“Musical Genres and Generations: The Controversial Formation of Chilean ‘Urban Music'” is the title of the article co-published by Carla Pinochet and Sebastián Muñoz in the Latin American Music Review.

In the abstract, the director of CMUS and the assistant researcher write the following: “In Chile, the term urban music is widely used among artists, journalists, and managers; however, disputes arise regarding its meaning. Through a set of interviews, a review of secondary data, quantitative streaming data, and a rhythmic analysis of songs, this article asks how the category “urban music” emerges and is affirmed in the city of Santiago. To do so, it begins with a reconstruction of the notions of musical genre, network, and generation, under an orientation akin to the theory of mediations. Subsequently, it moves towards a local genealogy of urban music, focusing on the split between rap and trap, as well as the development of reggaeton. Considering social, aesthetic, economic-commercial, and technological mediations, it is argued that, first, the notion of trap and, later, that of urban music managed to group diverse types of music, consolidating the latter as a hegemonic, albeit controversial, notion. The article concludes by highlighting that the processes of music categorization and the networks that support them are enabling devices for the production of generational subjectivity.”

You can read and download it at this link.