Brazilian Musical Values

of the 1960s and 1970s:

Popular Urban Music from
Bossa Nova to Tropicalia
Gerard B6hague

Brazilian rhythms have enjoyed wide popularity in this country for

m a n y years, but Americans who delight in the samba and other sounds are
generally unfamiliar with the development and special characteristics o f
this national music. I n his paper, Gerard BLhague studies the main trends
of Brazilian popular music associated with the bossa nova. I n particular, he
examines the music’s socio-cultural meaning for producers and consumers,
its relationship to or influence from foreign models, and the various cultural
values that it expresses. He traces the original bossa nova phenomenon o f
the late 1950s, emphasizing that its cultivators, who were from upper-
middle-class families, developed a somewhat elitist urban popular musical
trend. Contrary to m a n y critics’ opinions, bossa nova did not result from
jazz or imitations o f other imported styles. Thematically, early bossa nova
differed little f r o m the samba, a trulypopular music. However, bossa nova’s
poFtic substance and treatment did reveal significant innovations.
Behague asserts that after 1964, a new social awareness developed among
bossa nova musicians. He discusses the musical compositions o f the
musician-poet Chico Buarque who, more than earlier bossa nova musicans,
established a clear link with the traditional samba of the 1930s and 1940s,
thus giving bossa nova a n euen more popular character. The author also
reviews the work o f the group o f musician-poet-performersof the mid-1960s
known as the Tropicdia. Their music adhered to the basic concepts of
modernismo, a Brazilian literary movement o f the 1920s.
Gerard Bghague is Professor o f Musicology/Ethnomusicologyat the
University o f Texas at Austin. He is current President o f the Society for
Ethnomusicology and Editor of the Latin American Music Review/Revista
de Mdsica Latinoamericana. He has written extensively o n music in Latin
America.
Ever since the advent of Bossa Nova in the late 1950s, Brazilian urban
popular music (MPB, i.e. “misica popular brasileira,” the generic
designation in Brazil) has gone through various phases of creativity that
epitomize the wide range of esthetic attitudes and values prevailing in the
country since then. The study of this music, both in Brazil and abroad, has
generally suffered from casual treatment, either in rather impressionistic
sociological, philosophical and ideological terms, or in strictly journalistic,
437
 438 Journal of Popular Culture
literary and uncritical praises of a given trend or group of artists.
Commercial popular music has been considered primarily in relation to
its marketing potential and to vaguely defined fashion cycles whose extra-
musical nature is often indicated as the most ominous influence on the
resulting music product. Because of its commercial nature, urban popular
music has been avoided altogether by Brazilian folklorists and
musicologists. Yet, from a theoretical viewpoint, it would seem hardly
necessary to point out that this music presents the same research
problems-historical, socio-symbolic, functional-as other repertories,
whether traditional or art music. Urban ethnomusicology h a s developed
only within the last fifteen to twenty years and h a s proven one of the most
fruitful areas of the social sciences, particularly in connection with the
study of cultural dynamics, modernization, and, in some culture areas,
Westernization (cf. Nett1 1978: 7-14).
Since the beginning of the twentieth century, most Latin American
countries have seen a massive development of urban cultures, a s the result
of urban growth. As a n essential, expressive device, urban popular music
h a s logically reflected the cultural, sometimes ethnic, always
socioeconomic diversity of the cities. In the case of Brazil, such growth and
diversity are phenomenal. With this development came mass culture and all
the debates that it engendered. That Brazilian folklorists and musicologists
have chosen to ignore the popular musical expressions emanating from
urban culture in general and from mass culture in particular is hardly
understandable and certainly unjustifiable. The main attempts a t
justification have cited the allegedly unwarranted intrusion of foreign
musical models or genres into the local repertory, and the often-repeated
argument of the alleged deterioration of both art-music and folk-music
standards resulting from the commercial exploitation of urban music
markets and its negative influences on the creativity of popular musicians.
Any student of the diffusion of cultural elements, however, must recognize
with Franz Boas that in the transfer of elements from one society to another
these elements may or may not retain their original meanings. In the case of
certain trends of Brazilian popular music it can be said that elements
borrowed from the predominantly Western rock era or from jazz indeed lost
most of their original meanings.
As Graham Vulliamy perceptively points out, popular culture tends to
be considered as a “homogeneous category” and popular music is “always
treated unquestionably a s a holistic category” (Vulliamy 1980:182).Music
sociologists and many ethnomusicologists have by now recognized that
any music can be better conceptualized in emic terms, i.e., according to the
criteria of classification, of esthetic, functional a n d general cultural values
of the people or social group who create and consume that music. Critics of
mass culture have argued that consumers of popular music (or any other
cultural product) are passive agents suffering from commercial
exploitation. Among others, Haag h a s argued t h a t

Popular culture does not grow within a group. It is manufactured by one group-in Hollywood or
in New York- for sale to a n anonymous mass market. The product must meet a n average of
tastes, and it loses in spontaneity and individuality what it gains in accessibility and cheapness
(Haag 1959519).
 Brazilian Musical Values 439

While this statement reflects a clearly ethnocentric judgment and deals

with a n unidirectional view of the commercial manipulation of a cultural
product, it does not consider the process of the “manufacture” and of the
cultural growth of that product within a group. I submit that social groups
develop mechanisms of acceptance and rejection of products imposed upon
them “from above.” Such mechanisms involve the nature of the product and
its affinities with the emic views of the group. Admittedly, analytic tools for
explaining the exact operation of these mechanisms are limited at present.
There appears to exist a n unverbalized collective consciousness in a given
social group that defines the appropriateness and admissibility of a given
cultural product for that group. True, commercial advertisement of a
product may influence that consciousness by altering the perception of a n
artistic product, but it cannot, in most cases, create the necessary
conditioning to make acceptable a cultural product which contains
elements alien to the culture of the group.
In the present study, I propose to illustrate some of the main trends of
Brazilian popular musicassociated with bossa nova since about 1960,their
socio-cultural meaning for the corresponding producing and consuming
groups, their relationships to or influences from foreign models, and the
various cultural values that they express. While MPB is a generic term, it
will become clear that the Brazilian case demonstrates the heterogeneity of
popular music and exemplifies the process of the development of a given
musical product. Specific composers/interpreters will be singled out and
some of their compositions or performances briefly analyzed as relevant
representatives of the trends discussed.

