Customer Reviews

The Mystery of Samba : Popular Music and National Identity in Brazil

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a straightforward, easy to read, enjoyable and informative book about how samba dance and music moved from a marginalized position to one now considered to be at the "heart" of Brazilian identity. Vianna, a scholar of music, introduces the reader to important samba musicians, intellectuals, and government officials in this story that centers around the rule of Getulio Vargas which began in the 1930s and lasted into the 1950s. Vianna connects samba to ideas of national identity and race, offering insight into why, despite the celebration of samba and Afro-Brazilian roots, Brazilians of African descent continue to face discrimination. This book would make a great read for non-scholars and students alike, who are interested in music, Brazil, and the African diaspora.

Halfway through this book, I'd have agreed with the reviewer who complains that the dancer on the cover is misleading. But by the time I finished it, I could see an angle from which the cover was appropriate. Why do we take it for granted that samba and dancers like the one shown symbolize Brazil? -- this is the "mystery" of the title. Vianna describes how until the 1930s, samba was just a minor regional music from Rio, in a country with zillions of regional musics. "Brazilian music" of the day wasn't even folk music, but followed European trends. (If you don't believe me, check out Brazil's national anthem on Wikipedia -- it sounds like it's from an Italian opera by Rossini.) In Vianna's telling, during the 1930s and '40s samba was transformed into a national symbol as part of a conscious decision to build a "national myth," in an effort spearheaded by intellectuals like Gilberto Freyre. Another of Vianna's major arguments is that Brazilian national identity crystallized around the idea of racial mixture, with racial "purity" being regarded as a kind of defect. He provides some occasional interesting tidbits, too, such as that Carmen Miranda was a Portuguese national who never held a Brazilian passport.

As for the book's being a re-purposed Ph.D. thesis, it's much better-written than most others in that genre that I've read. The academic jargon is mostly in the first and last chapters. That said, though, you could find the book frustrating if you don't have a certain amount of "cultural literacy" about Brazil, beyond knowledge of recent popular music. The names of authors and other historical figures come fast and furious, with little or no explanation. If you don't know a little about, e.g., Noel Rosa, Pixinguinha, Heitor Villa-Lobos, and especially Getúlio Vargas, and at least recognize the names of folks like Machado de Assis and Euclides Da Cunha, you might want first to read a book or two about Brazilian cultural and political history before trying this one. Having heard of Frenchmen Blaise Cendrars or Darius Milhaud might also help. From my experience, even after reading several such books and listening to some older styles of music a lot of the name-dropping may go over your head anyway; but you may be less tempted to throw the book at the wall.

At a substantive level, I wished that Vianna had focused a little less on the influence of sociologist Freyre and rather more on the activities of the Vargas regime in elevating samba. The occasional factual error that I could recognize (such as that "Italian operettas by Bellini and Donizetti" were "playing to full houses in Lisbon" in 1808 (@18-19), i.e. when the composers were aged 7 and 10 respectively) made me worry that there were some others that I couldn't. The translation is generally smooth, though an allusion to a pun in some lyrics of rock group Tităs (@100) assumes you know the original Portuguese the joke is based on (I didn't). In summary, you'll be more satisfied if you think of this as a book about Brazilian social history, rather than as a book about music.

Then this strenuously researched and exhaustively detailed exegesis is for you. Footnotes in abundance! Dry as the Sahara!

Interested in an accessable overview of the history of the development of Afro/Brasilian music leading to what we now know as "samba"? Then don't be fooled by the ecstatic dancer on the cover, we're talking impenetrable doctoral thesis material here.

On that level, it's a great piece of source material with a lot of history to offer.

Want an informative yet easy read on the subject? Google it and almost any other offering will deliver.

-Carl (aka Carlinhos)...
(...)

Imagine carnival in Brazil in the early years of the 20th century. Did you think of the powerful drum rhythms of samba? Think again. Carnival bands played fox trots and country music! Popular dances from Cuba and even the United State had stronger influence than indigenous music. While the Brazil white artistocracy and elite looked to Europe for music and style, lower socio-economic groups, Blacks, and artistic and literary bohemians sought the beat and guitar innovations arising from old Moorish Iberia coupled with choro string bands and the Afro-Brazilian Candomblé religious rites. How the samba and its particular rhythmic pattern developed and moved into popular and then national importance is the topic of this book, based on a doctoral dissertation and thus filled with vast detail and arcane cultural knowledge. Reading this history, it was impossible not to think about the American adoptation of Black southern jazz into the mainstream, particularly during the 1930s and lasting until the shift to rock and roll, and to consider the differences in the experience of these two nations. Race and the stigma of mixtures figured in both, but in Brazil the high frequency of racial mixing took on a cultural unifying metaphor.

The samba was the urban sound of shanty Rio de Janiero. With the advent of radio headquartered in Rio, music of popular samba bands reached Pernambuco, Bahia, and Santa Catarina in the same way novel big band sounds in New York City were heard in Iowa, Texas, and California. The record industry took advantage of rising interest in samba and helped nationalize this music. One of the more interesting facts in this book was that Carmen Miranda, who in America was the living symbol of Brazil, was actually Portuguese, never held an Brazilian passport, and adopted the costume, dance moves, and music of Afro-Brazilians in Bahia. She was not appreciated by elite critics in Brazil; and only in recent years has her contribution been honored. The book closes with some discussion on bossa nova and tropicalismo. The dryness of the scholarly author's prose can be contrasted with the journalistic verve of Ruy Castro in his book on bossa nova. Although most of characters and historical details presented in Vianna's book were quickly forgotten, I did take home the essence of samba's importance and popularity in Brazilian culture and ethos. For that, this small book is worthwhile.