Brega: Music and Conflict in Urban Brazil Samuel M.

Arajo Latin American Music Review / Revista de Msica Latinoamericana, Vol. 9, No. 1. (Spring Summer, 1988), pp. 50-89.
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Samuel M. Ara6jo

Brega: Music and Conflict in Urban Brazil'

An apparently new category was introduced to the realms of Brazilian popular music in 1984. With the release and success of rock singer Eduardo Dusek's Brega-chique, chique-brega album, the word brega, which could not be found in the best Portuguese dictionaries, started puzzling popular music critics, journalists, and the public in general. Often asked to define it, the singer pointed out that although brega was an informal term applied to a whole body of massoriented popular music, its meaning had roots in broader socioecbnomic phenomena. Following the lead provided by Dusek, general newspapers and magazines begun to "discover" the brega universe, publishing interviews with and short stories about its more exposed representatives. The first data emerging from those accounts probably astonished the average reader. Many of those unfamiliar names turned out to be among the top-selling recording artists in the country, despite having never received media coverage commensurate with the striking sales figures reported. Perhaps it was even more intriguing to learn that many of those artists had been enjoying a constant level of popularity for several years and that, although brega was the term informally employed by their companies to describe their general style, the artists in question did not identify themselves as such. Since then, brega and its socioeconomic concomitants became the object of unprecedented and increasing media attention and thus provoked all sorts of speculation about its significance in present-day Brazilian society. This study will focus on the musical manifestations of brega, attempting to provide a descriptive picture of their general characteristics and social contexts. A brief commentary on the conflicts in the sociopolitico-economical circumstances surrounding the emergence of brega as a media issue and their impact on the Brazilian record business is also included. Rather than constituting a fully worked out taxonomy, the headings

Brega: Music and Conflict i n Urban Brazil : 5 1

of the sections dealing with musical manifestations of brega are working categories which follow more or less arbitrary criteria. Only those musical tendencies which have been recurrently associated with brega will be examined here. Despite the predominantly descriptive character of this essay and the absence of comprehensive source materials dealing with its subject, some conclusions as to the interrelationships among the various phenomena analyzed will also be offered. These, given the complexity of the subject, will be necessarily tentative hypotheses to be tested by further research.

Preliminary Remarks
The emergence of brega as a media issue occurred in a very significant moment of recent Brazilian history. Even a casual observer of the Brazilian reality in the early 1980s would not have any difficulty in finding out that the period in question was a rather tense one. Key facts affecting the following discussion are (1) the skyrocketing inflation (over 200 percent in 1984), the internal economic recession, and peak unemployment rates, with devastating effects over the labor force (see Tavares and de Assis 1985); (2) the political impasse resulting from the contradiction between the decline and visible unpopularity of a twenty-one-year (19641985) military dictatorship and its reluctance in compromising with the discordant political forces; and (3) the generalized reversal of social expectations, bringing issues such as cultural identity and national sovereignty to the forefront of social concern. This rather unstable situation had incisive effects on the economic activity as a whole, including the local record industry. Rated as the fifth largest record market in world terms by the late 1970s, Brazil apparently maintained a relatively high-ranking position in 1984 (it reached the eighth place, according to McGowan 1985). All "big five" transnational companies-i.e., CBS, E M I , Polygram, Warner (WEA) and RCAhad fully operative branches in the country and they also were, along with Som Livre (a private enterprise owned by Globo, the main Brazilian T V network), the ones that controlled 91 percent of the local market share in 1985 (see Hoos 1986: 72). Facing the recession, the main enterprises' reaction was somewhat uniform. Cuts of personnel (both administrative and artistic), joint distribution of their products, and other procedures of that sort were consistently adopted by them (see McGowan 1985; Hoos 1986). In musical terms, that was the time, according to a CBS official (quoted in McGowan 1985: VL-22), to go back to "fundamentals, to real talent." Given the popularity of brega trends during that critical period, some

