Luiz Carlos Maciel
Chico Buarque:
out goes the
barquinho, in
comes the
political
content
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When Pedro Pedreiro, a composition by Chico Buarque, was
launched in the beginning of 60’s, it not only revealed the talent
of the young composer, until then unknown, but also marked a
new and powerful trend in the process of modernization of
Brazilian popular music that had begun in the previous decade.
The lyrics portrayed the daily life of a construction laborer, his
concerns and his hopes; in the lyrics, social concern gained the
foreground and pointed towards a rising political awareness.
Pedro Pedreiro is the result of a historical-social phenomenon
apparent in the experience of a whole generation of Brazilians
who were in their youth at the time. This generation was
convinced that its historical destiny was to promote the
emancipation of Brazil as a nation, freeing it from
underdevelopment, and the emancipation of the people,
ensuring social justice and a better life. Brazilian popular music
began, from that point on, to express this project.
The new position broke with the lyric tradition of Brazilian
popular music, in particular with its vanguard at the time – the
original bossa nova that was characterized by the song
Barquinho, a composition by Menescal and Bôscoli that was
typical of the graceful, delicate, undeniably beautiful poetry,
even though politically harmless, that marked the early times
of the new music.“Tudo é verão e o amor se faz/ num
barquinho pelo mar/ que desliza sem parar...” (Summer is
everywhere and love happens / in a cockle-boat at sea / that
slides endlessly..). – go the lyrics of Barquinho. “Pedro pedreiro,
Photo: Mario Thompson
THE POLITICAL CONTENT
AND THE EVOLUTION OF MPB
penseiro/ esperando o trem/ Manhã parece carece/ de esperar
também/ para o bem de quem tem bem de quem não tem
vintém...” (Peter mason, lost in thought / waiting for the train /
Morning seems, needs /also to wait / for the good of those who
have goods who don’t have anything... – say the lyrics of Pedro
Pedreiro The theme of the former is the enjoyment of the
middle class; of the latter, the daily drudge of the working class.
Bossa nova was born to fulfill an artistic purpose without any
commitment, an esthetic ideal. Its aim was to place Brazilian
popular music in the musical vanguard of the planet. However,
to a large extent, it followed tradition. The basic rhythm was
still samba, although enriched by more sophisticated resources,
such as the syncopation created by João Gilberto; the melodies
were lyrical and tender; and, finally, the lyrics were still about
troubled love affairs, broken hearts, and preserved the delight in
pain that traditionally characterizes romantic songs. The new
features, therefore, were more of a formal nature than related to
content. But these formal innovations were important and
revealed a new urban, cultured and even sophisticated spirit.
The modernization of Brazilian popular music had started in
the 50’s, with what was called pre-bossa nova. Its main
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motivation was the need experienced by young artists –
composers, singers and instrumentalists – to make popular
music that was as sophisticated as that made in developed
countries, particularly in the United States. This was a
reflection of the national project of the so-called “juscelinist”
age, in which the country, advancing fifty years in only five, was
meant to go beyond the limits of the so-called Third World,
finally fulfilling its destiny as a cultural and possibly economic
power. In fact, artists like Antonio Carlos Jobim and João
Gilberto are among the biggest and more important artists that
international popular music produced in the twentieth century.
Of course, traditional Brazilian popular music was already
notable for the lyricism of its melodic invention and, mainly, for
its rhythmic vitality. The basic proposal was then to enrich it
with an advance in terms of harmony. Singers of the pre-bossa
nova, such as Dick Farney, Lucio Alves and Dolores Duran,
were already influenced by the refinement of the singers of
North American popular music; and instrumentalists such as
pianist Johnny Alf, for the bold harmonies of modern jazz,
Photo: Folha Imagens
especially the so-called cool jazz that flourished on the West
Coast. This assimilation, suitably digested, resulted in what
became known as bossa nova. The introduction of Bolinha de
papel, recorded by João Gilberto, for example, does seem like a
typical arrangement made by Gerry Mulligan.
But it was not only in the strictly musical sphere that evolution
took place. In contrast with the old artists of traditional
Brazilian popular music, coming from the poorest classes, with
little instruction and scarce information, the new artists often
had a university background, were well informed and even
cultured. The lyrics of the songs started to reveal an
unprecedented literary intention, and many of these composers
ended up being considered "poets" even by academic criteria. It
was not by chance that Vinicius de Moraes, the main bossa
nova lyricist, was a renowned poet by the strictest aesthetic
standards, even being considered one of the most important
names in modern Brazilian poetry. Vinicius had his share in
making of the beauty and charms of Brazilian woman one of
the main themes of bossa nova.
The third leap of the new music was, finally, in the direction of
social participation and politics – the moment of transition
from Barquinho to Pedro pedreiro. Not all bossa nova artists
took the leap, dividing the movement into a traditionalistic,
aesthetic trend on one side and, on the other a new political
and participatory trend. At first there was even some
antagonism between partisans of the two trends, with the
political ones calling the aesthetes "alienated", and the latter
qualifying the former as "hypocrites".
The new themes of the participatory trend addresses directly
the problems of underdevelopment and poverty in a country of
the so-called Third World. The difficulties of the daily lives of
underprivileged populations that sometimes came up in
traditional music popular, generally in the form of complaint or
lament, became more aggressive, as symbolized in the verses of
a traditional composition, Opinião, by Zé Keti who, in a
challenging tone, declared that they can beat me / they can
arrest me /they can even leave me without food/but I won’t
change my opinion...
