupies a central position in such a context, there is a discrepancy between the conceptualization of music as an extremely fluid phenomenon (across formal or informal borders) and the traditionally monovalent notion of identity to which it has been historically incorporated. As such, music has always been linked to the construction of regional and national identities. However, current theoretical and critical scenarios that coincide in the importance of globalization have failed to account for how real or hypothetical postnational musical identities are. Taking into account that border studies in the past two decades introduced alternative (non-unitarian) conceptualizations of identity, and the apocalyptic pronouncement of the demise of the nation-State due to the pressures of globalization, this book proposes that there are ample opportunities for reflection on how the discourses of music and identity have been impacted or are re-written by these critical trends.

The chapters that comprise this volume, from either interdisciplinary or disciplinary enunciatory positions, address issues of postnationalism, transnationalism, globalization, and related topics by inquiring into how margin/center relations are re-evaluated by current music-market practices; how audiences are imagined and identities performed in a globalized economy; how music reflects and reflects upon new understandings of citizenship beyond the nation-State; how it works as a site of resistance against globalization or nationalist forms of oppression; and how the networks of music production, distribution, and consumption may (or may not) become postnational sites of identification. Likewise, several of the chapters highlight the importance of examining how the web of power and ideological relations in which music is produced and performed is inextricably linked to its sociological relevance and cultural impact. The contributing scholars, employing a variety of theoretical perspectives to illuminate and problematize these diverse issues, productively complement and at times challenge each others presuppositions, ideas, and findings. The books regional focus will provide the reader a closer look to the dynamic between the global and the local, which has consistently remained one of the fundamental themes in the expanding literature of globalization and cultural studies. The geographies studied in its four sections are: the U.S. and its musicological relations with Europe and Japan; the Caribbean basin; Mexico and the U.S.-Mexico border region; and South America, including two essays on Brazil, one the most important producers of world music in todays globalized scenario.

The seed for this book was planted on a graduate seminar on semiotic theory at The Ohio State University several years ago, in which the coeditors began a productive conversation that derived toward the cultural analysis of new trends of popular music across the U.S.-Mexico border region. These trends have in fact transformed regional genres, such as the traditional Sinaloan banda musicwhich in Guadalajaras musical hotbed of the 1990s became techno-bandaor cumbia that across the border region originated the grupero trend. These reformulated genres were originally disseminated along the migratory routes and circuits, oblivious to the re-enforcement of political borders. The specific focus on the musical experimentations of Tijuanas Nortec Collectivewhich represented yet another danceable musical hybridwas facilitated by Alejandro L. Madrids personal contact with the members of this group.

For providing assistance, valuable information, and/or musical samples, along the different stages of this project, due credits go to Colin MacQueen. Ignacio would also like to thank Maribel Corona, for her superb assistance in the preparation of the manuscript, to Aldo I. and Nadia, and to his parents, Ignacio Corona Padilla and Graciela Gutirrez de Corona, for their support during his studies at the Universidad de Guadalajaras Music Conservatory. He dedicates this book to his late mother.

This book would have not come to fruition without the formal and informal feedback of many friends, colleagues, and students whose time we have unabashedly consumed with questions about postnationalism. Special thanks to Arved Ashby for his enthusiastic intellectual support and for being always open to talk about ideas and to Margarita Mazo for selflessly sharing her ideas about multiple identity as her own work on this issue was taking shape. Alejandro also wishes to acknowledge Alejandro Madrid Solis and Ana Bertha Gonzlez for their continuous encouragement and Claudia Carretta for the precious company and love that made this book and many other endeavors possible.