Remembering in intermediate links between literature and music: inter-artistic relations, memory, drums and migrations of motifs in Afro-Colombian cultural identities

Abstract

This article explores the intermedial relations between literature and music in the construction of Afrodiasporic identities, with emphasis on the Afro-Colombian context. From an intermedial methodological approach, it analyzes different forms of interaction between media -in particular between written text, musical rhythm and performative corporeality- through the comparative analysis of novels by Manuel Zapata Olivella with poems by Jorge Artel and authors such as Mary Grueso, María-Teresa Ramírez and Solmery Cásseres Estrada, and lyrics of recent songs performed by artists such as Kombilesa Mi, Robe L Ninho and the Son Prietas collective. It examines how the literary word and rhythm-especially that of the drum-converge in the creation of an affective memory and in the elaboration of cultural politics of resistance. It is argued that Afro-Colombian literature, from the twentieth century to the present day, maintains an active relationship with music as a means of cultural transmission and creation. This intermediate perspective allows a better understanding of the expressive continuity and its central role in Afro-descendant cultural identities.