Marimba, Territoriality and Black Identity; the power of music in assimilating and resisting = Marimba, Territorialidad e Identidad Negra; el poder de la música para asimilar y resistir

Music holds power; it empowers and integrates communities, transmits messages, propels a sense of identity, brings people together, and it impacts a massive population and an assortment of spaces that formal education systems do not reach. Exploring the potential music has can promote new forms of inclusion in which different cultural identities are valued equally. Acknowledging this, the paper explores Afro-Pacific music in Colombia as a space of assimilation and resistance in which black communities have raised their voices to counter hegemonic discrimination, and at the same time, they have reproduced certain stereotypes that delimit black culture. This is visible in the Petronio Álvarez Festival in Cali, Colombia. This Festival provides a setting to analyse the tensions between black communities, the institutional abandonment, racial inequalities, and the emergence of the multicultural discourse, through the framework of redistribution, recognition, representation, and reconciliation. Those tensions are visible in the link between race and territory; the contingency of tradition; and blackness as a cultural identity shaped the values of resistance, collectiveness, and autonomy. Resumen: La música tiene poder, empodera e integra a las comunidades, transmite mensajes, promueve un sentido de identidad, acerca a las personas, e impacta a una extensa población y un sinfín de espacios a los cuales los sistemas de educación formal no tienen acceso. Explorar el potencial de la música puede ayudar a promover nuevas formas de inclusión en la que diferentes identidades culturales sean valoradas de manera equitativa. A partir de este reconocimiento, este texto investiga la música afro-pacífica en Colombia como un espacio de asimilación y resistencia, en el cual las comunidades negras han alzado sus voces para contrarrestar la discriminación hegemónica, y al mismo tiempo, han reproducido ciertos estereotipos que delimitan la cultura negra. Esta tensión es visible en el Festival Petronio Álvarez en Cali, ...