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This article discusses some aspects of popular music studies in Latin America since the 1930s. It begins with a synthesis of the First Inter-American Conference on Musicology (Washington, DC, 1963), published in volume 1 of Anuario (1965), the predecessor to Latin American Music Review. It follows with commentaries on the concept of popular and an assessment of the contribution of pioneer musicologists Mário de Andrade (1893-1945) and Carlos Vega (1898-1966). Finally, proposals for future directions of Latin American music studies in musicology and ethnomusicology are presented. Sources were taken from the 2010 conferences of the following associations: the Argentinean Association of Musicology, the Brazilian Association of Research and Post-Graduation in Music, and the Latin American branch of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the conference of the Latin-American branch of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, held at the Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas, Venezuela, on June 1-5, 2010. The conference, titled "¿Popular, pop, populachera? El dilema de las músicas populares en América Latina," focusing on the difficulties in identifying genres within popular music in Latin America.

The study of popular music often loses something in translation. The musical categories used by scholars and musicians in different locations vary widely in meaning, complicating both analysis and disciplinary divisions. Genre classifications also create blind spots which leave styles falling between the cracks out of the picture, impoverishing analysis and even denying musicians certain benefits. This paper examines the use of terms such as folklórico, tradicional, popular and típico by both lay people and scholars in Latin America, then turns to Dominican merengue típico as a case study showing how musical categories are often intensely local. I argue that – because it relies more on notions of place than on the ideas of time, class, race or production that inform other categorisations – the concept of típico is useful in examining transnational ‘roots’ musics which bridge nations, classes and modes of production. In addition, using musicians' and listeners' own categories can help us to question the canons of musical scholarship, musical nationalism and music marketing, thus creating new possibilities for both scholars and musicians. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]