The Exotic Self
Mexican and Brazilian Modernists Abroad and at Home
Series: Oxford Studies in Music Theory;
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Product details:
- Publisher OUP USA
- Date of Publication 26 November 2025
- ISBN 9780197792865
- Binding Hardback
- No. of pages324 pages
- Size 244x178x30 mm
- Weight 748 g
- Language English
- Illustrations 94 music examples, 15 figures 657
Categories
Short description:
When Europeans and North Americans listen to music by Latin American composers, what do they hear? What, for that matter, do these composers' compatriots hear? In The Exotic Self, Chelsea Burns argues that the national sound of Heitor Villa-Lobos, Carlos Chávez, Silvestre Revueltas, and others is as readily traceable to market pressures as it is to artistic commitments. Foreign audiences expected exoticist stereotypes of Indigeneity and Blackness, while critics at home demanded a sonic fantasy of "authentic" folk life. Burns analyzes the works of these modernist composers anew, finding much that exceeds the imposed framework of identity.
MoreLong description:
When Europeans and North Americans listen to music by Latin American composers, what do they hear? What, for that matter, do these composers' compatriots hear? The answer, historically, has been the sound of the nation. Scholars, critics, patrons, and audiences have often suggested that Latin American music either does or ought to reflect an aesthetic supposedly inherent in Latin American cultures and even bodies.
Marshaling historically informed close readings of musical text, The Exotic Self reveals the voluminous meanings of works historically pigeonholed by identity-driven assumptions. Chelsea Burns focuses on Brazilian and Mexican modernists from 1920 to 1940, arguing that the national sound of Heitor Villa-Lobos, Carlos Chávez, Silvestre Revueltas, and others is as readily traceable to market pressures as it is to artistic commitments. These composers embraced, knowingly and sometimes reluctantly, exoticist stereotypes of Indigeneity and Blackness as the price of access to metropolitan audiences. At home, intellectuals and politicians also demanded sonic fantasies of "folk" life, here understood as the authentic voice of a national culture rivaling those of the global north.
Recognizing that the authentic and the exotic are two sides of the same tarnished coin, Burns analyzes the works of Mexican and Brazilian modernists anew. What emerges are singular artists with much to say beyond the framework of identity.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Negotiating Identities: Carlos Chávez and the Trouble with Musical Nationalism
False Choices: The Elusive Promise of Música Universal
Subversion and Polysemy
Popular Music as National Music
Canción as Case Study: The Domestic Politics of Vernacular Music in Mexico
Indigeneity and Fantastical Distance
Epilogue: On Incompleteness
