Contenu
When Europeans and North Americans listen to music by Latin American composers, what do they hear? What, for that matter, do these composers' compatriots hear? In The Exotic Self, Chelsea Burns argues that the national sound of Heitor Villa-Lobos, Carlos Chávez, Silvestre Revueltas, and others is as readily traceable to market pressures as it is to artistic commitments. Foreign audiences expected exoticist stereotypes of Indigeneity and Blackness, while critics at home demanded a sonic fantasy of "authentic" folk life. Burns analyzes the works of these modernist composers anew, finding much that exceeds the imposed framework of identity.