The original Bossa Nova

I have described elsewhere (B;hague 1973)the bossa nova phenomenon
of the late 1950s, focusing particularly on the social circumstances of its
appearance and on the musical stylistic innovations brought about by
bossa nova musicians. It is, however, necessary to further emphasize, with
the proper historical perspective, the sociology of that special musical style.
The endless polemic discussions that arose in Brazil at the time of the
release of the first major album of Jog0 Gilberto (Chega de Saudade
[Enough of Nostalgia], Odeon MOFB 3073) in March 1959, centered
primarily on the alleged disruption of the urban samba tradition through
the intrusion of foreign styles, particularly American jazz. Bossa nova was
also condemned, allegedly for the separation of the samba from its truly
popular origins. The early bossa nova musicians, such as Antonio Carlos
Jobim, Johnny Alf, Joao Gilberto, Carlos Lira, and Baden Powell, were
considered alien to the urban popular cultural context because most of them
originated from upper-middle-class families, represented by Rio’s Southern
districts of Copacabana or Ipanema. Referring to the parenthood of bossa
nova, Ramos Tinhorgo remarked sarcastically in 1966:

Daughter of secret “adventures of apartment” with North American music (which is

unquestionably its mother), bossa nova, in what concerns its paternity, lives even
today the drama of so many children of Copacabana, the district where it was born: it
doesn’t know who its father is. (Tinhorgo 1966:17).
 440 Journal of Popular Culture
The predicatqd divorce between these musicians and urban culture in
general appears ill-conceived as a result of the holistic category concept of
popular music mentioned above. The decade of the 1950s saw, specifically in
Rio de Janeiro, Salvador (Bahia) and STo Paulo, the emergence of a new
generation whose aspirations to modernity coincided with post-war
progress toward industrialization and modernization. Although such
aspirations have been blamed for the appearance of a new sort of cultural
alienation, the fact that bossa nova represented at that time a perfectly
legitimate, albeit somewhat elitist urban popular musical trend, seems
hardly debatable nowadays. At first, both producers and consumers of
bossa nova music formed a social group defined in terms of generational
and socio-economic cultural references, just a s the cultivators of the classic
samba of the 1930s and 1940s formed their own. Most of these young bossa
nova musicians were amateurs, in some cases having received some formal
musical training, and all were great admirers of modern jazz (especially of
the “cool” style of Miles Davis and others). That jazz gave rise to bossa
nova, however, overstates the case. Amateur jazzmen in their own right,
these musicians sought in certain jazz stylistic practices (and not rock-and-
roll, the truly fashionable style of the 1950s) the innovating elements of
Brazilian popular music. But bossa nova did not result from jazz or other
imported styles. The only jazz idioms that found their way into early bossa
nova pieces included harmonic practices (particularly altered chords and a
heavy reliance on non-harmonic tones) and timbre blending {small
ensembles of piano, double bass, acoustic or electric guitar, sax, trumpet,
and drum set). Some performance traits, particularly the subdued tone of
the voice, could be related to the “cool” jazz performance ideals, but the
typical vocalizing on nonsense syllables had precedents in the classic era of
the samba. Despite numerous assertions to the contrary, improvisation
played a minimal role in bossa nova performance characterization. The
only exceptions to such a statement are to be found in strictly instrumental
(guitar) pieces based on traditional samba tunes whose harmonic
implications constitute the essence of the melodic elaboration of such pieces
(Bchague 1973: 212-213). In effect, the main procedure a t work in guitar
compositions of this sort (e.g. Baden Powell’s interpretation of Garota de
Ipanema) [Girl f r o m Ipanema]) is simply that of melodic variation of a n
implied theme. The overall improvisatory or rhapsodic character of many
bossa nova songs came from the deliberate wish to expressive
understatment, achieved through such means as softened vocal production,
sonorous integration of solo and accompanying ensemble, unpredictability
of melodic shapes, and general restraint in sound production. The colloquial
nature of songtexts reinforced through the frequent use of the local lingo,
the search for the most direct and simplest way of communication in which
a word’s sonorous individuality received a s much attention as its semantic
meaning, the general avoidance of rhetoric coupled with highly contrasting
dramatic musical effects, all reflected the essential esthetic values of the
bossa nova musician. The gross misunderstanding outside Brazil of this
esthetic of understatement accounted for the use of bossa nova-like music in
the 1960s as “cocktail” music or background music for advertisements.
The poetic sophistication of bossa nova texts further alienated the
 Brazilian Musical Values 441

