Identity in Contemporary Paraguayan Song: Exploring Meaning and Value in the Songs of the Jeporeka 2021 Project

Music, Meaning and Value in Paraguayan Song - Alfredo C Colman

Simone Krüger Bridge [+-]
Liverpool John Moores University
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Simone Krüger Bridge is a Reader [Associate Professor] in Music and Chair of the APS Faculty Research Degree Committee at Liverpool John Moores University (UK). She has published two monographs, Experiencing Ethnomusicology: Teaching and Learning in European Universities (2009) and Trajectories and Themes in World Popular Music (2018), and two co-edited collections, The Globalization of Musics in Transit: Music Migration and Tourism (2014) and Ethnomusicology in the Academy: International Perspectives (2011), and is currently working on the edited The Oxford Handbook of Global Popular Music (2 volumes) published by Oxford University Press. Her research on Paraguayan music, which focuses on guitar music culture and identity, has been presented in numerous talks, conference articles, and articles, such as in the The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Music and Culture (2021) and the Journal of the Royal Musical Association (2022). Her current research explores the social value of music participation in two comparative settings: Berta Rojas' music project Jeporeka 2021 and 2022, and Liverpool Cathedral's music outreach programme. Krüger Bridge is ceditor-in-chief of the Journal of World Popular Music, founding book series editor of Transcultural Music Studies (2015-2021), editorial board member for three academic journals, and has been co-editor of Ethnomusicology Forum (2010-2013), an Executive Committee member of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (2019-2021), and a committee member of the British Forum for Ethnomusicology (2008-2011).
Sonia Valiente [+-]
Musician/National Conservatory of Music, Paraguay
Sonia Valiente is a professional musician, who began her musical studies with her grandfather, the composer and bandoneon player, César Medina, and completed her formal music education as a pianist at the Ateneo Paraguayo, as a cellist at the Conservatory of Music of the Catholic University, and with other prominent Paraguayan and foreign teachers. Valiente has 20 years teaching experience, of which she has dedicated 18 years to the National Conservatory of Music, where she works as a Professor of Theory and Music Performance and Head of Music until today. Since 2006, Valiente teaches classes in Audio Perception and Music Theory and Practice at the Conservatory of Music of the Catholic University "Nuestra Señora de la Asunción". Valiente also works for the classical guitarist Berta Rojas in her capacity as Community Manager. She has published several educational books on music theory, aural training and sightreading, and received several commendations, including the Distinction of Honor “Professor of the Year” by the National Conservatory of Music at the Guaraní Cultural Center (2003), a recognition by the Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola for her advice and accompaniment during the Bicentennial celebrations (2011), and a Recognition by CoNaMu for her collaboration in facilitating the educational meeting held with the Cuban musician Paquito D'Rivera on 24 September 2012 at the Emilio Biggi Auditorium, Paraguay.

Description

This article is based on the 2021 Jeporeka project, which was conceived and directed by Paraguayan guitarist Berta Rojas as a virtual music participation and education project to promote the creative collaboration between and development of Paraguayan musicians, artists and writers through music composition, and explores the negotiation and expression of Paraguayan national and other identity through contemporary song. Due to their verbal and musical nature, songs serve as a mirror to faithfully reflect processes of national and other identity construction. Being simultaneously spaces of representation and cathartic tools, songs contain thought, language and music that serve certain interests and fulfil specific functions in the construction of this identity. Songs are like photographs that portray an individual and social groups at a specific time and place; they reflect the values, aspirations, ideas and needs, as well as shared history and memory, that individuals and social groups consciously or unconsciously have at a specific moment in time. Informed by music theory and analysis and cultural theory, this article regards the songs of the Jeporeka 2021 project as a window into the present by illustrating the musical and cultural meanings and values ascribed to these songs by the participants of Jeporeka—composers, lyricists and performers—who created them under the guidance of six Latin American maestros. It reveals how the Jeporeka songs identify and connect these young Paraguayans to a set of values—social class, a place, a mood, a desire, an aspiration, and speaks of their shared history, memory and identity.

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Citation

Krüger Bridge, Simone; Valiente, Sonia. Identity in Contemporary Paraguayan Song: Exploring Meaning and Value in the Songs of the Jeporeka 2021 Project. Music, Meaning and Value in Paraguayan Song. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. Oct 2026. ISBN 9781000000000. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=44104. Date accessed: 29 Mar 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.44104. Oct 2026

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