Last week, Volume 31 of the Brazilian academic journal Opus was released, featuring an article co-authored by Eileen Karmy, a research associate at CMUS, and Pablo Soto (PUC). Titled “From Ventriloquism to Guitar Concert: Francisco ‘Paco’ Sanz and His Variety Show in the Main Chilean Cities of the Early 20th Century,” the text is part of the dossier: Histories, Agencies, and Appropriations of the Guitar in Latin America

The abstract states the following: “This article analyzes the context of musical performances in major Chilean cities at the beginning of the 20th century, taking as a case study the tour that the Spanish guitarist and ventriloquist Francisco Sanz Baldoví undertook in the country in 1913. This artist has been recognized as a key figure in the development of ventriloquism; however, his guitar concerts, which were part of his artistic performances, have been overlooked in the historiography of the solo guitar as a concert instrument. This is particularly striking in Chile, where Sanz developed an extensive program of large-scale concerts, contributing to the dissemination of the concert guitar among a broad audience. This work contextualizes Sanz’s performances within the framework of the development of the cultural and musical industry at the beginning of the 20th century. Using press reports gathered on his performances in Chile, it analyzes how the unique nature of his artistic presentation helped enrich the landscape of musical performances, while simultaneously challenging the usual mechanisms for the dissemination of the concert guitar.” Access the PDF of the article here.

La revista OPUS la Associação Nacional de Pesquisa e Pós-Graduação em Música (ANPPOM) y puedes encontrar el número completo en este enlace.