The quena in Chilean popular music: transfer and genealogy of an imagined instrument

This article presents a review of the process of transferring quena –an instrument of Andean origin– to Chilean popular music (MPCh), emphasizing its use within the Chilean New Song movement (NCCh) as a particular idea of Latin American music in which a wide range of alterities are represented, consolidated and attached to the social and popular political project of the sixties. In this unitary process, the quena is erected as a sound device, activating sectors of the imagination that promote and support a certain national consciousness. Thus, this study shows how the quena has been invested with an imaginary that is manifested in certain discursive topics. From the account of non-canonical agents of popular music, these topics are put in dialogue with musical cases that allow us to think about the place from which this instrument has been integrated into the MPCh.