SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
On the central coastline of Chile, the vibrant port city of Valparaíso has been constantly reinventing itself for nearly two centuries. But one thing has remained constant - its music. Now a new generation is taking those old sounds and making them their own, and that's keeping Valparaíso's musical soul alive. Reporter John Bartlett reports.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTIST #1: (Singing in non-English language).
JOHN BARTLETT, BYLINE: The soundtrack to Valparaíso, the enigmatic, crumbling city on Chile's foggy central coastline, is timeless.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTIST #1: (Singing in non-English language).
BARTLETT: Boleros drift on the breeze and mingle with old-fashioned waltzes between the 42 hills across which the city sprawls.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
BARTLETT: Chile's national dance, the cueca, echoes from hillside bars and mixes with muffled electronic bass lines. And in bars and restaurants down by the port, where records pop and crackle over the heads of diners, a growing vinyl scene is taking hold among younger porteños, as the city's inhabitants are known.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CAN'T HELP FALLING IN LOVE")
ELVIS PRESLEY: (Singing) Take my hand. Take my whole life too.
SEBASTIÁN REDOLÉS: (Non-English language spoken).
BARTLETT: Thirty-eight-year-old Sebastián Redolés is a musician, historian and son of Valparaíso's bohemian musical culture. He explains that before the Panama Canal was opened in 1914, slashing journey times from the U.S. West Coast to Europe, Valparaíso was a booming stop off for travelers.
REDOLÉS: (Non-English language spoken).
BARTLETT: "Nowadays, these genres share the same spaces as hip-hop, reggaeton, dance hall, reggae, rock and roll, punk, New Wave, everything," he says. Merchants brought their music and cultures with them. And when cosmopolitan Valparaíso became frozen in time, this old world soundtrack endured.
REDOLÉS: (Non-English language spoken).
BARTLETT: "I think that Valparaíso today is defined by its music," Redolés tells me with a glint in his eye. And young porteños are keeping the traditions alive. Every Thursday evening, dozens meet on the corner of a rundown square at Bar Liberty, Chile's oldest continuously operating bar, to sing traditional cueca.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTIST #2: (Singing, inaudible).
DANAE VARGAS: (Non-English language spoken).
BARTLETT: One of the organizers, 30-year-old Danae Vargas, is a singer, dancer, composer and student of the cueca.
VARGAS: (Non-English language spoken).
BARTLETT: "We grew up with that music, and as we grew, it became part of us," Vargas says. "So the music of our grandparents is also very much the music of my generation, and we have made it our own."
VARGAS: (Non-English language spoken).
BARTLETT: "This is not a dead musical culture," she explains indignantly. "It's not something from the past that needs rescuing. It's totally alive."
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTIST #3: (Singing in non-English language).
BARTLETT: Every evening, Valparaíso's old bars with colorful facades stir into life, drawing the same musicians and loyal crowd back to their familiar haunts.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTIST #4: (Non-English language spoken).
(CHEERING)
UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTIST #4: (Singing in non-English language).
BARTLETT: And during the day, the hills ring out with cuecas, which tell the story of Valparaíso's boom and bust. For a city whose musical history stretches back generations, the sound of the future is already taking shape.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL GROUP: (Singing in non-English language). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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