Performativity and Performance of Nostalgia: Music from the Colombian Caribbean and Migration

Abstract

The high rates of internal and foreign migration have led to the rise of musical scenes in the place of settlement of Colombians. In these spaces, people, through their cultural production and their stories, express nostalgia for the territory and reconstruct performative practices in the place of destination that allow them to deal with these feelings of being rooted in Colombian culture.This article analyzes some cultural factors in which nostalgia is rooted as a resource for adaptation to social change in Colombia. I focus on the transnational gaita scene that includes the Montes de María group circuit, Bogotá and Madrid, I observe the musical production, the discourses and the cultural practices that I call “nostalgic performances” of the Son de la Provincia in Bogotá, and La Rueda of Madrid, in Madrid Spain. The question that guides the analysis is positioned from the perspective of performance studies: What do actions, events or cultural manifestations do and what do they allow people to do? I conclude that the nostalgic performance that is projected in the musical practices, the speeches and the recreation of the festive calendar are defined in protective or resilience factors in the face of the processes of social change experienced by people and communities.