52 : Samuel M. Aralijo sources (see, for instance, Anonymous 1985, 1986a) described their general stylistic features as something unique in terms of the trajectory of Brazilian popular music. Basically, they would comprise (1) exaggerated and/or naively romantic textual contents; (2) use of large ensembles, usually employing full string sections, brass instruments, and also relatively new developments in the field of electronicldigital instruments; and (3) influences of or merging with international tendencies, resulting in either the development of hybrid musical styles or the adoption of exogenous genres. Nonetheless, there is a substantial amount of evidence to support that these characteristics have antecedents in the history of popular music in Brazil since at least the eighteenth century (see chapter 3 in Araujo 1987).

Brega: Slang, Occupation, or Musical Style?

As mentioned at the beginning of this paper, the word brega was not totally ignored in the Brazilian context when it was printed for the first time on a record cover. Even so, its "formal" recognition, in addition to the lack of its definition in any Portuguese language dictionary, promoted a great deal of curiosity among the public. Being the natural center of the publicity following his album release, Eduardo Dusek was prodigal in definitions and also advanced broad explanations for the brega phenomenon. According to the singer (see Xexto 1984), brega as a musical term would mean mlisica per$Lrica ("peripheral music") for "the great masses of the interior," interior, in this case, becoming much more an economic category (i.e., relatively distant from the metropolis) than a geographical one ( a small coastal city or the poor neighborhoods and slums of a big city would be considered "interior" under this criterion). There was also, affirmed Dusek, a social meaning in brega, a term used in Rio de Janeiro as a derogatory substitute for domestic servant (coinciding with this author's first recollections). As an extension of that sense, the term might also be applied to anything vulgar, dated, kitsch, or, in a more abstract way, to any "representation of nothing" (XexCo 1984: 78). In opposition, brega-chique ("chic brega") would refer to the reversal of that pejorative sense and-suggested the singer-the acknowledgment of the "racial milk-shake," an essential feature of Brazilian society. Whenever asked to give examples of both categories, Dusek did not hesitate before listing as brega the politicians who contributed to the rejection of the direct vote amendment, perhaps the climax of the political impasse. Brega-chique would be those who struggled to pass the amendment and also several people from different artistic fields (film, theater,

Brega: M u s i c and Conflict i n Urban Brazil : 53

music, etc.) who, not properly being mass-oriented artists, incorporated in one way or another certain elements of the brega imagery into their respective modes of artistic expression. Given its supposed antecedence in relation to the other meanings, it might be worth commenting briefly upon the condition of the domestic servant in Brazil. Alternatively called empregada dom'stica, domistica, or empregada, that specific occupation accounts for most women's jobs in the country. Data from the 1980 census (reproduced in Szwarcwald and de Castilho 1986: 8) indicate that 20 percent of the country's female labor force provided some kind of domestic service (cooking, cleaning, etc.). It is usually through domestic occupations, for instance, that migrant women coming from rural areas are first absorbed by the labor market in the biggest cities. According to Souza, domestic services constitute a special situation within the labor market: "Formally, it encompasses wage-workers, though they are not subordinated to a capital [in the economic sense] but to a non-economic unit, as the family . . . given the type of work, the tendency to the establishment of personal relations is obviously very strong" (1980: 35). I n fact, the many facets of the dom'sticas' universe deepen more and more its uniqueness. As many of them live at the workplace, several houses and apartment buildings in Brazilian cities include the so-called dependtncias de empregada ("servant's facilities"), comprising a separate and incredibly small bedroom with a n even smaller bathroom and separate (in the case of buildings) entrance halls and elevators (dos fundos or de servi~o).The transgression of those limits, except for cleaning jobs, implies quite often a serious offense. Sometimes, however, the violation of the space is not only allowed but intensely desired, as the widely employed expression a dom'stica virou patroa ("the servant became patroness") suggestively indicates. T h e latter observation also touches upon a significant aspect of the dom'stica condition which is equally important to the brega semantics: the contradictions between the eventual socioeconomic mobility and the retention of underestimated cultural backgrounds. Thus, the music played on the servant's A M radio as well as the porcelain penguin put on the refrigerator by the owner of a nice suburban mansion might be classified as brega, and so on. I n any case, it was the extremely prejudicial content of the term brega which generated its broader extensions. A profuse number of them emerged from a survey conducted in a special program produced by the radio station of the Universidade de SBo Paulo (S5o Paulo University). About thirty people, apparently selected at random, were asked to define and provide examples of brega. Although the interviewers put some emphasis on the musical aspects of the phenomenon, some respondents

