Americans know Brazil as an exotic country. They view its culture as spicy and exciting.
Musically, Brazil is an inspiration. Brazilian musicians were among the first to combine jazz with Latin music, resulting in the esteemed Latin Jazz tradition. Now it is standard in jazz to play sambas and bossa novas. The jazz singer/trumpeter Chet Baker wrote "A Song For My Father" based on going to Brazil and hearing its amazing music for the first time. Traveling to Brazil and becoming overwhelmed seems to be a common experience.
Interested in catching a simulacrum of Baker's experience, I went to
, under Main Regions clicked on South America, then clicked on Brazil, and investigated the songs listed there in order of popularity.
The number one song is Rogerio Dec's "Una Cancion Alegre", which I have previously recommended. It is a rich and complex modern guitar composition. Beyond Dec (who has an individual and multifaceted style) there is much diversity to current Brazilian music.
When listening to Brazilian music over the Internet, what do we desire? Perhaps the famous traditional sounds that Chet Baker loved, but also new sounds, because what is happening in the world around us does matter. Now....what do we find? Club music.
Clubs, I have heard, are abundant in Rio. Many of the club tracks on the list have apocalyptic titles. There is also a lot of punk and alternative music too. This is not the Brazil that I expected - - and you? There are still a few groups, Dec among them, that play more traditional music, but they are the minority.
Now that we have discovered what music Brazilians are making, one can ask, why are they making it?
Brazil is the playground for many Americans and Europeans who want to party and behave in ways in which they usually would not at home. E1x Channel recently broadcast a special called "Wild In Rio". The promotional commercial for this program showed an American guy shouting "G strings G strings G strings," followed by slick clips of young white bodies bouncing in a club. It seems that the roaring nightlife and carnival like atmosphere is what the few elite locals, and the thriving tourist trade, have come to expect from Brazil. In a country that is so poor, how do their people react to such disparity?
In Brazil the construct of colonialism is still very much intact. If one wants to understand Brazilian music and their culture, they must realize that much.
Ted's Picks
- Here is my club-music pick.
