Abstract

SANTAMARIA DELGADO, Carolina. Bolero and radio broadcasting: Cosmopolitanism and social differentiation in Medellín (1930-1950). Signo pensam. [online]. 2008, vol.27, n.52, pp.16-30. ISSN 0120-4823.

Aiming to overcome the characteristic sentimental discourse used in the literature on bolero in Colombia, this article explores this musical genre as a cultural product linked to the phonographic industry, radio broadcasting, and the film industry. Combining archival research and data collected in various interviews, the author explores the reception and consumption of bolero in Medellín between 1930 and 1950 with the purpose to analyze the listening practices that bring about bolero’s deep root in popular tastes. The article’s central hypothesis is that at the beginning bolero’s consumption articulated local society’s values and biases, because for middle classes-radio broadcasting’s targeted audience-bolero represented a model of Latin American cosmopolitanism. Notions of modernity, elegance, and decorous were used to delimitate the frontiers with subordinate classes by giving emphasis to differences of race and gender. In spite of this, some constitutive elements of bolero and the transformation of the listening practices opened ways to challenge and to modify social frontiers, giving rise to the expansion of the bolero’s audience.

Keywords : Bolero; Cultural consumption; broadcasting; Social classes; cosmopolitan.