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The “origin of samba” as the invention of Brazil (why do songs have music?)*

1999; Routledge; Volume: 8; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09681229908567281

0968-1221

Rafael José de Menezes Bastos,

Sociology and Education in Brazil

Abstract To the memory of Agostinho da Silva, the first person to speak to me of Brazil. This is an ethnomusicological study of the song "Teitio de Oração " ("Made like a prayer") composed in 1933 by Noel Rosa (lyrics) and Vadico (music). The song is seen as a discourse about Brazilian identity, and it is implicated in negotiations of wide socio‐cultural scope. Basing my discussion on the analysis of the song, I consider DaMatta's formulations about the "Brazilian dilemma", according to which Brazilian ethics are seen to stand between modern individualism and traditional holism. The analytical approach draws on native models for the understanding of Brazilian popular music, in an attempt to establish a conversational articulation between lyrics and music, the universes that constitute the world of song. I show how the lyrics evince a mythic‐cosmological discourse, that is, a world view, while music creates an axiological sphere that evaluates the lyrical content. Notes This is a slightly revised version of a paper published in 1996 in Revista brasileira de ciências sociais, 31:156–77. I thank Suzel Ana Reily for the English translation and her editorial suggestions upon which the revisions were based, though I remain responsible for the paper. The original paper was first presented in 1994 at the colloquium "As culturas musicais urbanas do século XX" (The urban musical cultures of the twentieth century), at the University of Lisbon.