ABSTRACT
These pages describe features of indigenous Otavalan culture and change as reflected in the discourse of three contemporary songs. The songs studied highlight aspects of individual creativity and repertoire within the context of storytelling in traditional Otavalan San Juan music. Galo Maigua, noted for his lyrical skills, spins tales woven from poignant descriptions of the ironies and mundaneness of quotidian life. He has created narratives that inspire enormous audience response, stories of affirmation and dissonance created from real-life images and actions that mirror cultural ethos, the deviation from which generates antiheroes. Maigua frames and performs his songs within traditional San Juan rhythms.
