La improvisación libre en Latinoamérica
Improvisation in Latin America, rather than “Latin American improvisation”.
I initiated this project in 2021 and designed it with the sociologist Dr. Silvana Figueroa-Dreher, whose doctoral research and book Improvisieren (Springer VS, 2016) study musical improvisation from a sociological perspective. We first met in 2017, at a conference on improvisation and philosophy in Berlin.
The aim was to make the improvisation scenes of Latin America visible, to let the people who build them speak, and to strengthen the links between them. After an introduction by Silvana and me, four curators each shaped one session with a carte blanche and invited artists from the scenes they know: Wilfrido Terrazas (Mexico), Ricardo Arias (Colombia), Alexis Perepelycia (Argentina) and Wade Matthews (Spain), who has given concerts and workshops across Latin America for many years. A round table of the six of us closed the series.
All sessions were broadcast live and remain online.
- Concept
- Diego Kohn
- Coordination
- Diego Kohn, Dr. Silvana Figueroa-Dreher
- Curators
- Wilfrido Terrazas, Ricardo Arias, Alexis Perepelycia, Wade Matthews
- Format
- Six online sessions: talks, conversations and a round table, each open to questions from the audience
- Broadcast
- Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá
- Support
- Ibermúsicas
The six sessions
Diego Kohn and Dr. Silvana Figueroa-Dreher. I spoke about the questions behind the project, from my experience of teaching improvisation in academic settings. Silvana presented her research on musical material, interaction and attitude in improvisation.
«Emerger y transformaciones de una escena multiforme» (emergence and transformations of a multiform scene). Wilfrido Terrazas in conversation with Remi Álvarez, Adriana Camacho, Bárbara Lázara, Juanjosé Rivas, Ana Ruiz and Fernando Vigueras.
Ricardo Arias and Ana Ruiz Valencia on the practice of improvisation and the skills, or «pericias», it asks of those who practise it.
«Derivas estéticas en torno a la improvisación libre» (aesthetic drifts around improvisation). Alexis Perepelycia and Fabiana Galante.
«La situación actual para las improvisadoras en América Latina» (the current situation for women improvisers in Latin America). Wade Matthews in conversation with Adriana Camacho, Agnes Paz, Juanita Delgado, Natalia Pérez Turner, Renata Román, Antonia Valladares Fischer and Fabiana Galante.
Diego Kohn, Silvana Figueroa-Dreher, Wilfrido Terrazas, Ricardo Arias, Alexis Perepelycia and Wade Matthews look back on the series and discuss where the scenes could go next.
All six sessions on YouTube (in Spanish)
From the round table
Identity, centres and peripheries, the place of improvisation in universities, and how to keep small scenes alive were the threads that ran through the closing conversation.
«No hay improvisación latinoamericana, porque tampoco la hay francesa, ni alemana, ni española ni inglesa.»
“There is no Latin American improvisation, just as there is no French, German, Spanish or English improvisation.” Wade Matthews
«¿No se supone que somos libres? ¿No se supone que somos iguales? Entonces, ¿por qué seguimos siendo la periferia?»
“Aren’t we supposed to be free? Aren’t we supposed to be equal? Then why are we still the periphery?” Wilfrido Terrazas
«Nosotros conocemos sobre ellos, pero ellos no conocen lo que pasa por Latinoamérica.»
“We know about them, but they don’t know what is happening in Latin America.” Diego Kohn
What came out of it
The encounters of 2022 led to further collaborations. Silvana Figueroa-Dreher, Wilfrido Terrazas, Alexis Perepelycia and I are behind the symposium Improvisar como práctica crítica at the 59th International Congress of Americanists in Medellín, Colombia (5–9 July 2027). Silvana Figueroa-Dreher and Wilfrido Terrazas coordinate it. The symposium asks whether there are practices or perspectives of improvisation specific to Latin America, and invites researchers and artists from music and other disciplines. The call for individual papers is open until 31 January 2027.
- Symposium
- Improvisar como práctica crítica, ICA 2027
- Network
- Collaborations · Opening talk (Talks & Writings)
Visual identity
Announcements for each session. Design: David Alexander Rodríguez Moreno, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Universidad de los Andes
Credits
- Concept, initiative
- Diego Kohn
- Coordination
- Diego Kohn, Dr. Silvana Figueroa-Dreher
- Curators
- Wilfrido Terrazas, Ricardo Arias, Alexis Perepelycia, Wade Matthews
- Guests
- Remi Álvarez, Adriana Camacho, Juanita Delgado, Fabiana Galante, Bárbara Lázara, Agnes Paz, Natalia Pérez Turner, Juanjosé Rivas, Renata Román, Ana Ruiz, Ana Ruiz Valencia, Antonia Valladares Fischer, Fernando Vigueras
- Broadcast, design, website
- David Alexander Rodríguez Moreno, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Universidad de los Andes
- Supported by
- Ibermúsicas · Universidad de los Andes, Faculty of Arts and Humanities (Departments of Art and Music)
- Stills
- From the recordings of the sessions