cultivators of the new style from popular culture roots, in the opinion of
some critics. Thematically, however, early bossa nova songs differed little
from previous songs’ subject matter, including amatory topics (e.g. Jobim’s
(1 nosso amor [Our Love], 1958; M e d i t a c z , [Meditation], 1960),devotion to
nature mixed with Romantic introspection (e.g. Jobim’s Corcovado, 19601,
philosophical commentaries (e.g. Jobim’s Chega de Saudade, 1958;
Ilesafinado, 1958; Discuss% [Discussion], 1960; Samba de u m a nota s6
[Yamha o n one note onLyyl, 1960), and narratives describing typical local
figures or dances in the context of the urban life (e.g. Jobim’s Garota de
Ipanerna, 1963; Samba d o a&), [Airplane Samba], 1963). Traditional
Romantic love themes continued to represent by far the majority of bossa
nova songs which inherited such themes from previous popular genres,
especially the samba-cangzo, a highly sentimental, slow-paced samba
which first appeared around 1928 and suffered bolero rhythmic influence in
the 1950s (hence sometimes referred to as sambolero). If the thematic
categories of bossa nova songs did not change radically, the poetic
substance and treatment revealed drastic innovations. Beginning with
poets in the 1950s of the caliber of Vinicius de Morais, bossa nova popular
music in the 1960s and 1970s counted on the unprecedented poetic
refinement and creative originality of such composer-poets a s Newton
Mendonsa, Chico Buarque, Capinam, Torquato Neto, Caetano Veloso, and
Gilbert0 Gil, among others. The deliberately intimate character of bossa
nova expression in general called not only for simplicity of language
(reinforced by colloquialism),but also for specific sound effects of the words,
showing some affinity with concrete poetry of the early 1960s (Campos
1968: 34-35). This remarkable preoccupation with the language’s sounds
also justified the close relationship of text and melody in many bossa nova
songs. Jobim’s Desafinado (with text by Newton Mendonca) appears a s the
archetype of bossa nova expression. Desafinado (Literally “Out of tune”)
has often been interpreted a s the esthetic manifesto of early bossa nova (in
fact, the term bossa nova here appears in a song for the first time). In
relation to its textual contents, the song was meant as a n ironic, satirical
response to the accusation that bossa nova music was unnatural in the
Brazilian context, and that the followers of that trend were insecure
(“desafinados”) musicians attempting to assimilate and incorporate jazz
idioms into Brazilian popular music. The songtext takes the form of a
conversation between the singer and his girlfriend, who represnts the anti-
bossa nova party. The singer rebuts here the accusation of his “anti-
musical” behavior with the “very natural” phenomenon of “bossa nova,”
since, he argues, the so-called “desafinados” are just a s human a s anyone
else, capable of true human emotion such a s the singer’s deep love for his
critical, ungrateful girlfriend:

Desafinado (Newton Mendonca, Antonio Carlos Jobim)

se voc? disser que eu desafino. a m o r if you s a y t h a t I’m our of tune, love

s a i b a que isso em m i m provoca imensa dor t h i s hurt s me a great deal
so’ privilegiados only privileged people h a v e a n ear
t%n ouvido igual a o seu like yours
eu possuo apenas o que Deus me deu. I only h a v e t h a t which God gave me
 442 Journal of Popular Culture

se voc2 insiste em c1assific;ir if p u insist on classifying

rneu comportamento de antimusical my hehavior as anti-musical.
eu mesmo mentindo d e w argurnentar even lying I must argue
que isto e‘ bossn nova t h a t this i s hossa nnva
que isio k muito natural. this is very natural.

a clue voc? ngo sahe what you don’t know

nern sequer presente L.
or even predict
que os desafinados t a r n b k ti?m um corafao is that the “out-of-tune” also have
fotografei vocg n a minha rolley-flex a heart.
revelou-se a sua enorme ingratidgo. I photographed you with my rolley-flex:
your enormous ingratitude was thus
revealed.

s6 n% poderg falar assim do nleu amor
ele e/o maior que voc: pode cncontrar, viu
v o d c o m a s u a mu’sica esqueceu o principal
que n o peito dos desafinados
no fundo do peito
bate calado
no peito dos desafinados
tarnbe‘m bate urn cora&.
you can’t talk like that of my love.
it’s the greatest you c a n find.
with your music you forgot the main point
t h a t in the breast of the “out-of-tune”
deep in their hreast
quietly beats a heart.

Jobim’s composition musically complements the meaning of the songtext,

specifically by translating the idea of singing out-of-tune with unexpected
melodic alterations (chromatic tones) strategically placed a t the end of each
verse, corresponding to the ending of each melodic phrase. The well-known
functional ambivalence of chromatic tones in Western tonality here
admirably serves the intention of the songtext and constitutes, a t the same
time, what came to be identified later as the trademark of bossa nova. The
same chromaticism applied to harmonic progressions, creating
modulations unknown in previous Brazilian popular musical styles, came
to be regarded as one aspect of the modernizing qualities of bossa nova.
Desafinado also exemplifies the esthetic of the understatment through its
economy of verbal and musical means. The narrative is direct; there is no
repetiton of text. With only slight repetiton of melodic phrases, the music
sets the text syllabically and unfolds in a minimum of time. Such
characteristics of economy of expressive means were also becoming part of
the social behavior of young people in the late 1950sof the middle and upper-
middle classes. The traditional Luso-Brazilian verbosity was considered
alien to the new, restraining verbal expression of the youth culture whose
developing values began to create the inevitable generation gap of the
1960s. Bossa nova did not replace, as is often believed, the traditional
classic urban samba; rather, it became the trademark of the young segment
of urban middle and upper-middle classes, who simultaneoulsy adopted the
musical expressions of other urban groups. In contrast to these musical
expressions, early bossa nova music externally conveyed the impression of
a carefree, hedonistic group of young people quietly singing along Rio de
Janeiro’s beaches their serene Joie De Vivre mixed with a certain lyrical
nostalgia (saudades). The carioca expression “Tb n a minha, t&n a dzle”
 Brazilian Musical Values 443
[“doing one’s own thing”] appeared in the late 1950s or early 1960s,
reflecting the existential philosophy of the times, s o common among other
Western youth movements.

