M�sica T�pica

The Panama Canal is a world-famous site central to the global economy, but the social, cultural, and political history of the country along this waterway is little known outside its borders. In M�sica T�pica, author Sean Bellaviti sheds light on a key element of Panamanian culture, namely the
story of cumbia or, as Panamanians frequently call it, "m�sica t�pica," a form of music that enjoys unparalleled popularity throughout Panama.

Through extensive archival and ethnographic research, Bellaviti reconstructs a twentieth-century social history that illuminates the crucial role music has played in the formation of national identities in Latin America. Focusing, in particular, on the relationship between cumbia and the rise of
populist Panamanian nationalism in the context of U.S. imperialism, Bellaviti argues that this hybrid musical form, which forges links between the urban and rural as well as the modern and traditional, has been essential to the development of a sense of nationhood among Panamanians. With their
approaches to musical fusion and their carefully curated performance identities, cumbia musicians have straddled some of the most pronounced schisms in Panamanian society.

"This book tells the story of a form of music that enjoys unparalleled popularity in a country that itself possesses instant name recognition but is very little known and very little studied. Panamanian m�usica t�ipica or cumbia, as this music is also called, is intrinsically linked to the social and political history of a sliver of land that connects North and South America while providing passage between two great oceans. I show that to appreciate m�usica t�ipica is to appreciate the development of the Isthmian crossing, the construction of the Panama Canal, the movement of people along this corridor and, most significantly, the lives of rural people living along its banks and deeper in the Panamanian interior. In this work, I draw on both archival and ethnographic research to reconstruct a 20th-century social history of Panamanian m�usica t�ipica. I examine m�usica t�ipica in relation to the rise of populist Panamanian nationalism that often equated cosmopolitanism and Afro-Panamanian cultural influence with U.S. imperialism. Notwithstanding its widespread national popularity and identification with rural society, m�usica t�ipica has infrequently been embraced as a form of official musical nationalism. Its links to Panamanian nationalist sentiment are often indirect and profoundly ambiguous. In focusing on musicians and their approaches to musical fusion, varied performance strategies, and the forging of links to both rural and urban economies, I show how m�usica t�ipica performers were not only central to the development of a sense of nationhood, but also actively cultivated performance identities that straddled some the most pronounced schisms in Panamanian society of the period"--

"A journey through the dancehalls of Panama's heartland, packed with insights, joy, and empathy! After finishing this book, the reader might ask, 'Why didn't I become a jazz pianist and ethnomusicologist?" -- Peter A. Szok, Texas Christian University

"This ambitious book innovatively theorizes the interhemispheric isthmus of Panama as cultural borderland. It deftly weaves historical research, astute musical analysis and fine-grained ethnography into a superb, engaging and impressively grounded study. This pioneering work is long overdue for one
of Central America's principal popular musics." -- T.M. Scruggs, Professor Emeritus, University of Iowa