The tumultuous years: the 1970s through the late ’80s

The audience (or advocates) of nueva canción continued to expand in the early 1970s as the music became an increasingly potent political force. In Argentina, Mercedes Sosa emerged as one of the most popular artists, passionately reinterpreting the songs of others to deliver a powerful populist message. In Nicaragua the songs of nueva canción musicians Carlos Godoy and his brother Luis Enrique Mejía Godoy were especially effective in rallying the nonreading rural public to join the Sandinistas’ mission to overthrow the long-standing dictatorship of the Somoza family. In a manner uncharacteristic of most nueva canción, some of the Godoys’ songs contained undisguised calls to arms and guides for building weapons. Meanwhile, nueva trova singers in postrevolutionary Cuba championed the revolutionary cause of other Latin American groups, such as the guerrillas of El Salvador in their struggle throughout the 1970s and early ’80s to topple a totalitarian regime.

With the exception of the Cuban administration, which generally supported the populist message of nueva canción, the governments of many Latin American countries viewed the music and its musicians as a serious threat to national stability. Consequently, during the tumultuous 1970s nueva canción artists were often imprisoned or exiled, if not killed. In Uruguay, Viglietti was imprisoned, and his songs were banned. His incarceration sparked an international outcry, however, and the government consented to release him. Yupanqui was repeatedly exiled from Argentina (and ultimately died in Paris in 1992). Sosa fled to Europe after being arrested by the military in the middle of a concert; she remained in Paris and Madrid for three years, returning to Argentina in 1982. It was perhaps the Chilean performers of nueva canción who were treated most harshly. In conjunction with the coup, led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet, that toppled the Allende administration in 1973, Victor Jara was tortured and killed by the new military regime and subsequently was buried unceremoniously—almost secretly—by his wife in Santiago’s general cemetery. Inti-Illimani and Quilapayún, meanwhile, were forced into exile for what would amount to 15 years. Many other musicians were jailed, or they left the country and settled in Canada, the United States, and Europe. In an effort to rid Chile of nueva canción and, by extension, of the populist sentiment that created it, Pinochet not only prohibited the performance and broadcast of the music but also banned the use of those indigenous instruments that were most closely associated with it, particularly the charango.

Nueva canción after the late 20th century

Despite the measures of the Pinochet government, nueva canción was not purged from Chile; rather, it secretly flourished as canto nuevo (also “new song”). Abroad, it continued to be cultivated as nueva canción by exiled musicians who set up their own peñas, taught, concertized, or otherwise used their music to raise social consciousness. In the late 1980s Inti-Illimani and Quilapayún were able to return to Chile, and they took with them a more “worldly” form of nueva canción that reflected a broader spectrum of musical influences. Both groups continued to perform internationally (albeit with new personnel) into the early 21st century.

After the late 20th century, Cuban nueva trova was largely eclipsed by other forms of popular music—most notably, salsa. Milanés and Rodríguez, however, assimilated elements of son (a forerunner of salsa music) and rock into their nueva trova, and they too continued to perform into the 21st century. Meanwhile, younger Cuban musicians, such as Carlos Varéla, were in the vanguard of novísimo trova (“newest song”), an updated, rock-infused offshoot of nueva trova.

Despite its diverse and dynamic character, the definitive feature of nueva canción remained unchanged throughout its development; it invariably issued a call for social justice. Chileans, in particular, continued to acknowledge the historical significance of this music and their indebtedness to its performers. In 2009 thousands gathered in Santiago to pay their respects to Jara, whose body—having been officially exhumed to determine the details of his death—was finally given an honourable burial.