The transformation of voices in Noticiero ICAIC in its first decade

Abstract

In this article we analyze important transformations that occurred at Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano (NIL), a Cuban newsreel that existed between 1960 and 1990, focusing especially on its soundtrack. With the aim of verifying formal permanences and ruptures in its first decade of existence, we selected editions aimed especially at covering certain annual events (the 8th of March, International Women's Day; the 1st of May, Workers' Day; the 26th of July, date of the assault on the Moncada Barracks; and September 28, date of creation of the Revolutionary Defense Committees). We tabulated the sound elements of these editions, with emphasis on the voices used as narrative resources and demonstrated how the narrator and the “musical frame” lose their relevance, while the synchronic sound, materialized in interviews and speeches by revolutionary leaders, gradually gains space. In our analysis, we identified how these changes, permeated by political meanings, indicate a progressive displacement of NIL from the classic sound form of newsreels and its approach to an aesthetic commonly associated with modern documentaries.