Inhabiting Music from Absence: Rethinking the Possibilities of Music Education in Veracruz, México

Abstract

This work is made in memory of the lives of José Ignacio Cortaza and Josué Bernardo Marcial Santos TíoBad, young musicians from Veracruz, who were murdered between 2018 and 2019. It seeks to make visible the importance they had in their communities through musical education and the lack of justice after their murders. This work involves me directly, here I expose experiences and feelings after the death of José Ignacio, who was a student of the Bachelor of Music Education’s degree at the Universidad Veracruzana where I teach. I share excerpts from dialogues recovered by way of reflection with some students (José Ignacio’s classmates) who were emotionally affected by the violent events. Therefore, this research is developed from a biographical-narrative perspective through reflection on the lived experience and recognition of meaning in their own times and contexts (Landín & Sánchez, 2019). It is developed through narrative accounts in the case of José Ignacio Cortaza, and documentary reconstructions in the case of TíoBad. It is possible to find a connection in and through stories, individual and social networks of meaning (Barrett & Stauffer, 2009) and to make visible the closeness between memory pedagogy and music education.