Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.17234/SEC.29.13
Avsenik in Buenos Aires: Transnational identification processes through polka performances among the descendants of Slovenian political exiles in Argentina
Nadia Molek
; Institute of Anthropological Sciences, University of Buenos Aires
Abstract
This paper discusses the transnational music practices and political reinforcement of national identities. It presents preliminary results of a research in progress about transnational cultural practices among the younger generations of Slovenian political exiles’ descendants in Argentina. It will explore the case of Baires Polka, a Slovenian Alpine Style music band that mainly performs cover versions of the Slovenian Avsenik Ensemble, as the basis for the analysis of the ways in which descendants in Diaspora continue their homeland music heritages and then reaffirm these practices through return mobilities and newly established transnational connections. The wish to continue their ancestors’ cultural practices and their homeland-orientated commitment based at the beginning on the myth of return encouraged many descendants to musically enact their Slovenianness. The descendants in the case study have chosen to play what is considered Slovenian Slovenian Alpine Style music of today, which emerged after the Second World War and is built around the music style of just one Slovenian region (Gorenjska) modernized by the Avsenik brothers, as a way of preserving and being in touch with their roots and social memory.
Keywords
Slovenian exiles; Argentina; migration; Diaspora; transnational music practices; popular music; political reinforcement of identities
Hrčak ID:
191698
URI
Publication date:
29.12.2017.
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