{"id":7485,"date":"2012-02-27T19:13:03","date_gmt":"2012-02-27T22:13:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/2012\/02\/27\/a-pol%c3%adtica-que-acaba-em-samba-2\/"},"modified":"2016-03-29T17:12:44","modified_gmt":"2016-03-29T20:12:44","slug":"a-pol%c3%adtica-que-acaba-em-samba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/a-pol%c3%adtica-que-acaba-em-samba\/","title":{"rendered":"The politics that result in samba music"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Two

UH Collection \/ Folhapress<\/span>Two views of the Negro world: on the side, samba musicians from a Rio de Janeiro samba school visit the newspaper and introduce themselves…UH Collection \/ Folhapress<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

A song can change everything; it can trigger a movement or a revolution. Or it can become symbolic because of the unusual content of its lyrics. This is what happened in 1970, when composer Candeia (1935-1978), a native of Rio de Janeiro, launched the samba song called Dia de gra\u00e7a<\/em>. The song’s lyrics contained the following symbolic words: \u201cNegro, acorda, \u00e9 hora de acordar<\/em>\/ N\u00e3o negue a ra\u00e7a<\/em>\/ Torne toda manh\u00e3 dia de gra\u00e7a<\/em>\u201d (Negro<\/em>, wake up\/ don’t deny your race\/ make every morning a day of grace.) \u201cThis was the first time in the history of samba \u2013 and, perhaps, even in the history of Brazilian popular music – when an explicit call to action, directed exclusively at Negroes, had been included in the lyrics of a song, \u201d says Dmitri Cerboncini Fernandes, a professor of the Social Sciences Department of the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF). He is also coordinator of the research project A cor do samba: m\u00fasica popular e movimento negro<\/em>, whose team includes professors Sergio Miceli, of the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (USP), and Gustavo Ferreira, of Fluminense Federal University (UFF). The project has the support of the National Council of Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). It is based on Cerboncini’s post-doctorate thesis, A cor do samba: m\u00fasica popular e movimento negro<\/em>, sponsored by FAPESP. The referred lyrics attracted the researcher\u00b4s attention to such an extent that he decided to do research on the songwriter’s biography. In the course of his work, Cerboncini came across a highly active movement that existed in the 1970s, in which prominent musicians such as Paulinho da Viola and Nei Lopes, were engaged in issues related to Afro-Brazilians. He also came across texts written by these composers that, in one way or another, \u201crewrote\u201d the history of samba as the legacy of African culture in Brazil.<\/p>\n

Up to that time, the samba had been described by essayists, critics and specialists as a national symbol, the summary of the contribution of the three races that shaped Brazil, a legacy of the racial democracy that had ruled the country since the 1930s. \u201cThis scenario began to change after the actions of these samba composers.\u201d Lyrics were written to praise African characteristics and to include musical instruments linked to the Afro-Brazilian religions. In addition, the samba composers began to pioneer closer contact with African nations. A different scenario was thus created. \u201cConcurrently, the decade witnessed the revival of the Negro movement, with an unheard-of affirmative tone which praised the Afro-Brazilian identity and culture. I believe that these are the strongest indications pointing to a rising, new \u00b4melting pot, \u00b4 that blends the advent of a strongly aware, politically active Negro intellectuality, which was against the military dictatorship, and which began to view the samba as one of the main Negro legacies to be protected and valued,\u201d the researcher points out.<\/p>\n