54 : Samuel M. Araqo
eventually extended their associations to other realms. A selective list of answers is furnished in Example 1. Example I : Definitions and examples of brega (from Luca n.d.) Question (1) What is mhica brega? (2) What is brega? Definitions: -I don't know. -what the Northeastern says: party in a whorehouse. -[with a clear Northeastern accent] a promiscuity house of the cabaret type, in a pejorative sense [never heard with other meaning]. -popular singers who sing things related to their lives-empregadas, low-income people. -I always found, for instance, that samba caqiio [slower tempo form of samba with romantic textual contents] was brega, but there was the Jovem Guarda [first Brazilian popular music trend to absorb rock influences; see also sections on antecedents, brega, and deluxe brega] . -subproducts of Jovem Guarda.
-those people of Jovem Guarda.
-gutcha [the equivalent to brega in the S5o Paulo slang].
-gutcha music.
-music which is played in SHo Paulo.
-Californian music . . . those things which came from California
at that time [1960s] . . . those cigua-com-qucar [mellow] little groups. -[well-known popular music singer, not usually labeled as brega] we cannot carry any type of prejudice against a [type of] music. I n 1977, I sang "Boneca cobi~ada"in my show . . . More brega than "Boneca cobi~ada"is the garbage of the garbage . . . I sang it once it had a function within my work, my script . . . I don't have any prejudices toward any kind of music. -turn it off . . . turn it off.
Question (3) Name a brega singer.
-Waldick Soriano [see section on deluxe bre,qa]
-Roberto Carlos [see section on deluxe brega]
-LGcio Alves [bossa nova singer]
-Menudo [Puerto Rican teenage group]
-Kid Ab6bora [Brazilian new wave group]
-Elvis Presley
-Johnny Rivers

Brega: Music and Conflict i n Urban Brazil : 55

As we can see, some of the associations are not confined to the national context and encompass well-known phenomena in the international scene. Actually, international connections apparently constitute a consistent aspect of brega. Not rarely, Brazilian brega singers participate in their foreign counterparts' records and vice-versa (e.g., Waldick Soriano with Miguel Aseves Mejia from Mexico, Carlos Santos with Cristoph from France, and Joanna with Barry Manilow from the United States). Considered as a whole, the several meanings of brega reveal a multifarious universe which has as a common denominator its deprecation, usually according to prejudicious value judgments. Quite coherently, prejudice, mobility, and discrimination are also significant aspects in the trajectories of brega exponents.

The Diffusion of Brega Music

The following tentative inventory concerning the channels of diffusion of brega music takes into consideration the manifestations which have been more recurrently labeled as such. Examining the various accounts provided so far, one will have an impression of a rather stratified panorama. Perhaps at its foundations are the public diffusion through AM radio stations (or the "kitchen sound," according to Castro 1984) and "live" shows through the Brazilian interior (in the sense stated by Dusek). The latter are characteristically put together iil gymnasiums, peripheral social clubs, and other types of public spaces and attended by audiences ranging from about five hundred people to about three thousand people or even more. An intermediary stage is that of the churrascarias (the Brazilian equivalent to barbecue restaurants and a strong symbol of middle-class identity), relatively unknown night clubs in cities such as Rio de Janeiro and SZo Paulo, sporadic appearances on less prestigious T V programs, and low-cost, mass-oriented commercial films. At a certain point, it seems safe to try more ambitious paths. It is time, then, to become exposed to the presumably more sophisticated audience of the fashionable night clubs of the metropolitan centers, wellproduced programs and novelas (enormously popular soap operas) on prime-time television (the Globo T V is the paradigm here), and the showcase for MPB top stars, the large beerhouse and restaurant Cane~Zo in Rio de Janeiro (which represent to the nouveau riche more or less what the churmscarias represent to the middle classes). If succeeding, chances are that the artist will also manage to break the strong resistance of the F M radio stations, the "living room sound."

