Alissa Vik

Project title: From nu huayno to música mestiza: New genres, spaces, and identities in contemporary urban fusion music in Lima

 Project period: January 2014 - December 2017

 Supervisors: Kari Soriano Salkjelsvik and Thomas Solomon

Short project description:

My dissertation focuses on expressions of musical mestizaje, seeking to understand the ways in which independent musicians in Central Lima stimulate social change at the cultural level. These musicians are combining traditional Peruvian music with global beats to create innovative musical hybrids, a phenomenon referred to in Peru as fusión, through which they negotiate their (cultural, ethnic, and/or migrant) identities. Although the term fusión was first used in Peru in the 1970s to describe the music of bands such El Polen who mixed psychedelic rock with Andean sensibilities, it didn’t become a trend until 5-10 years ago. Within this trend, certain musicians set themselves apart by creating musical hybrids with a social consciousness which has changed the way that both Peruvians and foreigners experience Peruvian music and see Peru, as well as the way that we conceptualize the term mestizo. My project focuses on several tendencies in fusion music in the independent music scene in Central Lima observed during fieldwork from August 2014 to July 2015. The analysis will focus on the examination of song texts, musical performances, and conversations with musicians and their audiences.

Short biography:

Alissa Vik is a PhD candidate in Spanish language and Latin American studies at the University of Bergen. Vik moved to Norway in 2009 to take a Master’s degree in Spanish language and Latin American studies at UiB, which she completed in 2011. She then taught Spanish language and Latin American and Spanish culture courses at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim until starting her PhD. Before coming to Norway, she taught Spanish in her native Minnesota and English in Peru, and has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, USA.