Exploring South America: Argentinian Rock and its Role in Latin American Society
Matthew Adams ’27 had the opportunity to travel to Buenos Aires, Argentina, for two-and-a-half weeks this summer thanks to the Greater Philadelphia Latin American Studies Consortium (GPLASC) Undergraduate Travel Research Grant and study Argentinean rock music and the movement that began in the late 1950s into the early 1960s.
Rock and roll music is a genre that has an interesting and complicated past. In America, it was seen as a lower form of music, interwoven within changing the political and societal landscape of the mid-1900s. But how does rock and roll find its roots and meaning in different parts of the world?
Matthew Adams ’27 had the opportunity to travel to Buenos Aires, Argentina, for two-and-a-half weeks this summer thanks to the Greater Philadelphia Latin American Studies Consortium (GPLASC) Undergraduate Travel Research Grant. The grant is awarded to students who are interested in conducting research in Latin America. Eligible students come from institutions in the Philadelphia area, including schools in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.
Adams’s research focused on Argentine rock music and the movement that began in the late 1950s and continued into the early 1960s. The era was defined by music that had stronger undertones of countercultural sentiment in the realm of politics and civil society. The idea for his research topic came from his Introduction to Hispanic Cultural Studies class, taught by Associate Professor and Chair of Modern Languages Teresa Ko, and his previous love for Argentinian rock and roll.
“I thought that it was not just a coincidence and that it was a great opportunity to pursue a project on something I like and something Dr. Ko knows a lot about,” Adams said.
Buenos Aires, Argentina’s capital city, is a whopping 78 square miles, making it the perfect place for Adams to stay the whole time during his trip. He had the opportunity to explore archives and work with organizations such as Centro de Documentacion e Inviestigación de la cultura de Izquierdas (CeDlnCl), Instituto Nacional de Musicología “Carlos Vega,” and Cámara Argentina de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas (CAPIF) to gain more historical context around his research. Adams, a triple major in Spanish, philosophy, and finance, looked at a lot of historical pieces from the times of the Argentinian dictatorship, which still shapes the country to this day.
“Rock music has a particular significance in the history of the Argentinian dictatorship,” Adams said. “I look at certain pieces of theory and philosophy to bring out a more nuanced context of Argentina’s political and economic situation.”
He also had the unique experience of interviewing people on the streets to find the origins of the genre and see if the origins survived in present-day Argentina. Adams focused on record stores and their owners to get a full scope of his research topic.
“Record stores had a cultural importance with the emergence of rock and roll in the country,” Adams explained. “It was the only medium of communication for music because we didn’t have Spotify, CDs, or cassettes at the time.”
Another place of cultural significance for music in Argentina are in cafes and others. While examining the social scene, Adams naturally came into conversation with a band named Los Títeres that was playing that evening. After speaking with band members Joaquín Baya and Tomás Martin, Adams was invited to come to a practice to learn more about them and the rock music they were producing.
“They were in disbelief that an American was looking at Argentinian rock and roll because it’s big in Argentina and Latin America but doesn’t have that much of an extension into the United States,” Adams said. “It was also awesome to see genuine Argentinian rock from our age that follows a rich tradition of hardship and struggle.”
Adams conducted all his research in Spanish. The only Spanish speaker in his family, the Galloway, N.J., native learned the language in high school and can speak and read it fluently. He also spent time working as a translator. Dominic Minicozzi ’24 also accompanied Adams on his trip.
Adams credits Ko for making his entire trip a reality. She not only helped him apply for the grant but also helped him plan his way around and understand Argentinian culture before he left.
“Dr. Ko is just as much a part of this project as I am,” Adams said. “She not only made it possible, but also achievable.”