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Brazil's talent for
music is so great it amounts to a national genius. Out of a rich
stew of African, European and Indian influences it has produced one
of the strongest and most diverse musical cultures in the world.
Most people have heard of samba and bossa nova, or of Heitor
Villa-Lobos, who introduced the rhythms of Brazilian popular music
to a classical audience, but they are only the tip of a very large
iceberg of genres, styles and individual talents. Music - heard in
bars, on the streets, car radios, concert halls and clubs - is a
constant backdrop to social life in Brazil, and Brazilians are a
very musical people. Instruments help but they aren't essential:
matchboxes shaken to a syncopated beat, forks tapped on glasses and
hands slapped on tabletops are all that is required. And to go with
the music is some of the most stunning dancing you are ever likely
to see. In Brazil, no one looks twice at a couple who would clear
any European and most American dance floors. You don't need to be an
expert, or even understand the words, to enjoy Brazilian popular
music, but you may appreciate it better - and find it easier to ask
for the type of record you want - if you know a little about its
history
The roots
The bedrock of Brazilian music is the apparently inexhaustible fund
of "traditional" popular music . There are dozens of genres, most of
them associated with a specific region of the country, which you can
find in raw uncut form played on local radio stations, at popular
festivals - Carnaval is merely the best known - impromptu recitals
in squares and on street corners, and in bars and dancetarias, the
dance halls that Brazilians flock to at the weekend. The two main
centres are Rio and Salvador. There's little argument that the best
Brazilian music comes from Rio, the Northeast and parts of Amazônia,
with São Paulo and southern Brazil lagging a little behind. Samba,
and later bossa nova, became internationally famous, but only
because they both happened to get off the ground in Rio, with its
high international profile and exotic image. There are, though, less
famous but equally vital musical styles elsewhere in Brazil, and
it's difficult to see why they remain largely unknown to audiences
outside the country - especially given Western music's current
obsession with the Third World.
Each local musical genre is part of a regional identity , of which
people are very proud, and there's a distinct link between
geographical rivalry and the development of Brazilian music.
Nordestinos, in particular, all seem to know their way around the
scores of Northeastern musical genres and vigorously defend their
musical integrity against the influences of Rio and São Paulo, which
dominate TV and national radio. A lot of people regret carioca and
Paulista domination of the airwaves, fearing that it's making
Brazilian music homogeneous, but if anything it has the opposite
effect. People react against the Southeast music by turning to their
local brands - which often develop some new enriching influences,
picked up along the way.
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The Golden Age
It was the growth of radio during the 1930s that created the popular
music industry in Brazil, with home-grown stars idolized by
millions. The best-known was Carmen Miranda , spotted by a Hollywood
producer singing in the famous Urca casino in Rio and whisked off to
film stardom in the 1940s. Although her hats made her immortal, she
deserves to be remembered more as the fine singer she was. She was
one of a number of singers and groups loved by older Brazilians,
like Francisco Alves , Ismael Silva , Mário Reis , Ataulfo Alves ,
Trio de Ouro and Joel e Gaúcho . Two great songwriters, Ary Barroso
and Pixinguinha , provided the raw material.
Brazilians call these early decades a época de ouro, and that it
really was a golden age is proved by the surviving music on record.
It is slower and jazzier than modern Brazilian music, but with the
same rhythms and beautiful, crooning vocals. Even in Brazil it used
to be difficult to get hold of records of this era but after years
of neglect there is now a widely available series of reissues called
Revivendo. They send catalogues abroad, if you can't make it to
Brazil to buy the records: write to Revivendo Músicas Comércio de
Discos Ltda, Rua Barão do Rio Branco 28/36 - 1. andar, Caixa Postal
122, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.
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