British Forum for Ethnomusicology

Review: [untitled]
Author(s): Carolina Santamara
Reviewed work(s):
The City of the Musical Memory: Salsa, Record Grooves, and Popular Culture in Cali,
Colombia by Lise A. Waxer
Source: British Journal of Ethnomusicology, Vol. 12, No. 2 (2003), pp. 118-120
Published by: British Forum for Ethnomusicology
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30036853
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BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.12/ii 2003
and retaining spirits, or any other aspects
of bringing the immanent into their lives.
This is not an area within my competence,
but his arguments and evidence seem to
me convincing.
The other, with which he concludes
(other than a very comprehensive glossary,
bibliography, and index), and with which
we must all agree, is that the makers of
these instruments were artists who made
and decorated their instruments with great
skill, showing just how highly valued were
the instruments and their sound: "Within
the realm of El Dorado, music was indeed
the most exquisite of all things."
References
Olsen, Dale A. (1988) "The magic flutes
of El Dorado: a model for research in
music archaeology as applied to the
Sind of ancient Colombia." In Ellen
Hickmann and David W. Hughes (eds)
The archaeology of early music cul-
tures, pp. 305-28. Orpheus-Schriften-
reihe zu Grundfragen der Musik, Bd.
51. Bonn: Verlag fuir systematische
Musikwissenschaft GmbH.
JEREMY MONTAGU
University of Oxford
jeremy. montagu @ wadham. ox.ac. uk
LISE A. WAXER The city of the musical
memory: salsa, record grooves, and
popular culture in Cali, Colombia.
Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan
University Press, 2002. 416pp., illus-
trations, maps, musical examples,
appendices. Paperback $24.95.
ISBN 0819564427
One of Colombia's largest cities, Cali is
located in a valley in the middle of the
Andes, much closer to the Pacific coast
than to the Caribbean shores, but Calefios
(people from Cali) have always manifested
a strong attraction for musica antillana
(music from the Spanish Caribbean) and in
particular for Cuban rhythms and sounds.
Popular claims asserting Cali as "the world
capital of salsa" and "the heaven's outpost"
have been widespread sayings in Colom-
bia and perhaps in neighbouring countries
for at least three decades. However, before
Waxer's book, those statements had
received meagre attention in academic
circles and in the ever-growing literature
dealing with salsa. In this book, Waxer
meticulously elucidates why and how a
style of music, originally created by Cuban
and Puerto Rican musicians in New York,
became a keystone of Cali's popular
culture. Although several local journalists
and even fiction writers have kept numer-
ous accounts documenting the city's
obsession with salsa, Waxer's is the most
systematic study on the topic published so
far. Throughout the book she maintains a
"dialogue" with those other accounts,
especially with Alejandro Ulloa's La salsa
en Cali (1992), a breakthrough study on
popular culture's uses and practices, an
almost unexplored topic in the country
before the 1990s. In addition, she fre-
quently establishes links with Peter Wade's
Music, race, and nation (2000), setting up
a compelling framework from which to
appreciate the contradictions and com-
plexity of the Colombian case as a whole.
The book is divided into six chapters
plus a short epilogue, each section describ-
ing a particular aspect of the salsa craze.
The first chapter traces the arrival of
musica antillana in the city with an
impressive level of detail. Waxer carefully
explains not only the mechanical part of
the process, in terms of when and how the
music was brought but, most importantly,
the social, political and economic factors
that fixed it into the life of the city. For her,
the isolation of the region from the
national politics and flow of capital even-
tually crystallized in the formation of a
singular, eminently local, popular culture
set to mark its difference with the national
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BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.12/ii 2003
realm. Furthermore, issues of ethnicity and
class were important factors determining
the allegiance to Afro-Cuban expressions
as a sign of identity, while simultaneously,
cosmopolitan notions associated with salsa
as a transnational style placed Calefios
"in the world". Even though I completely
agree with Waxer's interpretation of the
subject, Cali's case is not an exception but
rather the rule in Colombia, where regional
identities have always played a much more
significant role in everyday life than
national ones. This is not to say that the
nation is an unimportant aspect to keep in
mind when analysing subjects in Colombia,
but rather that the tension between the
region and the nation is constantly at stake
in every comer of the country, not only in
Cali and its area of influence.
The second chapter deals with what is
probably the most important characteristic
of the local appropriation of salsa, the
record-centred dance scene. After all,
Calefios are famous for their unique way
of dancing salsa, their sometimes encyclo-
pedic knowledge of classic salsa songs and
their exhilarating energy for partying.
In this section, Waxer offers a brilliant
reconstruction of the process by which
recordings coming from New York and the
Caribbean reached Cali, relying on data
from hundreds of interviews. In this way
she is able to recreate the penetration
of records from the red-light district of
Buenaventura (a nearby port on the Pacific)
to the teenagers' dances organized in the
working-class neighbourhoods of Cali
during the 1960s and to the middle- and
working-class viejotecas, a term coined to
denote a sort of collectors' club, in the
1990s. The third chapter is a logical exten-
sion of this topic, describing the current
activities of the record collectors and their
"vinyl museums". Some of those collectors
even host their own radio programmes
about classic salsa songs that are broadcast
by different local stations, instilling
renewed interest in that repertoire.
