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Music, Meaning and Value in Paraguayan Song constitutes an important new contribution to Latin American music research. The first edited English-language collection dedicated to Paraguayan music, it consists of a variety of essays demonstrating the importance of music in articulating Paraguayan cultural meaning and values. After a foreword by acclaimed Grammy-nominated Paraguayan classical guitarist Berta Rojas, whose Jeporeka 2021 project inspired the research presented in this volume, Paraguayan, Brazilian, U.S., German, and British scholars with wide-ranging areas of expertise, experiences, and disciplinary backgrounds approach Paraguayan music in an interdisciplinary and transcultural fashion that highlights socio-cultural, historical, and global contexts. Using a variety of theoretical approaches, the authors explore identity construction in the contemporary Paraguayan songs of Jeporeka 2021; the impact of Guarani culture and language on traditional, classical and popular music; gendered expressions and representations in Paraguayan music; female political resistance to the Stroessner dictatorship during the Nuevo Cancionero movement; and the role played by the notion of paraguayidad in newer Paraguayan songs.

Published: Oct 1, 2026

Book Contributors

• Editor - Alfredo C Colman (alfredo_colman@baylor.edu - acolman) 'Baylor University'
• Editor - Simone Krüger Bridge (S.Kruger@ljmu.ac.uk - skruger) 'Liverpool John Moores University'
• Editor - Timothy D. Watkins (t.watkins@tcu.edu - twatkins) 'Texas Christian University'
• Author - Berta Rojas (bertarojasbenitez@gmail.com - brojas) 'Classical guitarist'
• Author - Sonia Valiente (valientesonia@gmail.com - svaliente) 'Musician/National Conservatory of Music, Paraguay'
• Author - Romy Martinez (romymartinez@alumni.usp.br - rmartinez) 'Musician/Royal Holloway University of London'
• Author - Elisa Mercedes Lezcano Verón (elisamercedea@gmail.com - everon) 'Paraguay’s National University of the East/National University of Caaguazú/National University of Villarrica/Conservatory of Music ‘Sofía Mendoza’'
• Author - Miguel Díaz Antar (miguedz5@gmail.com - mantar) 'Musician/Universidad de São Paulo'
• Author - Nicolás Ramírez Salaberry (nicorasan@gmail.com - nsalaberry) 'Universidad Nacional de Asunción'
• Author - Matt Dicken (matthew.dicken12@bathspa.ac.uk - mdicken) 'Bath Spa University'

Series

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Section	Chapter	Authors
Foreword
	Jeporeka 2021 ‘Our Song, Our Portrait’	Berta Rojas
Introduction
	Transdisciplinary and -cultural Approaches to Paraguayan Music Studies	Alfredo Colman, Simone Krüger Bridge, Timothy Watkins
Chapter 1
	Identity in Contemporary Paraguayan Song: Exploring Meaning and Value in the Songs of the Jeporeka 2021 Project	Simone Krüger Bridge, Sonia Valiente
Chapter 2
	Alma Guaraní: The Paradoxical Cultural Identity of Paraguayan Music	Timothy Watkins
Chapter 3
	The Guaraní Language as a Melodic Source in Paraguayan Song	Alfredo Colman
Chapter 4
	‘Why Discriminate Against the Footprints of our Ancestors?’: Guaraní in the Voices of Paraguayan Female Singers	Romy Martinez
Chapter 5
	Stereotyping Women in the Works of Teodoro S. Mongelós	Elisa Mercedes Lezcano Verón
Chapter 6
	Selva e ‘India’: Celsa Ramírez Rodas and the Female Resistance during the New Singer-Songwriter Movement under the Dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner in Paraguay	Miguel Díaz Antar , Nicolás Ramírez Salaberry
Chapter 7
	The Paraguayan Polca: Re-imagining Tradition in Creative Musical Practice	Matt Dicken