IASA 2022 Annual Conference

Archived Voices: Sounding Social and Cultural Membership in Popular Music

Issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion are significantly larger than any discipline or academic organization. Sound archives, however, play a crucial role in determining, storing, and providing access to sound and audiovisual content that, in turn, contributes to the construction of knowledge and identities. Often shaped by available resources and curatorial processes, archives participate in a complex negotiation of social and cultural membership. This is particularly evident in the selection and preservation of popular music. In this presentation, I explore vocal ensembles from the first half of the twentieth century in Mexico and the United States such as Las Hermanas Aguila, Las Hermanas Padilla, the Andrews Sisters, and Los Panchos. Transcending nationalistic discourses, I propose an approach removed from musical genres as foundational elements, one that accounts for the fluidity in time and space of musical practices and negotiations, in order to unveil issues of social and cultural membership, race, class, and migration, and the crucial role of archives in presenting and representing cultures and identities.
 
Thanks to the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee for their work in inviting Dr. Corona to give this keynote at IASA 2022.