Creativity, Social Relations, and Regional Wixarika Music: Venado Azul and the Strategic Use of Aesthetics

With the aim of elucidating how contemporary Wixarika people employ aesthetic creation strategies that enable them to respond to the demands of contemporary reality, in this chapter Rodrigo de la Mora will present the case of *El Venado Azul* (The Blue Deer)—one of the most representative musical groups of this Indigenous people. Over the course of nearly twenty years, this group has traversed diverse spaces and contexts: from the Wixaritari communities of the Sierra Madre Occidental to towns and cities throughout Mexico and abroad, as well as the realms of radio, television, and the Internet. Based on this premise, he analyzes the significance of musical creation and change in relation to emergent contexts—specifically those in which connections between indigenous and non-indigenous communities are intensified by migration, urbanization, and the development of communication technologies. To this end, he draws upon both ethnomusicological frameworks regarding the study of musical change—as proposed by Blacking (1977) and Nettl (1985)—and theoretical reflections concerning the social and political dimensions of cultural and musical practices within social life, drawing on the perspectives of Bourdieu (1997), Turino (1989, 2003), Barthes (1980), and Bauman and Briggs (1990). In the first section, he provides a brief contextualization of the processes currently affecting the Wixarika people, along with a general characterization of their music—specifically, what is known as "regional music." In the second section, he describes the trajectory, discography, and distinct phases of the musical project under study; in the third, he characterizes the primary creative strategies employed in the formation and presentation of *El Venado Azul*’s musical practices and productions—including their songs, albums, and performances; and in the fourth section, he describes three recent instances involving the group’s participation, wherein the strategic establishment of social relationships—specifically those linked to the aesthetic realm—serve as focal points for analytical reflection. In sum, through the characterization and analysis of a case within the context of Wixárika regional music, de la Mora offers elements for understanding the manner in which certain social actors employ aesthetic resources as key strategies for sociocultural articulation.

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