Part of Computer Music History… (Trust Me, Latin America Has Always Been There!)

Abstract

Abstract The political and economic instability in most Latin American countries has been profoundly affecting the lives of its inhabitants for decades. Support for artistic activities has usually been postponed to solve urgent social problems. Despite that, the development in these countries of the electronic arts, in general, and electroacoustic and computer music, in particular, is astounding. Mauricio Kagel, Reginaldo Carvalho, Hilda Dianda, Juan Amenabar, Horacio Vaggione, Jorge Antunes, Jocy de Oliveira, José Vicente Asuar, and Juan Blanco are only some of the many names in the ocean of electroacoustic music creativity that has always been Latin America. Archiving and disseminating electronic art—and working on a revised version of its history—is crucial to comprehend the present and build our future. The Latin American Electroacoustic Music Collection, hosted by the Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and Technology in Montreal, has over 1,700 digital recordings of compositions created between 1957 and 2007 by almost 400 composers. The Collection has recovered and made visible (and listenable) the creative work of many composers otherwise almost forgotten. It has defied the hegemony of the computer and electroacoustic music history narrative, helping to break barriers and widening the way their history is understood.