\"...far

Niels Andreas \/ Folhapress<\/span>…far from the exotic, a march by the Negro<\/em> movement in Rio de JaneiroNiels Andreas \/ Folhapress<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Authentic<\/strong>
\nAmong the findings in the professor\u2019s research study is the existence of a representation that appeared in the 1970s, conferring a new identity upon the \u201c authentic\u201d samba \u2013 namely, the legacy of the Afro-Brazilian culture, in competition with the \u201cnational culture\u201d. \u201cThat perception was established by a group of samba songwriters and musicians, journalists, and other intellectuals engaged in the period’s latent issues, such as, for example, the supposed characterization of Carnival and the unchecked and impoverishing commercialization of the samba,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the Negro<\/em> movement rebounded strongly after a long period of forced disappearance, \u201c which provided the opportunity for a meeting of ideas formulated by artists and intellectuals, thus preparing a space for exchange among them.\u201d Fernandes adds that the logic as regards activities related to popular music was linked to other unfamiliar dynamics, in this case the flourishing social movements. \u201c This resulted in a kind of samba that participated in the affirmation of the Negro identity within several scopes and, as an offset to a Negro movement that viewed the samba and the samba songwriters and musicians as the highest expression of the Negro culture.\u201d The researcher emphasizes that this does not mean that racial issues were not previously referred to in samba songs; the songs that mentioned these issues were either underscored by unfounded allegations, by humor \u2013 generally based on cordial discrimination \u2013, or by other reasons. \u201cThe important fact to highlight, but is that the lyrics never praised the Negro\u00b4s relationship with samba, as being the samba\u00b4s exclusive producer, creator, or cultivator; this fact only surfaced in the 1970s.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his opinion, it is difficult to pinpoint how, within the broad front created against the common enemy \u2013 namely, the military dictatorship \u2013 such a front, comprised of a mishmash of leftist activists, journalists, intellectuals and artists with different political leanings, could have given rise to a specific group of samba musicians that challenged that order and whose activities were known for their political bias seen in different levels \u2013 especially in their musical and literary works. \u201cEach samba musician followed a specific path and there were various channels that interfered in the shaping of that arrangement. Paulinho da Viola, Candeia and Martinho da Vila had close contact with journalists, members of the academic community, artists and intellectuals who were members of the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB), as for example S\u00e9rgio Cabral and Lena Frias. This facilitated the voicing of their statements, interviews and activities \u2013 artistic or not \u2013 in the different media the referred people worked in.\u201d Other samba musicians, such as Nei Lopes, had Trotskyite political leanings, due to the contacts established during the period he was enrolled in law school. \u201cTheoretically, this political tendency was more closely aligned with the reborn Negro<\/em> movement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Samba

Archive \/ Ag\u00eancia O Globo<\/span>Samba musician Candeia, one of the movement\u00b4s main representativesArchive \/ Ag\u00eancia O Globo<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

The researcher states that these engaged samba musicians were relatively \u201ceducated.\u201d That is, unlike the reputation of the older generation of samba musicians, these samba musicians had a good educational level. Candeia got the highest grade on the entrance exam to join the civil police force; Paulinho da Viola was a bank employee; Nei Lopes had a degree from the University of Brazil (currently, the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro\/ UFRJ); Martinho da Vila was a sergeant in the Army. \u201cIn the meantime, the artistic community became increasingly politicized, which was expressed in the art; political leanings were part of the artists\u00b4 lives.\u201d In this context, Muniz Sodr\u00e9 \u2013 although not a samba musician \u2013 was especially relevant. Muniz Sodr\u00e9 was an academic who was concerned about the issues around the samba. In 1979, he published a book, O dono do corpo<\/em> (Codecri), a pioneering book on the history of the samba punctuated by radicalism and which once and for all elbowed out the predominant view that the samba was \u201cnational, \u201c that is, a product of the three races that shaped the nation.<\/p>\n

Collective<\/strong>
\nFernandes explains that there was no collective thinking or active movement on the part of these musicians. \u201cIt was a junction of numerous unplanned factors, a kind of meeting of various simultaneous resolutions and tensions involving elements of \u2013 among others – a political, artistic, intellectual and economic nature.\u201d To exemplify, the affinity that flourished between the ideals of the Negro<\/em> movement and the ideals of the samba musicians and other intellectuals when the military dictatorship partially lifted some political restrictions cannot be viewed as having been anticipated.<\/p>\n

