Notes on Some Trends in Contemporary Latin American Popular Music

At the start of this century, the editors of an ambitious and valuable editorial project—a contemporary encyclopedia of Latin America and the Caribbean from the perspective of Social Sciences— invited me to contribute the “entry” on “Music”. In this article, I would like to share some notes on the trends I consider significant in Latin American popular music over the past two decades. Many of the main processes discussed in the original essay remain relevant today. Their omission in the text that follows is intended to avoid repetition, not because they are considered irrelevant. In that sense, this essay should ideally be read as an epilogue or an “update” to the original. It is also worth noting that, in keeping with the spirit of the encyclopedia, both essays seek to examine Latin American processes as a whole, which inevitably leaves notable national gaps, further compounded by the author's limited access to sources and knowledge of certain regions.

Latin American popular music; music trends; cultural processes; contemporary encyclopedia; regional gaps