“UNA CANCIÓN PUEDE CAMBIAR TU CONDICIÓN” LAS FREEDOM SONGS COMO MATERIA DE AGLUTINAMIENTOS Y TENSIONES EN TORNO A LOS SENTIDOS DE LA NEGRITUD EN LA POLÍTICA AFROAMERICANA. ESTADOS UNIDOS 1955-1971

espanolEste articulo propone exponer las formas en que las freedom songs, un genero musical afroamericano caracteristico de los procesos de lucha de los anos sesentas del siglo XX, fueron producidas y puestas a circular. Ademas se pretende comprender en que sentidos las valoraciones, conflictos y tensiones que se generaron en torno a ellas, indican ambivalencias y complejidades, no solo en las relaciones entre musica negra y politica, sino en los discursos de la negritud en Estados Unidos. A partir de testimonios de referentes y activistas de las organizaciones politicas mas relevantes del periodo (sea del Movimiento por los Derechos Civiles como del Black Power) y de protagonistas de las experiencias de produccion musical (desde colectivos de cantantes a bandas) ligados diversamente a dichas organizaciones, se explorara la hipotesis, alternativa a ciertas perspectivas consolidadas, que las freedom songs no fueron traducidas automaticamente, o aceptadas sin discusion, como recurso politico afroamericano y que, cuando fueron utilizadas, sus sentidos no fueron univocos. El hecho que las freedom songs no fueran consideradas de igual forma por sus productores y por las organizaciones politicas permite pensar en una articulacion entre politica, musica e identidades racializadas menos homogenea que la que ciertas narrativas politicas e historiograficas proveen, en relacion a los vinculos entre negritud y musica negra durante los anos sesentas en Estados Unidos. EnglishThis article aims to expose the ways in which freedom songs, an African American musical genre characteristic of the struggle processes of the Sixties of the Twentieth Century, were produced and circulated, and understand in which ways the assessments, conflicts and tensions that were generated around them indicate ambivalences and complexities, not only in the relations between black and political music but in the discourses of blackness in the United States. Based on testimonies from referents and activists of the most relevant political organizations of the period (whether from the Civil Rights Movement or the Black Power) and from protagonists of the experiences of musical production (from singer groups to bands) linked differently to those organizations, we will explore the hypothesis, alternative to certain consolidated perspectives, that freedom songs were not automatically translated, or accepted without discussion, as an African American political resource and that, when they were used, their meanings were not unique. The fact that freedom songs were not considered in the same way by their producers and by political organizations allows us to think of an articulation between politics, music and racialized identities less homogeneous than what certain political and historiographic narratives provide in relation to the links between blackness and black music during the Sixties in the United States.