Psychedelia and Rebelliousness in Times of Dictatorship: Argentinian Rockumentaries (1973-1983)

CAMPO, JAVIER Y CROWDER TARABORRELLI, TOMÁS

Mapping the Rockumentary. Images and sounds of fury

Edinburgh University Press

Lugar: Edinburgh; Año: 2021; p. 239 - 249

Over the last ten years, we have witnessed a veritable explosion in theproduction of documentaries about music (see Boffard 2014; Deutsch 2014), whichseems to confirm, as Thomas F. Cohen suggests, that ?cinema may provide valuable information about the physical dynamics ofmusical performance? (2012: 11). In particular,rock music and documentary film have formed a somewhat controversial duet,characterized by occasional tensions and crises. Rockumentaries, the product ofthis union, have given high visibility to rock bands and brought a large numberof spectators to the theatres to watch documentary films. The popularity of rockumentaries inArgentina would be non-existent if it were not for the rebelliousness ofthe  music genre. While rockumentary hasnot become a widespread phenomenon in South America, we can trace a handful offilms made in this corner of the world that are in tune with the parameters of rockumentariesproduced under the hegemonic eye of the Hollywood industry. In this article we analyse the documentary films about rock made inArgentina between 1971 and 1986, focusing on the two most representative filmsof the genre: Rock hasta que se ponga elsol (Rock until the Sun Sets)(Aníbal Uset, 1973) and Buenos Aires Rock(Héctor Olivera, 1983), using conceptual tools from studies of music indocumentaries.