A Special Case: Chico Buarque

Up until about 1964, bossa nova esthetic ideals remained unchanged.
After that time, however, a new social awareness developed among bossa
nova musicians. Perhaps the best illustration of a musician-poet with
enormously creative powers and a vivid social consciousness is Chico
Buarque de Hollanda (b. 1944), the son of one of Brazil’s most noted
historians. He began his career 2 a musician in 1964 while studying
architecture at the University of Sao Paulo. In 1965, his first songs (Pedro
Pedreiro and Sonho de urn Carnaual [Carnival Dream]) were issued on a 45
record and brought him some public recognition. Although of quite different
nature, both songs reveal Chico Buarque’s two main creative facets and
styles. Sonho de urn Carnaual, more than any other song of the bossa nova
repertory up to that time, establishes a clear and clever link with the more
traditional samba of the 1930s and 1940s and carnival music in general. It
emphasized the well-known values of older popular music and a n easily
acceptable style, and was followed with other national hits, such a s 018, Old
(1966) and A Banda [A Band], (1966), the last a typical sarnival march
which won him the first prize at the I1 MPB Festival in Sao Paulo (1966).
Pedro Pedreiro, on the other hand, initiates among bossa nova musicians
the trend toward social participation and protest. Other songs of the same
year (e.g. JoZo de Vale’s Carcard[Vulture]which launched the career of the
singer Maria Betania) also belonged to this general category of songs of
social protest, but most frequently the protest took the form of simply
exposing some of the social problems of underdevelopment, hunger, and
injustice in the distant hinterland of the Northeast. With Pedro Pedreiro,
Chico Buarque took issue with the urban conditions of Northeastern
migrant workers in large Southern cities.

Pcdro Prdreiro (Chico Buarque de Hollanda)
Pedro Pedreiro penseiro esperando o trem
m a n h z parece, carece de esperar tambe‘m
para o hem de quem tern hem, de quem n%o
tem vint6m
Pedro Pedreiro fica assim pensando
assim pensando o tempo passa
a gente vai ficando para tra’. Esperando,
esperando, esperando, esperando o sol,
esperando o trem, esperando o aumento
desde o ano passado para o m& que vem.
Esperando a festa, esperando a sorte
a mulher de Pedro e s t i esperando um
filho pra esperar tamhgm
Pedro Pedreiro. . . . .
Pedro Pedreiro esta’ esperando a morte
ou esperando o dia de voltar pro’ norte
Pedro nTo sabe mas talvez no fundo
espera algurna coisa mais linda que o mundo
maior do que o mar, mas pra que sonhar
Thoughtful Pedro Pedreiro waiting for the train.
morning, it seems, doesn’t wait
for the sake of those who have happiness,
of those who are penniless.
Pedro Pedreiro is there thinking,
through thinking time passes
one gets behind. Waiting,
waiting, waiting, waiting for the sun,
for the train, since last year for
next month’s pay raise.
Waiting for happiness, for luck,
and Pedro‘s wife expecting (awaiting the birth of
a child) to wait also.
Pedro Pedreiro . . . . .
Pedro Pedreiro is waiting for death
or the day to go back North
Pedro doesn’t know but perhaps he’s
really
waiting for something more beautiful
t h a n the world,
 444 Journal of Popular Culture
se da’o desespho de esperar demais
Pedro Pedreiro quer voltar a t r &
quer ser pedreiro, pohre e nada mais
sem ficar esperando, esperando; . . . .
esperando enfim n a d a mais alem
que a esperansa aflita, bendita, infinita
do apito do trem
Pedro Pedreiro pedreiro esperando o trem
clue ja’ v e m . . . . .
greater than the sea, hut why dream
if it creates despair of waiting too much
Pedro Pedreiro wants to K O hack,
wants to he a “pedreiro” (roadworker)
poor a n d nothing more,
without waiting, waiting.. .
waiting for nothing else beyond
hut the afflicted, blessed a n d infinite
hope
of the train’s whistle.
Pedro I’edreiro waiting for the train
that’s coming.. . . .