More than ever, the problems of the land, mainly in the
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Northeast, were also mentioned, discussing ownership of the
land and claiming the need for land reform – together with a
movement of protest and assertion that, in spite of being
harshly restrained during the military dictatorship, has emerged
again and reached our days. Carcará by João do Vale is the icon
song of this trend; the lyrics refer to a northeast predator bird
that kills to eat.“Carcará/ pega, mata e come/ carcará não vai
morrer de fome/ carcará/ mais coragem do que homem...”
(Carcará / catches, kills and eats / carcará will not starve to
death / carcará / more courage than man)... – says the song.
The protest songs that emerged in Brazil in the beginning of
the 60’s coincided with the beginning of the American protest
song. However, there wasn’t a direct influence, but rather a
historical synchrony. Without any type of ideological
programming, the manifestations of youth revolt multiplied at
the time; these manifestations would increase in number and
intensity along the decade until the climax in 1968.
Earlier in the process, a musical show was presented at
Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, with the title Opinião (Opinion)
and the presence of three artists of different origins. The first
one was Zé Keti himself, a black from the slums of Rio and
composer of sambas in the traditional popular style; the
second was another poor black, João do Vale, but from the
northeast and composer of songs with the typical rhythms of
Photo: Mario Thompson
Zé Kéti
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his region; the cast was completed by a white singer, Nara
Leão, born in the upper middle class, with sophisticated
education, taste and information.
The importance of Nara in the participatory movement of new
Brazilian popular music in the 60’s should not be
underestimated. With a small voice, in contrast with the
powerful voices of traditional singers, she learned to sing with
the first bossanovists, specially with the master of them all, João
Gilberto. She became very popular and the show Opinião was
undoubtedly a landmark in the history of Brazilian popular
music.
With the beginning of the military dictatorship in 1964, the
theaters of the main Brazilian cities were turned into trenches
of democratic resistance - and musical shows was its vanguard.
Liberdade, Liberdade (Freedom, Freedom), staged in Rio de
Janeiro, in the theater that was named after the show that
inaugurated it, Opinião, and Arena conta Zumbi, at the Teatro
Arena in São Paulo, were two equally important events.
Composer Geraldo Vandré, who had had one of his songs,
Caminhando, censured by the military government, presented
in his live show a new composition based on the same chords of
the forbidden song; the artist played his guitar but was silent,
lowering his head, leaving the audience to sing the lyrics of
Caminhando in a deafening chorus.
The suppression of democratic rights by the authoritarian
regime, openly carried out in the activity of censorship to all
forms of expression, created such a stifling atmosphere that it
became vitally necessary to find some way to breathe. Popular
music supplied this vent.
Chico Buarque, in particular, bore a conflict
with the dictatorial censorship virtually throughout his career,
from its beginning until the moment of the re-democratization
of the country in the 90’s. He was, no doubt, one of the most
censured among Brazilian artists, as a composer and as
a writer and playwright. His songs were prohibited, his plays
mutilated. To dodge censorship, he was forced
to create an alias, Julinho da Adelaide, to whom he ascribed his
more popular sambas. But he gave dictatorial power an
sharp reply in Apesar de você (In spite of you),
which was sung by millions of Brazilians in all corners
of the country, joined in the hope expressed in the lyrics
of the song, that "tomorrow will be another day"...
As others of his generation of brilliant composers (Caetano
Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Milton Nascimento, Edu Lobo, etc.),
Chico became known nationally through the music festivals
held in the late 60’s. With A Banda, sung by Nara Leão, he
won the Festival of Record, in São Paulo, and a great popularity
throughout Brazil. It is a simple little march, delicate and
poetical, whose possible reference to social protest is very subtle.
... a minha gente sofrida/ despediu-se da dor/ pra ver a banda
passar/ cantando coisas de amor... (.. my wretched people /
took leave of pain / to see the band go by / singing love
songs..). – said the song.
Chico also won the International Song Festival, in Rio de
Janeiro, with Sabiá, a truly beautiful song composed in
partnership with Antonio Carlos Jobim, which, however, was
jeered for political reasons! The public’s favorite was Geraldo
Vandré’s Caminhando, considered a more frontal protest
against military power. The cheering for the songs was
passionate, ardent, insane, like for soccer.
Popular music has always had, through History, a huge
importance in Brazilian life. Each one of its different
manifestations captures not only some essential aspect of the
country’s soul, but also the spirit of the time when it was
created. The moment of transition and, following that, living
with the unique poetry of bossa nova and the introduction of
political commitment, left a strong mark on the experience of
the generation. But as time passed the differences eased off, the
opposition seemed more superficial than significant, and the
artists of the two trends met again in a common land – the rich
and multiple universe of Brazilian popular music.
Luiz Carlos Maciel was born under the solar sign of Pisces, with Gemini as
his ascending sign. His quadruple nature, so to speak, leads him to perform
several different activities. He is a scriptwriter, a journalist, a writer, a professor,
a director, an actor - you name it, he does it. He has worked for newspapers,
in the theater, in the movies, on TV, etc. He has published several books. His
two latest books are “Geração em Transe”, in which he deals with
TropicalismoTN in the movies, in the theater and in pop music, and “As
Quatro Estações”, in which he writes about his intellectual activities
throughout the past four decades. In his next book,“O Poder do Clímax Fundamentos do Roteiro para Cinema e TV”, to be published soon by
Record, he attempts to record on paper the methodology of the scriptwriting
courses he has been teaching for many years.
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