56 : Samuel M. Aratijo Despite the existence of all those levels of discrimination it is commonly observed that a brega singer's career seldom follows those three stages linearly. Thus, an extremely successful singer in commercial terms such as Roberto Carlos will also tour the states' capitals presenting "live" shows, but the technology and other material means involved in the production will be far more sophisticated than the ones of an Amado Batista (see the section on brega). O n the other hand, singers such as MilionBrio and JosC Rico (see the section on brega sertaneja) will be hardly (if ever) seen on prime-time T V but will successfully tour countries such as the United States (mainly the states near the Mexican border) and mainland China.2 Yet, in one exceptional case-Carlos Santos (see section on brega)-the artist had never done (until 1986) a single "live" show or T V program, depending primarily on the radio broadcasting of his records to diffuse his name.

Brief Profile of a Brega Singer

Generally speaking, the trajectory of many brega singers fits into a wellknown stereotype in terms of social mobility: the self-made man (women are apparently a minority in brega). A consistent characteristic in their personal histories (e.g., Waldick Soriano, Amado Batista, MilionArio, and .JosC Rico) is to come from a poor family of usually rural background, start early as an agricultural worker, and then move to a big city where, after taking all kinds of lowpaying jobs (i.e., office boy, clerk, trucker, and construction jobs), they finally "make it" in the record business. Some of them, however, come also from the poorer strata of the metropolises and live in the slums of Rio de Janeiro (e.g., Agepi.; see the section on samba romcintico) or SZo Paulo corti~os (tenements) under precarious conditions. These stories end, at least temporarily, at huge and comfortable farm houses (e.g., Amado Batista, Milionhrio, and JosC Rico) or dreamlike mansions and apartments in the cities' most fashionable sites (e.g., Rio de Janeiro's Zona Sul). Not all brega representatives, though, were raised in economic privation. There are instances of middle-class people who became successful within the brega stream (e.g., Roberto Carlos, Nelson Ned, and Sidney M agal) . Many brega artists have other types of business outside music, but the majority of them get most of their revenues from their recording careers. An interesting exception in this regard is again the singer Carlos Santos, who heads a multi-interest enterprise which is claimed to be the main source of his financial success and to occupy most of his professional time.3

Brega; Music and Conflict in Urban Brazil : 57

In terms of public image, three main trends arise: (1) a moderate one (e.g., Roberto Carlos), typically emphasizing values believed to be accepted by the society at large, such as the use of discrete adornments (bracelets, rings, medallions), reiterated statements of religious beliefs (Catholicism almost certainly), and either ambiguous or conservative opinions about all sorts of issues; (2) an overtly romantic image, quite often implying that no contradictions exist between the public and the private facets of the artist's life (e.g., Sidney Magal, Jost Rico, and Agepc); and (3) a neutral image, apparently distant from the emphatically romantic and the moderate stereotypes; the singers in this case do not customarily publicize their personal opinions or attitudes (e.g., Amado Batista and Carlos Santos). Yet a common issue arises from the public statements made by brega representatives: they complain about being the target of social prejudice. Be it by blaming the "Nazism of the F M stations" (Sidney Magal, quoted in Castro 1984), the record reviewers' harsh criticisms (Roberto Carlos), or TV Globo's discrimination against some of them (Amado Batista), brega singers seem to suggest that a substantial part of the Brazilian media still saw (at least around 1984) brega as a manifestation of the underdog or the nonconsumer, a "representation of n ~ t h i n g . " ~

Brega Rock
I think that brega-chique is a cu~t@cio [an ironical commentary on what b ~ e ~ a is] . . . T h e difference between new wave and new brega is that the new wave shops for clothes at Carl's while b ~ e g adoes it at Mesbla. (One definition of brega given by an interviewee on the "Anos 60" radio program; see Luca n.d.)

