Helmut
Brenner: Absorption und Adaption als Faktoren traditioneller Musik in
Lateinamerika
How “mestizaje”
is employed in Latin American traditional music offers insights into the
treatment of foreign cultural elements. The author suggests that two
diametrically opposed concepts—absorption and adaptation—are determining factors. Absorption refers to the
incorporation of extrinsic influences, to a process of assimilation in which
foreign elements are modified to correspond to the needs and necessities of a
native population. Adaptation refers to a predominantly unaltered appropriation
of such elements, where domestic forms of expression adapt themselves to
nonnative cultural innovations.