Politics of Popular Music in a Changing Latin America: Brazil, Haiti Cuba

The aim of this project was to investigate how music shape politics in social and political movements in today's Brazil and examine how music contributes to nation-building and political critique in contemporary Cuba. The project has examined the political agency inherent in musical sounds in cultural practice and studied how musical expressions of different kinds enrich, change and reinforce political opinions, unlike existing scholarship that views the politics of music as determined by already existing social and political structures. This novel perspective is inspired by a combination of political theory (Arendt and Ranciere) social theory on relational agency (Latour) and new approaches to aesthetics and how music grooves (Danielsen, Keil and Feld). Empirically I have applied these perspectives through a combination of anthropological and musicological analysis informed by fieldwork in both countries (10 months in Brazil and 6 months in Cuba). Findings from field work in Brazil show how Brazilian popular music of different kinds shape political values, sentiments, identities and movements through affect as demonstrators sing and drum political slogans during street protests. Such forms of musical politics gain force through repetition, as political slogans are sung several times, thus creating political communities in musical practice. Other findings show how Brazilian popular music expands public discussions related to what public welfare should do, and whose voices should be heard (e.g. by amplifying the voices of blacks, women, and people living in the favela, etc.). Yet other findings have elaborated on the role of political jingles in presidential election campaigns. In short, the study from Brazil has illuminated how music is implicated in political life and practice in the country. Particularly, it has provided new insights into the role of affective engagement in political participation through musical sounds as Brazilians partake in politics sonically, emotionally and culturally at the same time by for example voicing political statements by singing together in the street. The study from Cuba has elaborated on the role of music in nation-building, articulations of Pan-Africanism and expressions of political critique. It has illuminated how musical sounds create new spaces for political participation and critique that move Cubans in new ways through engaging grooves and catchy melodies. More importantly, these findings have been contextualized in processes of cultural change in Cuba as the country changed president for the first time in many years in 2018 (when Diaz-Canel was elected) and the many political reforms carried out in the country the last years. The research project has shown how music has been a vital political expression in these processes as an expression of nationalism as well as articulating new forms of political critique. The project has also elaborated on the political potential inherent in improvisations in Cuba as studies of live performances have illuminated how musicians have amplified the space for political critique.

Prosjektet har skapt en større forståelse for den politiske betydningen til musikk i Brazil og Cuba og kastet nytt lys over de intime relasjonene mellom emosjonell og politisk overbevisning. Den har vist hvordan populærmusikkens spiller en sentral rolle i sosiale og politiske bevegelser i dagens Brasil og hvordan musikk bidrar til nasjonsbygging og politisk kritikk på Cuba. Den har bidratt til teoretisk utviklingen ved å refortolke politisk og sosial teori samt forståelser av estetikk og musikk på en ny måte. Den har også bidratt til større oppmerksomhet om de kulturelle, musikalske og politiske prosessene i disse landene via en rekke medieoppslag, intervjuer på radioen, og nylig utgivelse av en dokumentarfilmserie i 5 deler i samarbeid med Brasilianske forskere som kaster lys over hvorfor Bolsonaro ble valgt. Prosjektet har bidratt til økt oppmerksomhet knyttet til utviklingen i Brazil og Cuba.

This project explores the politics of popular music in a changing Latin America via the role of music in presidential election campaigns and nation-building in Haiti, as well as music as political protest in Cuba and Brazil. Drawing on these case studies, the project describes how the aesthetic impact of popular music both reflects and shapes politics, in contrast to existing studies that view music exclusively as an expression of political causes, institutions, and power struggles within established social movements. The overall research question is: How does popular music shape participatory democracy and contest state politics in present-day Latin America? The question will be answered by investigating how political sentiments, values, ideas, and visions are expressed and constructed in popular music drawing on ethnographic data (participant observation, interviews), media texts (e.g. Facebook, YouTube, newspaper, radio) and music texts (songs, concerts). The following sub-research questions will serve to operationalize the larger question. (i) How did popular music influence the 2011 presidential election in Haiti? (ii) What is the role of popular music in the production, preservation, and development of the sociopolitical protest movement in present-day Brazil? (iii) How does popular music express sociopolitical critique and circumvent censorship in today's Cuba? The study illuminates how music is implicated in the construction of participatory democracy by changing the frameworks of what is heard, said, rapped, and sung about a subject matter, and the people that can take a share in political discussions. This is particularly relevant for studying politics in newly democratic countries (Haiti, Brazil), and totalitarian states (Cuba), with strong music traditions and weak political institutions, as music may potentially shape the voice of the people and contribute to democratic legitimation -or critique - of state politics.