La accidentada gestión de sonidos auténticos: Agendas intelectuales, desafíos institucionales y conexiones transnacionales en el Archivo Musical Folklórico del Perú, 1949–1952

Abstract

Between 1949 and 1952, officials from the Peruvian Ministry of Public Education, led by the Peruvian intellectual José María Arguedas, recorded around two hundred vernacular musical pieces, aiming to create Peru’s first archive of traditional music. Despite the efforts of those involved, this initiative was unable to overcome the adverse material and institutional conditions within the public cultural sector. This article examines the process through which folklorists from the Ministry of Public Education sought to establish the first national sound archive, in the context of early public cultural management in Peru. Such efforts involved high-level transnational exchanges and cooperation between various Peruvian cultural institutions. Our analysis focuses on administrative, epistolary, and journalistic sources from archives in Peru and the United States between 1945 and 1952. We argue that the precariousness of the state cultural sector and the determination of folklorists and ministry officials to establish a sound repository despite numerous obstacles shaped the creation of this folkloric music archive. This research provides significant historical insights into the early official efforts to document traditional music and the public management of folklore in mid-twentieth century Peru.