Abstract

This book addressed the changes and continuities of the social and musical practice of the urban cueca during its recovery and consolidation process in Santiago de Chile, between 1990 and 2010. I used the approach of "urban ethnomusicology" (concepts of "tradition" and "performance") to build a narrative structure that would explain the meaning and development of this genre: 1) "Tradition, nostalgia and scene" presents a historical vision of its revitalization after the dictatorship and its configuration as tradition (when, what); 2) "Genealogy and Spatiality" explains its creation as a musical category (national, popular and folkloric), the way it produces space socially and its penetration into the recording industry (the what); 3) "Participation and performance" exposes how it became not only a musical genre, but also a renewing social practice of urban culture with specific codes, such as the "song to the wheel" (how, who).