Yeah, Tropicália's main opponent wasn't necessarily the government, but the apathy of the middle class who eventually supported the military dictatorship and now (by the late 60s) was posing itself as against it because the military government wasn't exactly what they expected. I mean, it is very political, but more against status quo than raising a flag for a cause, as you said it.
Just one last thing, I wrote something about Bat Macumba and Brazilian poetry at the time on my translation blog. Doing the sin of advertising, you can find it here brazil70translationproject.wordpress.com...
Jeff(s): this song is kinda what I talked about, the main verse says that the people on the dining room are busy "only" living and dying, that is, doing everything absentmindedly from what's going on around them and then the crystal shatters (it's almost like a Buñuel movie).
Caetano's "Cotidiano" is almost the same thing, where the narrator wants to set his house on fire and liberate himself from his tedious life.
@Jeff G.: Haha that's OK, Portuguese is a tricky business. And I'm apologizing in advance for making North Americans hear my heavy accent in the next weeks.
I'd love to know how many WFMU listeners have "A Minha Menina" as their gateway drug. It's one of those perfect "What _is_ this?" tune for intro'ing folks to the station. (Cuts by the Silver Apples also come to mind, just the sort of thing that makes people want to hear more.)
1:11pm
Dean:
I have a confession to make. I really dislike most Brazilian pop music. I adore Villa-Lobos, and every once in a while Badi Assad is fun. But there's something cloyingly unctuous about Brazilian Portuguese, acoustic guitars, and claves to my ears.
I'd love to hear Raul Seixas if there is any in the pile. The couple songs of his I am familiar with are kind of amazing, not sure where to jump in though.
The military thing didn't affect much of the Tropicália scene, which goes along with its (non-)political issues. Rogério Duprat continued to record in the 70s, he even has a Tropicália album on his own name (which is fantastic). Caetano, Gil, Chico and others were self-exiled, but they eventually returned and the only thing they faced was censorship, not political persecution. I believe it were the more popular guys, like Simonal, and the more overtly political ones that suffered more regarding the dictatorship, but in the 70s the musical scene changed a lot, with brega, the arrival of black music, and the hippie stuff. The hippies were very popular and allowed back at the time, though they did scare something of the middle classes. So the countercultural experience in Brazil is not that different from the one in the US in terms of hippiedom and political alienation (depending of what you regard as politics, of course).
Sorry for sounding too scholarly, but it's just that that dictatorship thing is always brought up but didn't had actually much to do with what was happening in music.
@doca: Not at all -- keep dropping (corrective) science. Always glad to add some facts to (misperceived/misreceived) conventional wisdom.
1:57pm
Dean:
Passport was one avenue, via Krautrock, to fusion jazz for those of us of a certain age. The early Passport records were quite proggy, but with Doldinger leading the band on saxophone. (I am reminded, too, of Dutch band Solution, also featuring sax in an otherwise prog ensemble.) He dabbles in funk, too, and then with "Iguaçu," he plays a Brazilian card.
@Doca - only heard a few tracks from the Duprat album, never tracked it down. Glad to hear it's good! I recall an interview with Gil where he was hiding out and worried about his family's safety before he left for London. Friend of mine knew him in the late 60s and also recounted how scared he was. Maybe paranoia?
Doca - Echoing Jeff G on dropping the correctives. Always great to hear, esp. since so much of our info comes from American sources that may be simply parroting old myths.
@Jeff J; Not at all, as the political scenario was very uncertain. It's just that people usually think of everything related to Brazilian music at the time through the lens of the military regime, and it was just one of the factors (and not the most relevant to the music scene).
@Brian: Yeah I know that's why I'm sorry. But it's just that some usual conceptions about Brazilian culture tend to the exotic and it clashes with my "native" sensibility
@Gaylord: Haha you wrote it nicely. You should do a Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation workshop with the WFMU DJs anytime.
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Jeff J:
doca:
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Jeff J:
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doca:
Caetano's "Cotidiano" is almost the same thing, where the narrator wants to set his house on fire and liberate himself from his tedious life.
doca:
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What are Cansei de Sur Sexy up to these days?
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A Howard 360 with a Kohler 140T engine. Lovely tick over.
Dean:
Brian in UK:
Jeff Golick:
doca:
Sorry for sounding too scholarly, but it's just that that dictatorship thing is always brought up but didn't had actually much to do with what was happening in music.
doca:
Jeff Golick:
Gaylord Fields:
doca:
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Dean:
@doca: A fake Brazil show: what a great idea!
Brian in UK:
Jeff J:
Jeff Golick:
Gaylord Fields:
Jeff J:
Gaylord Fields:
Gaylord Fields:
Jeff J:
doca:
@Brian: Yeah I know that's why I'm sorry. But it's just that some usual conceptions about Brazilian culture tend to the exotic and it clashes with my "native" sensibility
@Gaylord: Haha you wrote it nicely. You should do a Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation workshop with the WFMU DJs anytime.
doca:
Jeff J:
Jeff J:
doca:
Gaylord Fields:
Jeff J:
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Brian in UK:
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Jeff Golick:
listener james from westwood:
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Dean:
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