While the melodic ideas of this song follow well established standards of
Brazilian classic popular music and avoid the chromaticism of bossa nova
melody a s such, they appear the more effective in the setting of the text, the
focal point of the song as is often the case in Chico Buarque’s song output.
Here the conscientious reliance on the sounds of the words reinforces their
semantic meaning. Through alliteration the composer extracts specific
rhythmic effects from the consonants, e.g., “Pedro pedreiro esperando
penseiro” or “parece, carece,” from nasalized syllables, e.g., “tambkm Para
o bem de quem tem hem, de quem nao tem vint6m;” and from specific vowel
sounds, e.g. “aflita, bendita, infinita.” Although alliteration is a well known
devise of poetry for sound effect, it takes on a truly semantic dimension here.
Musically, alliteration gives the voice a percussive performing style which
naturally reinforces the rhythmic effects of the song. Repetition also
appears as a focal point of the song structure. For example, the repetition of
“esperando” not only actively reinforces the rather static situation, but a t
the same time conveys the idea of the monotony and limitations of the
typical slum life of a Northern migrant worker. The juxtaposition of various
senses of the word “esperar” also enhances the social message and contents
of the song, (e.g., the simple, concrete fact of “waiting for the train,” the
poetic image of “waiting for the sun,” the realistic wait for the long-
promised salary raise), the reinforced reality of the expecting, that is,
pregnant (in Portuguese “esperar”) wife of the worker, and the climactic
comment of a n entire existence based on “hope” (Portuguese “esperanca”).
The specific sequence of the placement of such words in the song explains
the setting: a poor worker meditating about his existence while waiting for
his train, having a few mental flashes of some of the difficulties of his life in
the big city, realizing his bitter disappointment in having left his native
Northern land in the hope and promise of a better life, his determination to
go back after a long and patient wait, and finally being brought back to
reality by the train’s whistle. This early song reveals the composer’s
empathy for and ability to understand some of the conditions of the urban
working class. His concentrated poetic language full of emotional impact
became highly sophisticated in later songs and appears, in retrospect, to be
one of the essential reasons for his popularity among various social urban
groups. The song Constru$o (1971) provides one of the best examples of the
mature compositional and poetic talents of Chico Buarque.
 Brazilian Musical Values
( lo,l s t ryz) 1 .
Amou daquela vez como se fosse a ultima
Reijou su a mulher como se fosse a h n a
E cada filho seu como se fosse o &co
E atravessou a rua corn seu passo tfmido
Subiu a construc*gpomo se fosse m l q u i n a
Ergueu no p a t a m k q u a t r o paredes s6lidas
Tijolo com tijolo num desenho m&co
Seus olhos embotados de cimento e l h r i m a
Sentou p r a descansar como se fosse sgbado ,
Cnmeu f e i jG com arroz como se fosse um principe
Bebeu e s o l u ~ como
, ~ ~ se fosse urn nfiufrago
D a n p e gargalhou como se ouvisse m h c a
E trope ou no c6u como se fosse urn b2bado
5
E flutuou no a r como se fosse um pAssaro
E se acabou no chzo feito urn pacote flgcido
Ayonizou no meio do passeio piblico
Morreu n a contra-myo atrapalhando o trgfego.. .
Amou daquela vez como se fosse o 6Itimo
Reijou s u a rnulher como se fosse a &a
E cada filho seu como se fosse o pr6digo
E atravessou a rua com seu passo b%bado
Subiu a construfzo como s e fosse sglido
Ergueu no patamar quatro paredes ma'gicas
Tijolo corn tijolo num desenho l6gico
Seus d h o s embotados de cimento e trifego
Sentou pra descansar como se fosse um pni ci pe
Comeu f e i j b cum arroz como se fosse o ma/ximo
Hebeu e s o l u ~ o ucomo se fosse ml qui na
1)an Y)U e garyalhou como se fosse o pr6ximo
4
F: trope ou no c b como se ouvisse mtsica
'i
15 flutuou no ar como se fosse ssbado
E se acabou no chzo feito um pacnte t h i d o
Agonizou no meio do passeio nlufrayo
1 .
Morreu n a contra-myo atrapalhando o pubhco. . .
Amou daquela vez como se fosse mi qui na
Heijou sua mulher como se fosse lcfgico
/.
Ergueu no patamar quatro paredes flacidas
Sentou pra descansar como se fosse um pgssaro
F: flutuou no a r como se fosse urn pn/ncipe
I'. .
be dcabou no ch% feito um pacote hGbado
Morreu n a contra-m?& atrapalhando o sgbado.. ,
445
Construction
He loved on tha t occasion as if i t
were the last
He kissed his wife as if she were
the last
And each son of his as if he were
the only one
And he crossed the street with his
timid step
He climbed the construction
(building structure) as if he were
a machine
He erected in the stair landing
four solid walls
Brick after brick in a magic deslgn
His eyes numbed with cement a n d tear
He s a t to rest as if it were
Saturday
He ate rice and beans as if he were
a prince
He drank and sobbed as if he were
a shipwrecked person
He danced a nd guffawed a s if he
listened to music
And stumbled in the sky as if he
were drunk
And floated in the air as if he
were a bird
And ended up on the ground as a
flaccid package
He agonized in the middle of the
public walk
He died on the wrong side of the
street disturbing the traffic.. .
He loved on t h a t occasion as if he
were the last
He kissed his wife as if s h e were
the only one
a n d each son of his as if he were
prod iga1
And he crossed the street with his
drunken step
He climbed the construction as if
he were solid (strong)
He erected in the stair landing
four magic walls
Brick after brick in a logical design
His eyes numbed with cement a n d
traffic
He sat to rest as if he were a prince
He a t e rice and beans a s if it were
the greatest thing
He drank a n d sobbed as if he were a machine
He danced a n d guffawed as if he were his
fellow man
And stumbled in the sky as if he listened to
music
And floated in the air as if it were Saturday
And ended up on the ground as a timid package
He agonized in the middle of the stranded walk
 446 Journal of Popular Culture
He died on the wrong side of the street
disturbing the public.. .
He loved on t h a t occasion as if he were a
machine
He kissed his wife as if it were logical
He erected i n the stair landing four flaccid
walls
He sat to rest as if he were a bird
And floated in the air as if he were a prince
And ended up on the ground as a drunken package
He died on the wrong side of the street
disturbing Saturday. . .

I h s lhe pague God Bless You

Por esse pZo pra comer, por esse For this bread to eat, for this ground to sleep
chzo pra dormir The certification for being born, a n d the
A certidz) pra nascer e a concessgo concession for smiling
pra s o m r For letting me breathe, for letting me be,
Por me deixar respirar, por me God bless y o u . . .
deixar existir For the free cach ca (sugar cane alcohol)
1)eus Ihe pague. . .
9
t h a t one h a s to swallow
Pela cachasa de g r a sa que a gente For the miserable smoke tha t one h a s to cough
tem que engolir For the hanging scaffoldings from which one
Pela fumapa desgrasa que a gente h a s to fall
tem que tossir God hless you. . .
Pelos andaimes pingentes q u e a gente For the professional (female) mourner to
tem que cair praise u s a n d spit (on us)
Deus Ihe pague.. . For the wormy flies to kiss a n d cover us
Pela mulher carpideira. pra nos And for the final peace t h a t will at last
louvar e cuspir redeem u s
E pelas moscas bicheiras a nos God hless you. . .
beijar e cobrir
E pela paz derradeira que enfim vai
nos redimir
Deus Ihe pague.. .

