BAILES CHINOS Y SU IDENTIDAD INVISIBLE

Abstract

The bailes chinos ritual groups from Aconcagua Valley (Chile) are studied from a sonorous perspective in relation to the complex identity elements they present. It is possible to identify sound elements corresponding to an indigenous heritage, along with Catholic and Chilean elements expressed through visual and poetic media. Certain social strata, as shown in the literature, ignore the sound expression but not the visual and poetic expressions. This perceptual asymmetry permits us to understand why certain pre-Hispanic elements remained in a geographical place where the memory of indigenous past has been erased, and where the global society exerts great pressure. It is suggested that sound acts as an identity tool operating in relatively exclusive channels, and is invisible to the social strata that has opposed the indigenous expression during the last 500 years.