Event

Queering Víctor Jara

Colloquium Lecture by Daniel Party

September 10, 2024 (Tuesday) — 5:15 PM to 7:00 PM

Lerner Center, 101
Penn Music Building
201 S. 34th Street, Room 101

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Chilean singer-songwriter Víctor Jara (1932-1973) is widely known as an international icon of protest song. A member of the Communist Party of Chile and a leading figure in the New Song movement that was deeply entwined with the presidency of democratically-elected socialist Salvador Allende, Jara sang in favor of leftist revolutions and workers’ rights, and against social inequality, capitalism, and imperialism. In the days following the 1973 coup d’etat, Jara was detained, tortured, and shot, first in a macabre game of Russian roulette, and later riddled with over forty bullets. While other New Song artists were detained and tortured, Jara was the only one killed. Through this heinous act, Jara became a martyr—the martyr—of Chilean New Song. 

Half a century after his death, one aspect of his life remains largely unexplored: Jara was a queer man. Within the theatre and music worlds he inhabited, his queerness was for the most part accepted or tolerated. Within the ranks of the Communist Party, however, things were more complicated. Queer men could join the Party as long as they could pass as heterosexual, but their access to leadership positions was limited. Defying expectations, Jara became a Party leader in 1972 as well as one of the Party's best-known cultural ambassadors. In this presentation I explore the multiple tensions that his queerness generated vis-à-vis the Communist Party and suggest ways in which we can listen queerly to some of his songs.

BIO

Daniel Party is an associate professor at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, where he holds joint appointments in the College and the School of the Arts. He has been a visiting professor at University of Texas at Austin, Brown University, Tulane University, University of Oregon, and University of Georgia. He received his Ph.D. in Music History from the University of Pennsylvania, and a B.A. in Classical Guitar from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. His research interests include popular music and culture of the Americas and Spain, the intersection of music, gender and sexuality, and music and social movements. He is currently engaged in two three-year projects funded by the Chilean Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation: he is responsible researcher in the project Gender Performance in the Music of Víctor Jara (2022-2025), and one of the principal researchers in the interdisciplinary project Millennium Nucleus in Music and Sound Cultures in Contemporary Chile (2023-2025).

ATTENDANCE & REGISTRATION

This event is free and open to the public. If you attend in person, there is no need to register. We ask that you join us in person if at all possible, but for those of you who are unable to physically attend we encourage you to participate via Zoom. Please use the link to attend virtually.

ABOUT COLLOQUIUM

This lecture is part of the 2024-25 Penn Music Colloquium Series. The Department of Music's main Colloquium Series showcases new research by leading scholars in music and sound studies and composers both in the United States and internationally.  All Music Colloquia will take place in Room 101 of the Lerner Center on Tuesdays at 5:15 PM.