Pride, place, and identity: Jaime León's transcontinental exploration of identity through art song

Abstract

There are few publications at present addressing the topic of Colombian art song. In the past two decades, researchers have begun to discover and present pertinent, useful information about the development of song literature in this country beyond brief historical and regional context, but our understanding of the subject remains dim. Jaime León (b. 1921) is a virtual unknown in the music world. Yet his contribution to the development and placement of Colombian art song in the Latin American canon is undeniably invaluable. His 36 songs provide insight into Colombia's artistic values and culture, poetic development, and folkloric and nationalistic tendencies, thereby elucidating the country's position in the context of Latin America's musical growth, particularly within the art song genre. This study explores the rich wellspring of his song output with respect to his compositional style, transcontinental artistic development, and unusual career trajectory. It also seeks to place him within the context of the evolution of Latin American art song genre in the twentieth century, including comparisons to selected continental contemporaries.