Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

As any other concept, “cumbia” is a social construction. It is not an ontological entity that needs to be revealed, but rather a human creation in an ongoing process of transformation and negotiation. Far from being a type of music that has been discovered once and forever, it is a mutant category permanently made and remade through practices and discourses. In view of that, this paper does not attempt to say what is or what is not cumbia; it presents different and sometimes contradictory uses given to the term, exposes the discourses that have built an imagery on “the cumbia’s” origins and evolution in Colombia, and reveals correspondences and incongruences with empirical evidence taken from historical and musical analysis. The paper examines the significations and political implications involved in the construction of sense and concludes indicating that the actual imagery of “cumbia” in Colombia responds to a homogenizing ideology rooted in three-ethnic national mestizaje that can be traced back to the 1886 National Constitution. “Cumbia” needs to be reconsidered according to an evaluation of empirical documentation and acknowledging the impact of diversity and multiculturalism recognized by the 1991 National Constitution.

The letters written in Paris in 1822 by Wanda Morla to Domingo Santa Cruz –then residing in Madrid– are analyzed in terms of the pertinence of the letter both as a document and a statement of love. The “fortuitous encounter” in Paris of these two youngsters is studied in depth, along with the process of selfconsciousness of Wanda Morla as a person different from the feminine stereotype then current among the Chilean elite. Besides her experience of the cultural modernity in France between 1921 and 1922, in particular as pertains to music, is discussed.

This article is focused on the most recent transformation of the popular Latin American genre known as cumbia: the so-called “digital cumbia”. It has mainly developed in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Lima, Peru, where an interesting scene of artistic experimentation with cumbia and electronic dance music grew up rapidly during the 2000’. As a result this new electronic genre has attracted considerable attention from local and international media in recent years. Despite this public interest the digital cumbia phenomenon has not received much academic attention, so the current knowledge on the topic is insufficient. This article attempts to fill this gap by means of a first analysis of the digital cumbia phenomenon and its impact upon contemporary popular music.

The Peruvian writer Maritza Núñez analyzes her own activity as opera librettist considering the cultural capital that she received from her family in Peru, her music studies in Lima and afterwards in Moscow, capital of the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), and her literary activity once she settles down in Helsinki, Finland.