Colonialidad y poscolonialidad musical en Colombia

This article examines the construction in Colombia of some colonial imaginaries about music, among which the most important are: the imperative for musical "whitening" and the different visions of music as science. Through a brief historical journey the text seeks to show how these imaginaries contributed to establish a basis for the construction of the conflictive ways in which Colombians relate today with their music. From this point I intend to show that the postcolonial side of these imaginaries can be observed clearly in discourses such as multiculturalism and world music that nowadays force traditional musicians to be debated among tradition and innovation, inclusion and exclusion, and in some cases, desire and rejection. This dynamic is examined through a concrete case: the music of the "conjunto de marimba de chonta" from the Colombian southern pacific coast, a music that has been marked from its origin as a symbol of difference, blackness, isolation, and primitivism. Today, this music is experiencing a notorious invigoration as a result of the accelerated changes that are taking place in global/local relationships.