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(More customer reviews)"Brazilian Popular Music: Caetano Veloso And the Regeneration of Tradition"
by Lorraine Leu
(Ashgate Popular and Folk Music Series)
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This scholarly work is an indispensable resource for any serious student of Brazilian tropicalia and popular music... The writing is probing, authoritative and imaginative, and also a bit dense (but in a good way: it's like the academic equivalent of nibbling chocolate mousse or fudge, a very rich and rewarding experience, but probably best in small portions...) Working through a rich vein of primary sources, Leu delves deep into the history, philosophy and cultural psychology of Brazilian music, in particular the multi-layered music of Caetano Veloso and his "tropicalist" cohorts of the 1960s and '70s, a music that is at once ironic and intellectual as well as joyous and uninhibited. Leu explains, with keen insights the intellectual origins and artistic goals of the tropicalistas, but frames the discussion inside its times, with insightful explanations of how the movement played out in the Brazilian public stage and how it drew on deep traditional reservoirs, even as it sought to tear down cultural conventions. Leu ably sifts through texts from academic and journalistic sources, as well as numerous interviews with the artists themselves. This book restates ideas that have been explored elsewhere, but adds a great deal of detail and keen analysis... Although it is an academic work, it manages to elevate itself outside of sheer jargon, and make some very complex, very intimate cultural ideas accessible to readers outside of the very specific Brazilian milieu of the tropicalist era. A very valuable resource -- highly recommended! (DJ Joe Sixpack, Slipcue Guide To Brazilian Music)
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Brazilian popular music, or Musica Popular Brasileira (MPB), developed in the mid 1960s as a response to the re-thinking of Brazilian national identity following the establishment of the post-1964 military regime. A leading figure in MPB at this time was Caetano Veloso, and it is his music and its reception that forms the focus of this book. A leader of the Tropicalist movement, Veloso sought to initiate a critical debate on Brazilian Popular Music and the political and ideological foundations which underpinned its aesthetic. Lorraine Leu examines Veloso's musical and vocal styles, revealing the ways in which they play with traditional expectations between the performer and listener, and argues that they represent an important response to the severe censorship and repression of the military regime.
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