From what may appear at first as a simple tragic daily event of a

construction worker’s accidental death, the poet-composer develops a much
deeper significance in his narrative by transforming it into a n existential,
philosophical statement in which the will to live is obliterated as the result
of urban disillusion and frustration. The emotional impact of the text arises
primarily through contrasts, oppositions or apparent contextual
contradictions, such as “rice and beans” (the daily food of the poor) opposed
to “prince,” the intimacy of home life against death in a public place, the
irony of the dehumanization of life and death (conveyed in the songtext by
juxtaposing “death” and “disturbing the traffic”) and the consequent
devaluation of human life in our modern, urban civilization (one’s death
disturbing the public). The major structural element of the songtext
emanates from the conjunction “come se” (as if) which functions as the
pivot of the structural balance of the phrase. Moreover, the conjunction
allows the effective changes of meaning and expressions of images in the
two repeats of the verse. Hence, the “timid” step of the first verse becomes
the “drunken” step in the second verse, the “solid” walls become the
 Brazilian Musical Values 447
‘‘magic’’ walls, the “magic” design is changed into a “logical” one. The
careful shift of adjectives or nouns reminds one of concrete poetry
techniques and reinforces the sense of ordering mental states and images in
kaleidoscopic cycles. A cyclic treatment based on repetition organizes the
music as well. The main melodic ideas of the song are based on simple
repetition of tones and rather conjunct motion, but the actual arrangement
(orchestration and choral setting)is conceived of as a huge crescendo which
supports very effectively the ultimate purpose of the song: protest. The
original recording of ConstrupZo [Construction] by Chico Buarque includes
a sort of coda consisting of a few lines of another song of his, Deus Zhepague
[God bless you]. This a posteriori addition was probably felt necessary to
emphasize the irony of the situation and to serve as a sort of mournful
prayer in a strongly militant musical character. Frustration over the
meaning of existence, and constant repression of the most basic human
feelings, lead to a negative picture of existential fulfillment and eventually
to a n angry cry of rejection of the status quo.
Chico Buarque’s position in the “modern” movement of Brazilian
popular music (referred to as MMPB or Moderna M6sica Popular
Brasileira) has been variously interpreted. Most well-intentioned critics
have argued that his popularity and creative talents are due essentially to
the appeal and quality of his lyrics rather than his actualmusic. In his 1975
interview with representatives of the satirical publication 0 Pasquim,
Chico Buarque stated that he does not conceive of song lyrics as equivalent
to poetry and does not believe that one should separate the textual from the
musical contents of a song. (0 Som do Pasquim [The Sound of Pasquim]
1976:17). Indeed, as a composer his first pieces show that integration of text
and music. Moreover, he is unique as a composer of the bossa nova
generation in that he succeeded in assimilating and maintaining the
essential aspects (primarily melodically and rhythmically) of the classic
urban sambas of Noel Rosa of the 1930s, and thus established the
continuity of the tradition, as opposed to the early bossa nova musicians
who refuted that tradition to a certain extent. Buarque’s residence in Italy
in 1969 and part of 1970 was beneficial for his musical development, as he
matured considerably due to his exposure to the European popular musical
scene of the time. He was often blamed for the stylistic homogeneity of his
early songs, that is, his very predictable musical style. His compositions
since the early 1970s, however, reveal a dynamic diversity of musical
thought much too rare among other Brazilian composers. This was
accompanied by a period of reflection on the sociocultural problems of
Brazil and his own ideological reaction to them. In many of his songs (Bom
Conselho, [Good Advice], Cotidiano [Daily Routine], Apesar de Voci?[In
Spite of You],to name a few) he advocated in his familiar lyrical and poetic
ways a certain subtle action of subversion and anarchy as the only hopeful
attitude toward Brazil’s contemporary problems. However subtle such a n
advocacy might be, it explains why so many of his songs and plays were
censored in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Walnice GalvXo, in her penetrating interpretation of Chico Buarque’s
early songs, found skeptical attitude which negates man’s possibility of
transforming the world in which helives. She believed that the concern over
 448 Journal of Popular Culture
human misfortune and the lamentation of individual destiny result in
“conservative fatalism.” Hence, she stated “there are in Brazilian popular
songs no signs of a n advanced consciousness nor a proposition toward a n y
action besides the very act of singing.” (Galvgo 1976: 118-119).Since her
essay was written in 1968,one could easily concur with her assessment. At a
time of rather severe censorship, one could not expect a n overt advocacy of
militancy, as occurred in some of Chico’s songs of the 1970s. Moreover, he
and other musicians active after the military regime was imposed in 1964
felt that a surreptitious language was better than silence.

