Rock and politics in Latin America: frictions and fractions

Abstract

Latin American rock evolved within the context of truncated modernization, shaped by states of political exception. While the initial phase in each country often mirrors the early rock scene influenced by Elvis Presley in the USA, the development of each national rock scene is deeply intertwined with the distinct paths of modernization those societies underwent, particularly during the developmentalism of the 1960s. These modernizations were complex, contradictory, and hybrid, often involving electronic influences, and occurred against the backdrop of exceptional political circumstances—ranging from Argentina’s authoritarian developmentalism to Uruguay’s democratic crisis, Brazil’s relatively soft dictatorship, and Colombia’s ongoing violence, to name a few examples. The rise of rock music on the continent is closely tied to the emergence of new youth cultures. The notion of truncated modernization helps explain both the particularities and points of convergence across countries: rock music in many nations developed amidst intense political tensions, from military coups in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile to armed conflict and social unrest in Colombia. In light of this, we propose a second hypothesis: rock music often collided with leftist movements across the continent, at least until the democratic transitions of the 1980s, when a possible reconciliation—or even the displacement of these leftist movements by depoliticized youth movements—may have begun to take shape. Rather than offering a strict chronology, this analysis aims to interpret the intricate relationship between rock and politics in Latin America. Two notable examples serve as key markers of this dynamic: the imprisonment of Caetano Veloso in Brazil in 1969, and the murder of Víctor Jara by the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile in 1973. These events highlight the extremes of this relationship between rock and political upheaval.