I would recommend to consider the following so that you can try to formulate a strong thesis:
1- Choose one performance to analyze. You could choose one to the following performances by the famous Latin American group Inti Illimani:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8UGs0rdhq8&ab_channel=Cruza. (this one has better sound quality)
2- Your thesis could focus on how and why this song has become a world anthem of revolutionary movements and protests around the world. Your paper then will explore how the song and Inti Illimani’s performance is filled with different symbolisms and associations.
3- To detect those elements you must pay close attention to the following:
– What instruments are they using? Is it violins, cellos, electric guitars?
or is it instruments that you would associate with “el pueblo” with “the ordinary folk” with the working classes (such as the acoustic guitar and other latin folk instruments)
– What about the sound of the music? Does it sound like pop, or rock, or classical music? Does it seem to have been composed with the goal of selling records for people to dance in clubs?
Or does it sound almost like a combination between a national anthem and a traditional Folk song?
– How does the rhythm of the song reflect its message? in order words is it very fast or very slow? is it a dancing rhythm?
Or is it more like a march, therefore, perfectly lending itself and inviting the listener to join a march
– What is different about the chorus of the song compared to the rest of the lyrics? is it difficult to sing? does it sound like opera or jazz or rock? Does it even have any pitches at all?
Or perhaps one of the most striking aspects of the song is that it incorporates a protest scream as its chorus, as the centerpieces, thus allowing everyone to partake regardless of their musical abilities
– With that in mind, why is the song so emotionally powerful?
Could it be because it combines the emotional sadness and nostalgia of folk songs with the psychological power of a crowd screaming that they “won’t be defeated”?
– What are any revolutionary elements in the lyrics? Is it just nice poetry without much substance? Is the song simply giving a pretty message of hope?
Or are there specific words and imagery that makes this a song for the working classes who are uniting against the elites (capitalist or not). Although the song does not have any violence in it, could it be understood as a call to arms? a call to unite against tyranny? a call to revolutionize, to mobilize, to fight? If so, how is the song accomplishing this? Is the song utilizing a language and imagery that is similar to those of national anthems?
Perhaps the imagery that the song is invoking is similar to that of national anthems, revolutionary songs of the 18th and 19th centuries, and revolutionary paintings (I have included one below) which always bring to mind events such as the French Revolution (in which the “people united” and toppled the king and aristocrats).