Tropiccilia: Dada and Cultural Anthropophagy

Around the mid-l960s, a group of musician-poet-performers known as
TropicAlia, mostly from Bahia, emerged on the Brazilian scene. Including
such different personalities as Caetano Veloso, Gilbert0 Gil, Gal Costa, Jose‘
Carlos Capinam, Torquato Neto, Tom Z6, the bossa nova singer Nara LeZo,
and the composer-arranger Roge‘rio Duprat, the group’s essential common
denominator came from the adherence of its members to the basic concepts
of “modernismo” set forth in the 1920s by such literary philosophical
figures as Oswald de Andrade and M&io de Andrade. In the wprds of
Veloso, the theoretical spokesman of the group, Tropicalia or
“tropicalismo” was a neo-cultural cannibalism or “anthropophagism,”
r e f e r r i n g t o Oswald de Andrade’s M a n i f e s t o a n t r o p o f d g i c o
[Anthropophagic Manifesto] of 1928. Influenced by the French Dadaist
whose manifesto was written ten years earlier and consisted of a violent
attack on Western thought, Andrade’s manifesto appeared as a tropical
adaptation of the Dadaist dissension, questioning the imposition of the
European element in Brazilian culture and the ensuing destruction of
native cultural values. “Tupi, or not tupi, that is the question” is the first
metaphor of Andrade’s manifesto-Tupi here refers to any member of one of
Brazil’s coastal Indian peoples. While Andrade attempts no clearcut
answer, he points out the apparent contradictions and contrasts of the
Brazilian reality. For the Tropica’lia musicians this meant “a justification
for the absorption (literally the “deglutination”) of foreign musical
experience adapted to the needs of the moment,” (Bghague 1973:217) as a
recognition of the international dimension of Brazilian popular culture of
the period. Such a recognition, however, neither implied a simple imitation
of foreign models nor resulted from the influence of international mass
culture, as several critics led us to believe a t the time (cf.TinhorXo 1974:234).
For the TropicAlia group, modernism not only signified revitalization
through innovations of MPB, but also the definite involvement of its
members in the prevailing socio-political conditions. Theirs was not a
“conservative fatalism,” but rather an aggressive attack on traditional
middle-class values and on the sacrosanct dialectic reason of Western
culture so much rooted in Brazilian traditions. For more effective
communication of their messages, they resorted to the Dadaist, Andradean
device of what at first appears to be the cult of the “absurd” to deliberately
shock, and the device of a concerted denunciation of the contradictions of
Western thought. In one of his most widely discussed articles, Roberto
Schwarz directed several objections to the ideological position of TropicLlia,
 Brazilian Musical Values 449
particularly its contribution to what he called the “petrifaction” of the
absurd a s a n eternal evil of Brazil. (Schwar/z 1970). One could argue,
however, that the ideological attitude of Tropicalia musicians did not entail
a rigorous and everlasting dogma. As a truly socio-political action,
“tropicalismo” did not, in retrospect, intend to perpetuate anything; rather
it was meant to awaken the consciousness of the middle class to the
Brazilian tragedy of poverty, exploitation and oppression, and to point out
the true nature of the mo,dern Brazilian reality.
Musically, the Tropicalia movement brought about drastic innovations
by widening the Brazilian musical horizon through adherence to and
adaptation of the most relevant musical trends of the 1960s, i.e., the rock-
Beatles phenomenon, and the experimental, new musics of the electronic
age. Rock music penetrated the Brazilian scene during the period 1964-1966
and had in Roberto Carlos the local translator of that youth movement. The
“i;, ie^,ip? style, as it was known in Brazil, immediately revealed the
prevailing strong prejudices against international pop music and its
representatives, and its popularity among the Brazilian “Jovem Guarda”
[“Young Guard”] was seen as a threat to the traditional values of popular
music. This phenomenon stimulated the early recognition by the
Tropicalistas of the validity of the Young Guard as a n integral part of
modern Brazilian popular culture. Roberto Carlos himself h a s
acknowledged the influence of the “ig, 2, i8” style on Caetano Veloso’s
music, particularly in his incorporation of electric and bass guitars, and his
imitation of some rhythmic and arrangement models (0Som do Pasquim
1976:144). The level of musical and textual sophistication of TropicAlia,
however, had no counterpart in Brazilian rock style. It would be inaccurate
to refer to a homogeneous “tropical” musical style, since the essence of the
Tropicalia “song style” is hybridization. As one of the musical goals of the
Tropicalistas was to liberate Brazilian music from a restrictive system of
prejudice by creating the appropriate conditions for freedom of research
and experimentation, all musical sources relevant to contemporary Brazil
were drawn together: Luso-Brazilian, Afro-Brazilian folk music
expressions, bossa nova samba oj .he early phase, ‘56, i6, iE,” and elements
of jazz and experimental music. Techniques of simultaneous musical
quotations 4 la Charles Ives, collages of sound associations, and
compositional montages of sound bits and pieces, a priori deemed
irreconcilable and meaningless, essentially constituted the empirical
approach of the Tropicglia musicans to music composition. Such a “style,”
which often recalls the pop movement in the arts, justifies itself as a creative
means to reinforce the contents of the lyrics. The language of the songtexts
is frequently telegraphic, fragmentary, and likewise is based on quotations,
associations, or deliberate distortions of famous examples of Brazilian
belles lettres. Representative examples are Caetano Veloso’s Alegria,
alegria [Joy, Joy] (1967) and Gilberto Gil’s Domingo no parque (1967),
analyzed elsewhere (B‘ehague 1973:216).The following song, Gele‘ia Geral
[General Jam], by Gilberto Gil, with texts by Torquato Neto, provides a n
excellent illustration of Tropicalia:
Gel& Geral (Torquato Neto, G. Gil) General Jam
 450 Journal of Popular Culture
0 poeta desfolha a bandeira
E a manhy tropical se inicia
Resplandente, cadente, fagueira
Num calor girassol com alegria
Na gel&a geral brasileira
Que o Jornal do B r a d anuncia
E bumba ie“i$ boi
Ano que vem, m’ks que foi
E bumba i6 i8 i&
E a mesma danya, meu boi (bis)
Alegria e‘ a prova dos nove
A tristeza teu p%to seguro
Minha terra onde o sol k mais limpo
E “Mangueira” onde o samba t! mais puro
Tumbadora na selva selvagem
Pindorama pa<s do futuro
E a mesma danf a , na sala,
No CanecTo, n a TV
E quem ngo dansa nzo fala
Assiste a tudo e se cala
Ngb vbno meio d a sala
As relhuias do Brasil
Doce mulata malvada, um LP de Sinatra,
Maracuji, m a de abril,
Santo barr8co baiano,
Superpoder de paisano,
Formiplac e c6u de anil
Tr& destaques da “Portela,”
Came seca na janela
Algue’m que chora por mim,
Um carnaval de verdade
Hospitaleira amizade,
Brutalidade, jardim.
Plurialva, contente a brejeira
Miss linda Brasil diz bom-dia
E outra mo a tambgm Carolina,
Da janela k k n a a folia
Salve o lindo pendZlo dos seus olhos
E a saide que o olhar irradia
0 poeta desfolha a bandeira
E eu me sinto melhor colorido
Peg0 urn jato, viajo, arrebento
Com o roteiro de sexto sentido
Voz do morro, p i l a de concreto
Tropic&a, bananas ao vento
The poet unfurls the flag
The tropical morning begins
Resplendent, cascading, gracious
In a joyous sunflower heat
In the general Brazilian jam
Announced in the Jornal do B r a d
It’s bumba yea-yea bull
The coming year, the month gone by
It’s burnba yea-yea-yea
It’s the same dance, my bull (bis)
Mirth is the acid test
Sadness your safe harbour
My land, where the sun is clearer
“Mangueira” where the samba is purer
Tom-toms in the wild wilds
Pindorama land of the future
It’s the same dance in the salon,
At the “Canecao,” on TV
And who doesn’t dance doesn’t speak
He’s just there and keeps his mouth shut
He doesn’t see, in the middle of the room,
The crown-jewels of Brazil
Sweet malicious mulatta, a Sinatra LP,
Passion-fruit, month of April,
Bahian Baroque saint,
Peasant super-power,
“Formica” and azure sky,
Three distinctions of “Portela,”
Dried meat in the window,
Someone who cries for me,
A true Carnaval,
Hospitable friendship,
Brutality, garden
(Refrain)
Super white, satisfied and sassy
Miss pretty Brazil says good morning
And another girl, also Caroline
Inspects the revelry from the window
Hail to the banner of her eyes
And to the health which her gaze radiates
(Refrain)
The poet unfurls the flag
I feel better in color
I take a jet, travel, tear around
On the route of the sixth sense (Voice of the hill, concrete pestle)
Tropicalia, bananas to the wind
 Brazilian Musical Values 451

