Popular Music and Marchinha in the Spring Festival and other Festive Spaces in the Valparaiso Region from a Historical Perspective

Abstract

The musical connection between Elías Zamora, a cueca percussionist from Valparaíso, and Héctor Duarte, a historic “murguero” of the San Antonio Carnival, centered around the “marchiña de carnaval”, prompts the question into how this popular Brazilian rhythm became established in Chile between the 1940s and 1960s, in musical formations such as murgas and comparsas, which performed at the Fiesta de la Primavera, or in places of entertainment and social gathering. The social entrenchment of this urban festivity and the musicality of its troupes, as well as the processes of identification with globalised cultural practices and uses, are subjects analysed in the article, which are also relevant to the current discussion on festive history and “bohemia” music in Valparaiso.