ABSTRACT
Singing about separation often implies the dissolution of a romance. Such partings occur between two and most likely unfold as private, painful matters. This chapter reviews the twentieth-century histories of deportation and the relationship that Latinas/os, particularly Mexicans and Chicana/os, have had with this state-sponsored technique. The activists’ entreaty for moving art and “ICE: El Hielo” are contemporary examples of the musical repertoires that implicitly or explicitly articulate the deportation lament. Papacharissi compares the power that electronic locations like Twitter have within political efforts and agendas to the power of music. La Santa Cecilia’s signals a generation of US Latinas/os living in an age where immigration law, xenophobia, surveillance, incarceration, and new media transform the performance of music without papers. The reasons for utilizing an understated musical motif derive from an understanding of earlier models of gentle, matter-of-fact musical rage. According to literary critic Christopher Dunn, the Tropicalia movement challenged musical and political orthodoxies in Brazil.
