Abstract

We examine the musical production of four chilean soap operas (teleseries or telenovelas) —Iorana (1998), La fiera (1999), Romané (2000), Pampa Ilusión (2001)— produced by Televisión 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. © 2024 Universidad de Chile. All rights reserved.