Salvador Allende was the president of Chile from 1970-1973. He appeared at a musical forum after his election with a banner over head that said “There can be no revolution without song” (Chapman 1998). This was the general feeling in the years of the 1960s and 70s throughout the Americas . The cultural stratification of the United States was uprooted during the civil rights movement.  The Vietnam Conflict affected thousands of people in the US urging them to speak out against the government and advocate many political agendas. The woman's liberation movement was also under way during this time period in the North America . The musical revolution in the United States was an embodiment of series of revolutions that were taking place during the time (Tumas-Serna 1992). Nueva Canción was the South American version of this turbulent time.

The encomienda system that brutalized the natives of South America during the time of early Spanish settlement later spilled over into the hacienda system that took advantage of both natives and peasants. While the hacienda system was marginally more humane, it still impoverished the majority of the population. The large disparities in wealth lead to propagation of poverty and unrest among many of the people of Chile. A version “of ‘cultural imperialism' from abroad, notably the United States and Europe ” (Titon 1992) was another irritation to masses of people who felt as though they were loosing their sense of national identity. The defining point in Nueva Canción was in the 1970s during the coup d'état of Pinochet that outlawed the Nueva Canción. Nueva Canción was outlawed after the coup and the movement was forced underground. A new movement began under the guise of a different name, Canto Nuevo, which also means new song. The message was the same in Canto Nuevo as it was for Nueva Canción, but the results were not as successful (Titon 1992).