Friday, October 10, 2014

Prof. Borim on the MIT Brazil Lecture Series



Prof. D. Borim on the MIT Brazil Lecture Series
Sponsored by MIT-Brazil and Global Studies and Languages
October 9, 2014


The Four Pillars of Brazil’s 
Musical Culture in the 20th Century

Dário Borim, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

This lecture will discuss the history and multicultural attributes of Brazil’s four most influential music styles: samba, bossa nova, MPB and Tropicália.

·        At first, Borim examines what anthropologist Hermano Vianna has called “samba’s mystery,” that is, how samba emerges, in the early 1930s, from the poor and despised periphery to the center of the nation’s musical identity.
·        Roughly two and half decades later, bossa nova is born initially to stun and annoy Brazilian audiences, but soon to conquer and enchant the world within and beyond Brazil through a smooth and sophisticated revolution in musical aesthetics.
·        Less than ten years passed, another two movements define and establish the underpinning of Brazil’s musical legacy in the 20th century: the socio-political make-up and outreach of MPB (música popular brasileira) and the radical multi-artistic phenomenon of Tropicália.






VIDEO-CLIPS

Samba
“Samba da Minha Terra” – Dorival Caymmi (1940)
Interpreted by João Gilberto:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9deMsQTx-4  (1:04)
Interpreted by Dorival Caymmi:   http://letras.mus.br/dorival-caymmi/45588/ (3:00)

Bossa Nova
“One-Note Samba” – Antônio Carlos (Tom) Jobim and Newton Mendonça (1960)
Interpreted by Stacey Kent:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYdrhTL3VBk
(3:07)
Interpreted by Tom Jobim and João Donato:
(3:28)

MPB
“Cálice” – Gilberto Gil and Chico Buarque (1973)
Interpreted by Milton Nascimento and Chico Buarque:
(4:01)

“O que será (à flor da pele)” – Chico Buarque (1976)
Interpreted by Milton Nascimento and Chico Buarque:


Tropicália
“Panis et Circensis”— Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso (1968)
Interpreted by Os Mutantes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v67hqRm1qFw (2:15)
Interpreted by Os Mutantes (in Portuguese, plus English translation):

“Domingo no Parque”  – Gilberto Gil (1967)
Interpreted by Gilberto Gil and Symphonic Orchestra of Bahia:



SUGGESTED READING


Samba

Hertzman, Marc A. Making Samba: A New History of Race and Music in Brazil. Durham and London: Duke U.P., 2013.

Vianna, Hermano. The Mystery of Samba: Popular Music and National Identity in Brazil. Trans. John Charles Chasteen. Chapel Hill, NC: U. of North Carolina P., 1999.


Bossa Nova

Castro, Ruy. Bossa Nova: The Story of the Brazilian Music that Seduced the World. Chega de saudade. English. Trans. Lisa Salsbury. Foreword Julian Dibbell. Chicago: Chicago Review P., 1990.

Jobim, Helena. Antonio Carlos Jobim: An Illuminated Man. Trans. Dário Borim. Milwaukee, WI: Hal Lenard, 2011. 


MPB

McGowan, Chris, and Ricardo Pessanha. The Brazilian Sound: Samba, Bossa Nova, and the Popular Music of Brazil. Rev. and expanded ed. Philadelphia: Temple U.P., 2009.

Perrone, Charles A. Masters of Contemporary Brazilian Song: MPB 1965-1985. Austin, TX: U. of Texas P., 1989. 


Tropicália

Dunn, Christopher. Brutality Garden: Tropicália and the Emergence of a Brazilian Counterculture. Chapel Hill and London: U. of North Carolina P., 2001.

Veloso, Caetano. Tropical Truth: A Story of Music and Revolution in Brazil. Trans. Isabel de Sena. Ed. Barbara Einzig. New York: Alfred Knopf, 2002. 


FURTHER RESOURCES

English Translated Lyrics and Informative Texts on Brazilian Music:

Brazil-Related Archives on Discs, Songs, and Musicians (website in Portuguese): www.discosdobrasil.com.br
               

1 comment:

Lyrical Brazil said...

Hi Prof. Borim,
I just saw you linked to the English version of Tropicalia, and thought maybe you could include a link to the website in your "reading" list, if you think it's appropriate:
www.lyricalbrazil.com
Thanks for including the link. I saw your program is on streaming 3-6 pm Thursdays, right? I'm in Rio and will try to stream it from here!