Music, Meaning and Value in Paraguayan Song

Forthcoming, 2026

Music, Meaning and Value in Paraguayan Song constitutes an important new contribution to Latin American music research. The first edited English-language collection dedicated to Paraguayan music, it consists of a variety of essays demonstrating the importance of music in articulating Paraguayan cultural meaning and values. After a foreword by acclaimed Grammy-nominated Paraguayan classical guitarist Berta Rojas, whose Jeporeka 2021 project inspired the research presented in this volume, Paraguayan, Brazilian, U.S., German, and British scholars with wide-ranging areas of expertise, experiences, and disciplinary backgrounds approach Paraguayan music in an interdisciplinary and transcultural fashion that highlights socio-cultural, historical, and global contexts. Using a variety of theoretical approaches, the authors explore identity construction in the contemporary Paraguayan songs of Jeporeka 2021; the impact of Guarani culture and language on traditional, classical and popular music; gendered expressions and representations in Paraguayan music; female political resistance to the Stroessner dictatorship during the Nuevo Cancionero movement; and the role played by the notion of paraguayidad in newer Paraguayan songs.