The audiences of migrant music scenes: Contributions to a sociology of reception

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of the audiences of Latin American migrant music in Chile, examining the processes of reception and appropriation of these works and the cultural worlds that underlie them. Based on a qualitative approach, we seek to understand how these audiences relate to migrant music scenes, how they classify and re-signify them, and how they integrate them into other networks of associated cultural practices (artistic, festive, ritual). Through an interdisciplinary perspective in which sociology and musicology converge, we analyzed 43 interviews with audiences of musical events held in various districts of Santiago de Chile. The results show that there is a diversity of interpretive models through which these audiences form attachments to these musical worlds, where affective, ideological, sensory, and cognitive components converge, showing the multiple nature of the reception experience.