“El baile de los que sobran” (Los Prisioneros, 1986): three moments of its receptions and listenings

Abstract

This article aims to reconstruct the trajec
tory of the listening and reception of the song “El baile de los que sobran”, the third track from the album “Pateando piedras” (1986) by the chilean band Los Prisioneros. Using a review of secondary literature, as well as quantitative and qualitative analysis of comments on the music video on YouTube, three moments of reception of this song are proposed: the moment of its release in 1986, the period leading up to the Chilean Social Explosion of 2019, and the receptions following the Social Explosion. The analysis of the data reveals that the song quickly and massively became part of the regional musical repertoire, evoking feelings of nostalgia and a more passive reception in subsequent listenings. However, during Latin American social uprisings, particularly in Chile, the song transitions to an active or performative listening experience, being sung and played during protests. The results lead to the conclusion that the reception of the melody is neither univocal nor static; instead, it involves different listening pragmatics (Hennion) and mobilizes different imaginaries.