Analysing performance: narrative and ideology in concerts by ¡Karaxú!

Abstract

In September 1974 a group of musicians came together in Paris to perform at meetings to mark the first anniversary of the 1973 Chileancoup d'état. The group took the name ¡Karaxú! which is variously translated in performance as ‘to go forward’ or as ‘a war cry’. In fact ¡Karaxú! is a Quechuasied version of the spanishcarajowhich colloquially can be loosely translated as ‘bugger off’ but in fact meansgrito de couraje y de rebeldía(a cry of courage and rebellion). This analysis focuses specifically on a set of performances by ¡Karaxú! which took place in the United Kingdom some five years later during 1978 and 1979. It differs from other studies of the music of Chilean exiles and indeed other approaches to modern urban musical concerts by focusing on the concert performance as a whole entity. I analyse the music in performance, providing an analytical framework abstracted from participant observation work with the musicians, and focusing on the negotiation of meaning through the organisation of repertoire into a performance structure.

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