{"id":288740,"date":"2019-06-18T17:28:06","date_gmt":"2019-06-18T20:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/?p=288740"},"modified":"2019-06-18T17:28:06","modified_gmt":"2019-06-18T20:28:06","slug":"the-batuque-the-bandoneon-and-the-saboteurs-of-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/the-batuque-the-bandoneon-and-the-saboteurs-of-work\/","title":{"rendered":"The batuque, the bandoneon, and the saboteurs of work"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Wikipedia<\/span><\/a> Carmen MirandaWikipedia<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Brazil, in the 1930s. Argentina, in the 1920s. In their search for modernization and a new social agreement, the governments of these two countries institute nationalist programs based on a work ethic and on a common collective identity. On the radios, a samba song praises the grandeur of Brazilian nature; meanwhile, tango music portrays the homeland as a loving companion to a gallant Argentinian. But there are noises: in the voice of Carmen Miranda (1909\u20131955), a bum complains about having to work. In the voice of Carlos Gardel (1890\u20131935), a young man accuses another of not being outcast enough.<\/p>\n

This scene and its \u201capparent incongruence\u201d comprise the starting point for the recent release Pandeiros e bandoneones: Vozes disciplinadoras e marginais no samba e no tango<\/em> (Tambourines and bandoneons: Disciplinary and marginal voices in samba and tango; by UNIFESP), by Andreia dos Santos Menezes, professor with the Department of Languages at the Federal University of S\u00e3o Paulo (UNIFESP). Based on an analysis of their lyrics, these music genres, which became known during a period of intense nationalism, are investigated for how they responded to conflicts at that time and were molded by them. \u201cIs it not a contradiction that the music viewed as a national symbol features so many vagabonds? That it portrays a way of life that is so different from that of the ideal citizen?\u201d, he asks, summarizing the central theme of the study. The corpus includes more than 80 songs from each genre and covers a period of close to 30 years, with benchmarks including \u201cMi noche triste\u201d (1916), by Pascual Contursi (1888\u20131932), viewed as the first tango song, and \u201cSe voc\u00ea jurar\u201d (1930), by Ismael Silva (1905\u20131978) and Nilton Bastos (1899\u20131931), considered the beginning of a samba that is modern, urban, and from Rio.<\/p>\n

When these musical genres gained strength, Brazil and Argentina were experiencing demographic growth, primarily in cities, immigration policies, and emerging industrialization. In 1912, Argentina enacted the S\u00e1enz Pe\u00f1a Law, introducing obligatory voting for all men above 18 years of age, which, four years later, facilitated the election of Hip\u00f3lito Yrigoyen (1852\u20131933), of the Radical Civic Union, for President of the Republic. In Brazil, Get\u00falio Vargas (1882\u20131954) took power in 1930 with a plan to reorganize the nation, which would be radicalized between 1937 and 1945 into the New State. In both countries, means of communication played a strategic role in building a feeling of belonging to the country. Tango and samba became national phenomena.<\/p>\n

Born in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and also in Montevideo, Uruguay, tango music claimed to be a synthesis of aspects of rural life and cosmopolitan city living. The character of compadrito<\/em> (man from the lower class) is key in this context: a relative of the gaucho<\/em>, an Argentinian cultural symbol, the compadrito<\/em> is characterized by the refusal to subject oneself to discipline\u2014represented by family, school, church, politics, and the Army. Based on real-life personalities who lived when this musical genre became popular, the tango can be sung in different ways, as the researcher shows.<\/p>\n

The music of Ary Barroso would become the flagship of the sambas-exalta\u00e7\u00e3o, in tune with the ruling ideology<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For example, \u201cNo afloj\u00e9s,\u201d composed in 1933 by Pedro Maffia (1899\u20131967), Sebasti\u00e1n Piana (1903\u20131994), and Mario Battistella (1893\u20131968), addresses a compadrito<\/em> from long ago, praising his courage and what he has accomplished, regretting that he had been mistreated by wicked times. \u201cBut what regret, this tango is a plea to the compadrito<\/em> that he, known for his courage, endure and not disappear,\u201d writes dos Santos Menezes. The author of Pandeiros and bandoneones<\/em> notes that the disappearance of the character is the result of the modernization of the country\u2014and this ends up being criticized in the song. There are also tangos with the opposite perspective: \u201cMala entra\u00f1a,\u201d composed in 1927 by Enrique Maciel (1897\u20131962) and Celedonio Flores (1896\u20131947), initially seems to praise the compadrito<\/em>, but ends by blaming him for the problems he causes. According to the researcher, this negative view of the character represents the \u201cvoices that are affiliated with the disciplinary position of the State.\u201d Having earlier served as affirmation for a marginal group, the portrayal of the compadrito<\/em> weakens the discourse when the tango becomes a phenomenon of the masses.<\/p>\n

National symbols<\/strong>
\nBoth the tango and the samba were originally expressions of a marginalized population. In Argentina, the tango became a national symbol after the elite, having heard about its success in Europe, began to appreciate it in a process that was initially established in France and was strongly supported by Carlos Gardel. On the other hand, the samba had the support of the State in order to become a national symbol. Historian Alessander Kerber, professor at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), highlights the case of Carmen Miranda of Portugal: \u201cOne of her first records, from 1930, in which she recorded the song \u201cTa-h\u00ed,\u201d sold more than 30,000 copies, at a time when a big Carnival hit sold 5,000 copies.\u201d As the author of Carlos Gardel e Carmen Miranda: Representa\u00e7\u00f5es da Argentina e do Brasil<\/em> (Carlos Gardel and Carmen Miranda: Expressions of Argentina and Brazil), he even remembers that, on one of the artist\u2019s excursions to the United States, the government of Get\u00falio Vargas funded the trip of her band, Bando da Lua. The purpose was to ensure, with monitoring of the group, that the musical performances were not being Americanized\u2014thus avoiding what happened in Serenata tropical (Down Argentine Way<\/em>, in the original)<\/em>, a film directed by Irving Cummings, who, without any contextualization, presented an artist, considered a Brazilian symbol, in an Argentinian plot and scene. \u201cInterpretations such as this upset an elite who would have liked to see Brazil portrayed in a more nationalistic way,\u201d explains Kerber.<\/p>\n

