The Buenos Aires Scene of Free Improvisation: An Orbital View from the Transverse Flute
By Selene Erbes
Astor Piazzolla Conservatory of Music of the City of Buenos Aires
Research Methodology
Advanced Music Teaching Program with a Focus on Chamber Music, Specializing in
Transverse Flute
Lic. Adriana Cerletti
November 5, 2024
Introduction and Definition
Buenos Aires stands as one of the world's richest cultural epicenters, home to an active, diverse artistic scene shaped by avant-garde legacies and experimental practices that often defy market logic. Within this landscape lies free improvisation, a musical subgenre that emerged in the late 1970s, drawing from contemporary and electronic music, free jazz, and other experimental forms. Characterized by its self-managed, underground ethos, it thrives in peripheral spaces through constant reinvention.
Improvisation is traditionally defined as the act of performing or creating something spontaneously. From a cognitive standpoint, it involves drawing on long-term memory and adapting it in real time. This project investigates the free improvisation scene in Buenos Aires, seeking to construct a sociocultural portrait of its evolution and current state.
Justification and Objectives
This study aims to highlight improvisation not only as a technical tool but as a generator of creative processes and expressive freedom. As Chefa Alonso (2014) noted, improvisation fosters individual artistic language and risk-taking. The goals include:
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Mapping idiomatic and non-idiomatic free improvisation in Buenos Aires.
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Compiling reliable information and contributing to the body of written work on the subject.
Research Problem and Context
Despite a vibrant scene, there is minimal written documentation on the recent history of free improvisation in Buenos Aires. The question driving this research is: Why is there so little reference material on this scene?
Review of Sources
Key references include:
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Música experimental argentina. Un pulso sónico by Fernández and Grandoso, which compiles firsthand accounts from major experimental musicians across Argentina.
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Franco Pellini’s thesis on performative approaches to free improvisation in Córdoba, offering valuable comparative insights despite its different regional focus.
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A study by Pereira Ghiena, Cardullo, and Valicente (UNLP, 2022) on embodied interaction in improvisation, emphasizing the role of the body and co-constructed meaning.
Methodology
The research uses a mixed-method approach—combining theoretical sources with fieldwork including interviews, participant observation, and document collection. Firsthand access to key musicians and researchers (e.g., Fernández, Grandoso, Pellini) enriched the inquiry. Interviews were conducted both in person and via virtual platforms, and all participants responded to the same five questions.
Theoretical Framework
Free improvisation in Argentina took root during the late '70s and early '80s, often in opposition to mainstream aesthetics. Artists such as Bárbara Togander, Ernesto Romeo, and Adriana de los Santos, many connected to spaces like Instituto Di Tella, became central figures. Togander recalls a fertile crossover of scenes and genres, particularly between 2000 and 2010, emphasizing the importance of generative artistic spaces.
This music resists commodification and instead thrives on marginality and risk. As Grandoso (2024) notes, its spirit “resists the classification of a normalized aesthetic.” Pellini (2023) further asserts that free improvisation emerged not from evolution, but from rupture—social, political, and artistic.
Hypotheses
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The artists are actively engaged in practice, production, and scene-building.
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There is little interest in theorizing a genre that lives primarily through oral and performative tradition.
Findings and Discussion
The fieldwork confirmed strong agreement among interviewees regarding the scene’s rich, diverse influences and its grassroots momentum. However, opinions diverged on the need for scene consolidation: some felt the community is strong enough as is; others noted that organizing is difficult due to current cultural conditions.
Interestingly, most interviewees had not previously reflected on the absence of theoretical discourse around free improvisation. The genre’s spontaneity and performative nature may partly explain this. As the research did not involve quantitative data, statistical tools were not required.
Conclusion
This study constructed a conceptual and historical map of free improvisation in Buenos Aires, validating the central hypotheses: practitioners are deeply immersed in performance, with little inclination toward documentation or theorization. Nevertheless, the research has met its core objectives—especially the third, which is the production of written material on this underdocumented scene.
Free improvisation in Buenos Aires remains a fluid, ever-evolving form. It transcends musical norms, builds interdisciplinary connections, and fosters community through its openness and experimental ethos. Rooted in oral and sonic traditions, it continues to shape new ways of making and understanding music—driven not by market logic but by a shared desire to explore, resist, and create freely.
Selene Erbes, 31 years old originally from Carmen de Areco, Buenos Aires province, Argentina, is a flutist, improviser, and teacher.
Her sonic exploration and interpretation of the flute, through free improvisation, ranges from mysterious melodies to extended techniques, noise, and dialogue with electronic devices.
https://artists.spotify.com/c/artist/1XcNiLic9ndQ1UbwCSdV6p/profile/overview
instagram.com/selenerbes