Zalo Reyes: la rearticulación de la balada desde el estudio de grabación y la performance

This article deals with the figure of the chilean singer Zalo Reyes, trying to unveil the variables that install him as a true idol of the lower working class and certainly, as a star coming from «the romantic song» that manages to reactivate record industry after the military coup through high sales volumes, entering into controlled television, spreading the so-called «bad taste» which became a «guilty pleasure». This article also analyzes the sound of Zalo Reyes’ first stage, since his early years until the arrival of the new century, when he gets away from the mass–media to build the character he finally became and his music was performed by younger musicians. Besides, the text —through different views created around the figure of Zalo Reyes— links the earlier times when Reyes was very popular with the most recent ones, when both music production and listening have changed in many ways, although that has not negatively impacted the singer´s popularity one year after his death. Finally, the article looks into the figure of the idol by emphasizing some aspects of music production, specifically those related to live or unplugged albums that never were recorded, giving rise to a kind of open work that must be completed by the listeners according to the contents available on digital platforms, even those not official.