\"On

Folhapress\u2002e Archive \/ AE<\/span>On the left, Paulinho da Viola, in 1974; on the right, Martinho da Vila, in 1977Folhapress\u2002e Archive \/ AE<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Cerboncini sheds a light on a period that has not been significantly focused on in academic papers, even though it was a period during which the samba had considerable musical and commercial strength. \u201cConflicting opinions reflect the absence of deeper academic reflection on what actually happened at that time. We can undoubtedly state that Martinho da Vila and Clara Nunes were among the bestselling singers in those times, along with Paulinho da Viola and Beth Carvalho. Cartola, Adoniran Barbosa and Nelson Cavaquinho launched their first long-play records in that decade, even though they had already been on the road for many years. With the exception of the music composed by Candeia, Elton Medeiros and Nei Lopes, other samba musicians, among them Benito di Paula and Luiz Ayr\u00e3o, were not given favorable reviews by critics, although they sold millions of records,\u201d the professor says. He adds that there were a number of successful initiatives that supported the samba, as exemplified by the initiatives implemented by Herm\u00ednio Bello de Carvalho and S\u00e9rgio Cabral at the National Arts Foundation (Funarte).<\/p>\n

This research study has ties to a theme project coordinated by Miceli and funded by FAPESP: A forma\u00e7\u00e3o do campo intelectual e da ind\u00fastria cultural no Brasil contempor\u00e2neo<\/em>. Fernandes was involved in this project as well. In this case, there are two sides to the research: one side is focused on analyzing \u201chighbrow\u201d culture and intellectuality; the other side is more closely linked to \u201cmass\u201d elements, so to speak. Miceli is the senior researcher on this research project. \u201cThe element that interested me the most in Dmitri\u00b4s study was the effort to rewrite the social history of the samba musicians, beyond the normal hagiographic parameters, as well as the effort to qualify the musical aspects in the creative work of various generations,\u201d Miceli points out. \u201cTo understand the prominence of this institution, including with the recording industry, one must understand how it incorporated a specific past. In addition, one must understand how this institution reinvented the past and, at the same time, updated it by mobilizing an aesthetic intelligence that went way beyond popular music in itself,\u201d says professor Marcos Napolitano, of the Social History Department of the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (FFLCH-USP), who was Fernandes\u00b4 advisor during the latter’s post-doctorate program.<\/p>\n

\u201cPopular Brazilian music was not only a set of historical events; it was also a narration of these events, perpetuated by memory and by history, which articulated and re-articulated events as if they were expressions of ‘weak times’ and ‘powerful times’ of history. They express a syncopation of ideas, which provide the passing of time with rhythm and fluidity. This builds a live, open and unpredictable element subject to ideological revisions, aesthetic re-evaluations and new configurations of the past and the future,\u201d says Napolitano. He highlights two aspects in the study conducted by Fernandes: \u201cThis sociological and historical analysis of the intellectual construction process of a discourse on the samba that enhances its ‘African roots’ is a fundamental element. This discourse, as well as the musical expressions that are linked to it, attempted to detach the samba from the expression of a ‘racially mixed Brazilian nature,’\u201d he adds. The researcher also praises the analysis that highlighted the link between culture and politics, \u201cin this case, the role of the Communist and Trotskyite left , which enhanced the black, African samba.\u201d Things can end well, in a samba.<\/p>\n

The Project<\/strong>
\nThe color of samba: popular music and the Negro movement (n\u00ba 2010\/19900-3<\/a>);\u00a0Modality\u00a0<\/strong>Post-doctoral research;\u00a0Coordinator <\/strong>Marcos Napolitano \u2013 USP;\u00a0Investment\u00a0<\/strong>R$ 42.705,69<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Samba music was instrumental to Negro awareness in the 1970s","protected":false},"author":50,"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":[248,261],"coauthors":[337],"class_list":["post-7485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-humanities","tag-music","tag-sociology"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7485","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\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7485\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7485"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=7485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}