José Ramos Tinhorão, states that “popular music is a contemporary creation of the emergence of cities with a certain degree of social diversification."[1] From this perspective, popular music in Brazil only developed in the 18th century with the advent of urban centers. Before that, during the first 200 years of Portuguese colonization, the songs of the indigenous, the batuques of the African enslaved people, and, finally, the small ensembles formed by Portuguese imigrants, were the only musical expressions in Brazil, and could not be considered as popular music.
Brazil's vernacular music derives from the interaction of these three social groups. Their influences on Brazil’s music, however, are not limited to their intercommunication. In Rhythms of Resistance, Peter Fryer examines how the rhythms and beats of Africa were combined with European music to create a unique sound and dance tradition. He points out that the advancement of Portuguese maritime navigation in the Atlantic facilitated the “acculturation process in the Iberian Peninsula” during the 8th century. This convergence of the cultures in Lisbon made this city a critical port in Atlantic trading and a catalyst for music development. As a result, the Portuguese ports promoted a cultural exchange between different parts of the world, creating “a connected system of musical environment in which new dances and musical styles were transmitted around the cultural triangle (Portugal, Africa, and Brazil) within a matter of weeks.”[2]
In the following centuries, the rise of urbanization in Brazil facilitated the formation of a relatively wealthy middle class, especially in Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, and later in Minas Gerais, with the extraction of gold.[3] This social group promoted the urbanization in Brazil, heavily influenced by European aesthetics and marked by the marginalization of Afro-Brazilian and indigenous cultures. This “Europeanization” was intensified with the arrival of the Portuguese court and royal family in 1808, which, to escape the Napoleonic threat, moved to Rio de Janeiro. Though King Dom João VI remained in the colony for only 13 years, his presence gave new vitality to musical life in the capital.[4] As a result, the city received many investments in infrastructure, essential public services were created, and within a few years, Rio de Janeiro had become the capital of the United Kingdom of Brazil, Portugal, and the Algarves. Within a generation, an urban middle class had emerged with enough disposable income to buy entertainment and musical instruments, thus propelling the advent of vernacular music.
A brief history of
Brazilian Popular Music
Largo do Carmo, 1775
Anonymous
Largo do Carmo, 1830
J.B Debret (1768-1848)
To accommodate the cultural requirements of the new class of Portuguese aristocrats and nobles in Brazil, theaters were built to house musical companies visiting the country, which introduced the European dances in vogue, such as the waltz, polka, quadrille, mazurka, schottisch, tango, and habanera, and soon these dances became common in the entertainment of the Brazilian elite. Outside the ballrooms, in the streets, military bands and small ensembles of freedmen and mestizos performed a mixture of popular genres, such as modinha, batuque, lundu, and cateretê, on bandstands. These genres, established in the country in the 18th century, represented the fusion of African and indigenous heritage with influences brought by the Portuguese.
The urbanization process gained force in 1850 with the abolition of the slave trade, which led to the growth of the city and the emergence of an urban popular culture heavily influenced by Afro-Brazilian culture. The workforce, attracted by the urban life of the capital, crowded into neighborhoods according to their regional origin. The cultural consequence of this coexistence of regional communities was new forms of entertainment, converting the city into a laboratory of fragmented experiences conducive to developing new artistic expressions.[5]
Rua Direita, no Rio de Janeiro, 1823
Félix Taunay (1795-1881)
The birth of industry in the country at the end of the 19th century, financed by capital generated by coffee farming, brought a gradual change in the social context of Brazil. São Paulo stood out as a model of increasing modernization, becoming the stage for the transformation of art in the country. At the same time, the transition of the political regime in Brazil from a monarchy to a republic in 1889 promoted a series of economic, social, and cultural changes. The industrialization attracted emigrants from all around the world, particularly from Europe during and after the Second World War, drastically transforming the social settings of Brazil.[6] As a result, a diverse cultural environment proliferated, giving birth to new social strata that led by work opportunities would later spread to other regions of the country.
The cosmopolitan urban scene of São Paulo became the stage of modernism in the country and the background for a large part of Brazil’s artistic production. The Brazilian diplomat and poet Raul Bopp highlights an example of this transformation. He explains that a Brazilian elite, accustomed to traveling to Europe to refine their studies, had intense contact with European avant-garde art. From this exposure, back in São Paulo, the Brazilian modernists sought to reproduce the European ideologies within the context of Brazilian culture.[7] For instance, they incorporated melodies and rhythms typical to Brazilian popular culture into their compositions. São Paulo’s cosmopolitan scene, permeated by new artistic expressions and experimentation, significantly contributed to an environment conducive to new ideas and artistic manifestations.
The transformations and ideals that took over the country promoted a profound transformation of the artistic class. Released from the norms of academicism and, consequently, from its limitations, folk and popular music assumed a prominent place in national artistic production. An example of this transformation can be seen in classically trained composers, such as Heitor Villa-Lobos, Ernesto Nazareth, and Camargo Guarnieri, who incorporated traditional songs and melodies typical to popular classes. This ideal prompted a wave of nationalism and a subsequent appreciation of popular culture in its most diverse forms, showcasing its traits and acknowledging its social agents.
The nationalization of Brazilian music manifested itself from the end of the 19th century, reaching its apex in the 1920s and 1930s. However, musical nationalism lost momentum in the 1940s, faced with the anti-folkloric reaction of a number of classical composers, along with influences of North American and European music such as jazz and rock and roll, among other genres.[8] As a result, a homogeneous and standardized production, shaped by international influences and promoted by radio and television, whose main concern was to make music profitable, suppressed the national vernacular genres.
Notes:
[1] José Ramos Tinhorão, Pequena História Da Música Popular: Da Modinha ao Tropicalismo (São Paulo: Art Editora, 1986), 7.
[2] Peter Fryer, Rhythms of Resistance: African Musical Heritage in Brazil (Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press, 2000), 138.
[3] Tinhorão, Pequena História Da Música Popular, 7.
[4] Gerard Béhague, "Brazil: Central and Southern Areas," in Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Volume 2: South America, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, ed. Dale A. Olsen and Daniel E. Sheehy (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998), 234.
[5]José Ramos Tinhorão, História Social Da Música Popular Brasileira (Lisboa: Editorial Caminho, 1990), 209.
[6] Andre Mascarenhas, “A Trajetória de um Modernista,” Congresso Internacional de História (Maringá, 2009): 4099.
[7] Raul Bopp, Vida e Morte da Antropofagia (Rio de Janeiro, 1977), 25.
[8] Mário de Andrade, Aspectos da Música Brasileira (Belo Horizonte: Villa Rica Editoras Reunidas Limitada, 1991), 23.
References:
Andrade, Mário de. Aspectos da Música Brasileira. Belo Horizonte: Villa Rica Editoras Reunida Limitada, 1991.
Béhague, Gerard. “Brazil: Central and Southern Areas.” In Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Volume 2: South America, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, edited by Dale A. Olsen and Daniel E. Sheehy, 320-342. New York, Garland Publishing, 1998.
Bopp, Raul. Vida e Morte da Antropofagia. Rio de Janeiro, 1977.
Fryer, Peter. Rhythms of Resistance: African Musical Heritage in Brazil. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press, 2000.
Mascarenhas, André. “A Trajetória de um Modernista.” Congresso Internacional de História (Maringá, 2009).
Tinhorão, José Ramos. História Social Da Música Popular Brasileira. Lisboa: Editorial Caminho, 1990.
Tinhorão, José Ramos. Pequena História Da Música Popular: Da Modinha ao Tropicalismo. São Paulo: Art Editora, 1986.