Identificación del “narrador itinerante”, como modelo narrativo derivado de ¡Que viva la música!, de Andrés Caicedo

Abstract

The novel ¡Que viva la música! by Colombian author Andrés Caicedo (published in 1977) makes remarkable use of the “itinerant narrator” device to follow the thread of the protagonist’s story. The protagonist embarks on an endless day and night journey in pursuit of Cali’s rumba, amid the contrasts and ambivalences of a city filled with sounds. Rock and salsa music, noise, silences, and stridencies unfold in an environment marked by the consumption of alcohol and drugs, sex, conflict, and the decay associated with decadence, illness, madness, and death. The structure reveals the character’s psychology and desires, the relationship with the city as they walk through it ‒or patonean‒ and the transformations they undergo through drugs use and immersion in rumba and music. This metaphorical journey enables storytelling through walking: an incessant, vigilant and observant patoneo that allows the city to be known from a different perspective, making it a powerful and effective narrative strategy.