Abstract

The following chapter seeks to analyze the function of imagination as a source of performance in the case of the urban cueca scene in Santiago de Chile between 2000 and 2010. I describe the ‘urban cueca imaginary’ as a four-part constructed imaginary whereby ‘tradition’ is enacted and transformed in iconographic, toponymic, performative, and historical dimensions. Focusing on the last two, the use of imagination in performance (performatic) and in the discussion about origins (historic), I analyze the importance of the book Chilena o Cueca Tradicional (Claro et al 1994) as a powerful source of images and discourses through which the urban cueca tradition was and continues to be both performed and renewed. I examine the importance of ‘social imagination’ as a type of ‘social action’ through which music scenes are consolidated, and finally I analyze how the new paradigm proposed by Chilena o Cueca Tradicional informed the urban cueca’s singing style, known as canto a la rueda (round singing), a term that refers to the circle formation of the performers and its vocal production. I conclude by proposing the idea of ‘imaginal scenes’ as music mindscapes where images are performed and performances are imagined.