Abstract

The musical practices of Hispanic origin that arose in Spanish-American colonial cities, whether in the institutional sphere or in everyday life, were determined by the initial social conformation and the spatial and infrastructure development of cities. This article aims to present how some of these practices were established in Asunción, Paraguay, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, taking into account the socio-cultural and physical structure of the city to question the existent tension between models, regulations and their adaptations in complex and distant scenarios such as the one studied. In the framework of Cultural Urban History, and through the analysis of Council records and judicial processes, among others, the musical negotiations that affected the soundscape of the city in public and private festive contexts are addressed.