Abstract

We examine the musical production of four chilean soap operas (teleseries or telenovelas) - Iorana (1998), La fiera (1999), Roman & eacute; (2000), Pampa Ilusi & oacute;n (2001)- produced by Televisi & oacute;n Nacional de Chile during what has been called the golden age of soap operas in Chile. Although these productions have been a fertile space for analysis from different perspectives, the musical aspect has been scarcely approached despite the fact that it is a fundamental element an audiovisual proposal. We analyse the production model of telenovelas in the context of the mass culture music industry, and the ways that allowed the socio-cultural diversity of Chile at the time to be embraced. To do so, we interviewed members of the creative staff, watched a selection of episodes for each production and listened to the soundtracks of the case studies. The analysis shows how the use of pre-existing songs was a strategy of distancing, creating dramatic worlds of local communities or times far from Chilean-urban culture and, at the same time, articulating a dialogue between the artistic needs and musical codes of the pop culture from the 2000s.