Con y sin uniforme: La música de militares activos y retirados en Colombia

Studies on the relationship between music and military forces are often mediated by traditional approaches that analyze martial music or its uses for institutional purposes. However, there is musical production by active and retired members of the military forces that is not martial, that is not necessarily institutionalized, and that deviates from the uses and themes usually associated with military music. The study of these productions enriches traditional approaches to the relationship between music and military forces. This text presents the findings of the collection and analysis of 463 songs composed and/or performed by active and retired military personnel in Colombia between 1989 and 2021, along with interviews with some of these artists. The findings suggest that addressing this type of music, which is rarely recognized as military, allows us to understand the perspective of the soldier as an individual in war and postconflict contexts; it facilitates the understanding of the relationship between institutional and noninstitutional music and the different uses to which it is put; and it opens venues for further research on the way these productions enter into dialogue with musical genres, regional identities, and the artistic market in which they participate.