The Department of Press and Publicity (DIP) fulfilled a fundamental role in building a national identity based on samba. Established by the New State in 1939, the DIP did not take long to pressure composers to leave aside elements that would be undesirable for country development, censuring lyrics with content averse to work and primarily associated with troublemaking. When talking about the composition in which Wilson Batista sings \u201cI am proud to be such a bum,\u201d Adalberto Paranhos, professor at the Federal University of Uberl\u00e2ndia (UFU) and author of Os desafinados: Sambas e bambas no \u201cEstado Novo\u201d<\/em> (Out of tune: Sambas and bambas in the \u201cNew State\u201d), confirms: \u201cSamba should deal with other things and not, as in the case of \u201cLen\u00e7o no pesco\u00e7o\u201d [1933], with the glorification of the mischievous figure. It should address another kind of Brazil, such as in \u201cAquarela do Brasil\u201d [1939], which listed one by one the litany of our characteristic places of grandeur and natural beauty.\u201d The samba by Ary Barroso (1903\u20131964) became the flagship of the sambas-exalta\u00e7\u00e3o<\/em> (sambas that glorify Brazil), fine-tuned with the ruling ideology, observes the historian.<\/p>\n

Y la l\u00e1mpara del cuarto tambi\u00e9n tu ausencia ha sentido porque su luz no ha querido mi noche triste alumbrar<\/p>\n

\u201cMi noche triste,\u201d Pascual Contursi<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Like dos Santos Menezes, Paranhos dedicates himself to the study of the persisting mischievous figure in samba music until 1945. \u201cWe have a considerable number of compositions that break the apparent choir of unanimity around the devotion to work that was supposedly heard during the time of the Vargas dictatorship,\u201d he confirms, justifying that the presence of discourse discordant from the State\u2019s demonstrates that no dictatorial regime is able to completely silence dissonant voices. She also remembers that songs, such as \u201cSete e meia da manh\u00e3,\u201d composed in 1945 by Pedro Caetano (1901\u20131992) and Claudionor Cruz (1910\u20131995), \u201cN\u00e3o admito,\u201d composed by Ciro de Souza (1911\u20131995) and Augusto Garcez in 1940, and, two years later, \u201cVai trabalhar,\u201d by Ciro de Souza, show work as a sacrifice. Each of these songs features voices of women complaining about their companions who don\u2019t work. In the latter song, for example, Aracy de Almeida (1914\u20131988) sings: \u201cThis doesn\u2019t work for me\/ And it\u2019s not good\/ Me in the daily grind\/ At the edge of the wash basin\/To earn income\/And you doing the samba all day long.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paranhos emphasizes the ambiguity of songs such as these that illustrate both the criticism of the bum and his survival, as the enemy of work. In the opinion of the historian, beyond this, the woman, by accusing her colleague of only being dedicated to the samba, is not vindicating the value of work. \u201cRather the opposite,\u201d he asserts, \u201cthey plead for their colleagues to also dedicate themselves to their work to at least share the load of sacrifice and bodily death represented by work. It is something very distinct from the State\u2019s speech which praises work as a form of personal fulfilment.\u201d<\/p>\n

For dos Santos Menezes, who dedicates a section of her Pandeiros and bandoneones<\/em> to this kind of song, a woman\u2019s voice complaining about her lazy husband coincides with the \u201cdisciplinarian perspective\u201d of the State. In her opinion, this is because their laziness is condemned right at the moment when \u201cthe deadbeat and the bum were seen as figures that embody the stance that the Brazilian should avoid.\u201d<\/p>\n

A famous composition, with various options for reading, is \u201cRecenseamento.\u201d Composed in 1940 by Assis Valente (1911\u20131958), it describes a poor woman who lives in a slum and talks about a census agent arriving at her home. Noting the censuring look of the visitor who asks her if \u201cher husband\u201d is of the \u201cworking type\u201d or of the \u201cpartyers,\u201d she sings: \u201cMy husband is Brazilian, he\u2019s a rifleman,\/ he carries the flag for his battalion!\u201d And she continues, chanting examples of joy, despite the hardship. According to dos Santos Menezes, the interpretation by Carmen Miranda, one of the most popular, suggests there was irony in the female voice, which simulates praise for the Armed Forces while subtly complaining about poverty. For Paranhos, on the other hand, the \u201chusband\u201d is the master of ceremonies for the samba school, and the image that everything is lacking in the tent would contrast with the alleged national strength. And Kerber even sees, especially in the last verses of the song, connection with the State discourse praising a supposed national harmony.<\/p>\n

It appears this bum they talk about still has a lot to contribute to debates about national history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Study discusses the presence of marginal figures in the lyrics of samba and tango music in the first decades of the 20th century","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[248],"coauthors":[1946],"class_list":["post-288740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-humanities","tag-music"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/657"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288740"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":288770,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288740\/revisions\/288770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288740"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=288740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}