The rise of the live scene and the flow-
ering of local bands, covered in the fourth
and fifth chapters, were to some extent
consequences of the economic prosperity
brought by the influence of the Cali
cartel. Waxer demonstrates her ability
and prudence in handling this thorny
matter, since the relationship between the
drug trade and salsa is not as straight-
forward as an uninformed reader may
suppose. In fact, as she points out, certain
aspects, such as the revival of the viejote-
cas and the popularity of old "salsa dura"
songs, are people's reactions against the
abusive economic power of the drug lords.
Chapter four provides a precious first-
hand insight into the organization, leader-
ship, musical orientations and commercial
activities of internationally renowned
ensembles such as Grupo Niche and
Guayacin, while the next chapter offers
details of other smaller, lesser-known
ensembles. In this section, Waxer places
great emphasis on the importance of
factors such as gender dynamics and age
in the formation and activities of several
groups. The sixth and last chapter is a
thorough study of the Feria, the most
important annual civic celebration in the
city. Waxer does well in placing this
section at the end, given that the Feria
(December 25-30) closes the year in
Cali, but also because all the different
actors described earlier rise to their best
to participate in the collective merriment.
Numerous illustrations, maps, musical
examples and diverse appendices illustrate
the study in a very effective way, helping
the reader to follow the argumentation
and providing valuable information for
researchers. I found some minor problems
with the edition itself, which apparently
went to print without a thorough proof-
reading. It is a pity that some misspellings
and mistaken words here and there inter-
rupt the flow of ideas. However, these
small inaccuracies do not affect the effec-
tiveness and success of the final product.
119
BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.12/ii 2003
The city of the musical memory is a
book to be enjoyed. It is an intellectually
sophisticated, gracefully written and beau-
tifully researched study that deserves a
close reading. Each one of its pages shows
Waxer's passion for the music and the
profound love and respect she felt for the
people she worked with. Her untimely
passing is a tragedy for her many friends
and for the field of ethnomusicology; her
absence leaves a breach that is impossible
to fill. However, her work stands as an
inspiration for us, an outstanding example
of how someone can immerse herself
sensitively in a music culture to the point
where she, the music, and the people who
make and enjoy that music vibrate in a
perfect unison.
References
Ulloa, Alejandro (1992) La salsa en Cali.
Cali, Colombia: Ediciones Universidad
del Valle.
Wade, Peter (2000) Music, race, and
nation: musica tropical in Colombia.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
CAROLINA SANTAMARIA
Department of Music,
University of Pittsburgh
cas44@pitt.edu
SUZEL ANA REILY Voices of the Magi.
enchanted journeys in southeast
Brazil. Chicago & London: Univer-
sity of Chicago Press, May 2002.
Pp.266. Hardback $40. Paperback
$21. ISBN 0226709418
Catholic traditions of lay devotees in
Brazil have been extensively studied by
folklorists and anthropologists. Among
them are the folias de reis, groups who
walk around in cities, small towns and
rural areas during Christmas season. They
sing, collect alms for a festival, and reenact
the mythical journey of the Three Kings
to Bethlehem. Although a good collection
and transcription of the musical repertoires
sung and played by the "companies" has
been made, Voices of the Magi is the first
ethnographical study to articulate the
descriptions of both the ritual and the
musical processes. If there was no other
reason - and there are many - this one
would suffice to secure the book a special
place in the literature on Brazilian folias
and popular rituals.
But the book can call the attention not
only of readers interested in the thematic
area of Brazilian popular culture. Voices of
the Magi deals also with some major
concerns of the anthropology of music: the
analysis of sound structures as objects
resulting from social practices; the rela-
tionship between culture and the subjective
dimension of experience; and the possible
contributions of the study of music for a
theory of ritual.
The text is divided into nine chapters,
each one entitled after a main ritual step or
a symbolic element related to the Kings'
companies: "Preparations to the journey",
"Folias", "Banners", "Rehearsals",
"Departures", "Adorations", "Visitations",
"Arrivals" and "Visions". This last chapter
summarizes the main arguments devel-
oped through the preceding parts. Detailed
descriptions of particular events and cere-
monies are intertwined with analyses and
theoretical interpretation. In the tradition
of the modern anthropological studies, the
text reflects the close relationship between
the scholar and her collaborators, as well
as her ethical commitment of solidarity
with the social groups which are taken as
object of study.
Three years of fieldwork (done in
"homeopathic doses", says the author, who
lived in Sao Paulo at that time) and the
cultivated friendship with folioes are
responsible for the sensitive observations
about people's behaviour and forms of
expression. As examples of the careful
attention to subtle aspects of the popular
120