E a mesma dansa, meu boi (bis) It’s the same dance, my bull ( b i d

Both music and text here juxtapose the natural, tropical world (the “Tupi”
of Oswald de Andrade) and the industrialized, urbanized world (the “Not
Tupi”)in the fairly typical technique of concrete poetry. The title itself refers
to a passage of Bufonaria Brasiliensis (1955)[Brazilian Buffoonery] by the
concrete poet D6cio Pignatan. The song’s structure relies almost entirely on
satirical, parody techniques. The first stanza, for example, caricatures the
grandiloquence of the poet by emphasizing the expected poetic description
of the natural beauty of the country (rather than the socio-cultural aspects
of the Brazilian reality) in a series of clich& of academic language
(“desfolha a bandeira,” ‘‘manhz. . .resplandente, cadente, fagueira”).
Concurrently, this same stanza establishes the contrast and contradiction
by juxtaposing this idyllic poetry with the daily newspaper Jornal do
Brasil, symbol of the modern world and mass culture where belles lettres do
not belong.
Following the determination (of Andrade, Pignatari and others) to
denounce Brazilian “ufanismo” or patriotic overoptimism, the song reflects
the same ideological position. At the same time, it chastises once and for all
the musical prejudices of the time by reconciling the contrasting bumba-
meu-boi ( very traditional Northeastern dramatic dance) and ‘56, i6, i6,” in
the refrain, stressing that it is “the same dance.”’ This refrain appears as
the antithesis of the cafona (conceited, self-complacent) element of
Brazilian culture, to use the expression of the Tropicalia. The second stanza
includes direct quotatio,ns from Andrade’s Manifesto (“alegria e a prova dos
nove,” “Pindorama, pais do future"), a reference to the pre-colonized native
culture (“tumbadora n a selva selvagem,” “Pindorama, ”the designation of
the country by Tupi-Guarani Indians), and the ridiculing of picturesque
“ufanismo” and of the alleged samba “purity.” The contrasting duality
again highlights the existing contradictions in its systematic juxtaposition
of key words: “alegria/trizteza; Mangueira, samba/tumbadora, selva;
Pindorama/futuro.” After critically exposing the common values of the
dominating Brazilian social class, this same duality pervades the last
stanzas. The music itself and the musical arrangement by Rogkrio Duprat
also emphasize the idea of synthesizing modern Brazil. The rhythmic
structure of the song conforms to traditional norms but the instrumental
accompaniment is closely identified with the “ig,!,ti i8” style. Duprat relies
on musical quotes, especially from the “Indianist” opera 0 Guarani (1870)
by Carlos Gomes, and from the song “All the way” when Sinatra’s LP is
mentioned. In addition several more subjective musical commentaries are
introduced which serve to mock certain textual lines, such as the overly
lyrical melody accompanying “A tristeza teu porto seguro.” It should be
pointed out that TropicLlia composers deliberately avoided the dancing
character of classic urban popular music. Their music had the function of
socio-political commentary rather than the traditional entertainment
function.
Since about 1972, “tropicalism” as such seems to have somewhat
 452 Journal of Popular Culture
vaporized. While most of the “tropical” musicians have continued to be very
active in their creative endeavors, their earlier identification with the
special socio-political issues of the 1960s seems to have given way to a more
introspective kinship with transcendental philosophical questions of the
meaning of life and death. (cf. Wisnik 1979)
While the early bossa nova seems to have had a particular musical
significance in opening new avenues of music making in Brazil, its social
significance was minimal compared to the participatory nature of the music
of Chico Buarque and the “tropicalistas.” Early bossa nova has been
tagged as “escapist,” probably because its appearance coincided with a
period of political optimism and relative social rest. For both makers and
consumers of Tropicilia music, on the other hand, that trend meant a truly
musical ‘‘revolution’’perhaps akin to the “rock revolution” in the US.in the
1960s. As with American and British “serious” rock, the “tropical”
musicans protested against the musical limitations of the past; the staticity
of forms; the insipid Romantic melodies and harmonies; the linguistic
clichgs; and most importantly, against the whole complex of barren social
and moral attitudes of the dominating class. Personal involvement and
sincerity of musicians such as Chico Buarque, Veloso, Gil and more
recently, Milton Nascimento, have been the outstanding qualities
recognized by their audience.

References Cited
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Galvgo, Walnice Nogueira, 1976. Saco de Gatos. Ensaios Crhcos. Sgo Paulo,
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Haag, E. van den, 1959. Of Happiness a n d Despair We Have No Measure. In
Rosenberg, B. a n d White, D., eds. Mass Culture. New York, The Free Press.
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0 S o n do Pasquim, 1976. Grandes Entrevistas com 0s Astros d a Mdsica Popular
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Tinhorgo, Jose‘Ramos, 1966. Misica Popular, U m Tema em Debate. Rio de Janeiro.
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. . . . .. 1974. Pequena Histo’ria da M&ca Popular. Da Modinha h Can$o de Protesto.
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Vulliamy, Graham, 1980. Music an d the Mass Culture Debate. In Whose Music? A
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Wisnik, Jos6Migue1, 1979. Tudo est6 no C ~ eU no inferno. Abre Alas, No. 1, Nov.