Toward a hybrid Latin American-Australian music scene

Abstract

It is no news that popular music plays a fundamental role in the negotiation of identities. Many academic studies have provided evidence in this regard (Bennett 1986; Frith 1996; García Canclini 1995; Grossberg 1989). Popular music provides a bridge for integrating ethnic and dominant cultures; it is a vehicle for crossing social and cultural boundaries in the process of developing a multicultural identity. In this sense, it is not only a reflexive tool but also a potentially constitutive factor in the patterning of cultural values and social interaction (Waterman 1991, 66-67), providing society with a framework for intercultural engagement in a variety of ways (Bendrups & Johnson 2011, 85). This is particularly relevant in the context of increasing cultural diversity that is resulting from greater volume and rapidity of global flows of people and cultures. This is changing the dynamics of most urban settings around the world, including in contemporary Australia.