Having brought about the public discussion of brega, it is no surprise that Eduardo Dusek's Brega-chique, chique-brega album (1984) is utilized by several sources as a referential point whenever the issue is raised. The quotation provided above is no exception and refers to three important features of a tendency which will be presented here as brega rock: (1) its ironical or humorous view of social or, less frequently, political issues; (2) its rock 'n' rolVnew wavelpunk connection; and (3) its extensive, symbolic connotations (music, clothes, etc.). Examining them in an inverted order, it should be noticed first that the two fashion stores mentioned, Carl's and Mesbla, refer to two distinct realities. While the first was at the time in question considered to be a trendy, upper-class, youth-oriented boutique, the other, a department store, has been a symbol of affluence (in the sense of social mobility) for a rather long period of time. As we have already seen, this

58 : Samuel M. Aralj,jo latter aspect is very often associated with brega, mainly in terms of the tension between the lower classes' and upper classes' values. The two other characteristics indicated above are related to the emergent popularity enjoyed by local rock groups andlor singers of the new wavelpunk trend and expressed by impressive sales figures. In fact, rock and humor have been the trademark of a number of commercially successful artists since Rita Lee's sales boom by the early 1980s. From then on, a succession of events would demonstrate that that was a significant cultural phenomenon of the decade. 1982 would be the year of the group Blitz with its ironical and theatrical approach to daily situations. Their hit "Voc2 nHo soube me amar" (1982) combined spoken dialogues and a rather simple, new wave-inspired accompaniment, being performed on stage in a humorously dramatic way. New wave influences were also clearly present when the group Magazine took over the national scene with the song "Sou boy" ("I Am an Office Boy") in 1984. In this case, however, a new datum in terms of the Brazilian context (for an account of its occurrence in its original context, see Coon 1978) emerged: the punWnew wave connection. Contrasting to the rather trivial thematic universe (e.g., love crises, egotrips, etc.) depicted by the Blitz, the Magazine and its histrionic leader, Kid Vinil, sang the routine of a lower bureaucrat in a very caustic manner. Vinil himself would stress the previous impact of punk not only in his music but also in his own way of life, mainly reflected in the anarchic song texts of his first bands, Caos and Verminose, back in the late 1970s. I identified myself [with punk culture] because in the end I had the opinion that nothing else existed. It was a matter of auto-destruction,because everything was so chaotic by that time . . . In the times of the Caos band, we had a text which strongly offended president Geisel [the military dictator of Brazil from 1974 to 19781, saying: "Who is this insane guy? 1 He is our president." (Kid Vinil in Petta 1984: 63) After switching to a less radical posture and becoming a market sensation, the Magazine (the name was confessedly copied from an English new wave group) would face the common criticisms-i.e., ignorance of "genuine" Brazilian music and capitulation before "imposed" alien tendencies-directed at local rock performers. An intriguing point, however, was missed by those critics. Traditional genres were not unfamiliar to at least some rock musicians and, occasionally, close connections did exist. In the case of Kid Vinil (or Antanio Carlos Senofonte, his actual name), his parallel job controlling the editorial royalties of all Chantecler ( a record label specializing in mlisica sertaneja, a genre of the Southern and Midwestern states of rural origins) issues probably demanded a

Brega: Music and Conflict i n Urban Brazil : 59

much greater degree of expertise in traditional styles than that of most of his critics. Once rock musicians started approaching social and political issues with total irreverence, the criticisms began to encompass the texts as well; before that, they would not even be considered. Another major hit of 1983184, the song "InGtil" ("Inutile"), recorded by the band Ultraje a Rigor, had an unequivocal punk atmosphere, marked by a repetitive melody and rhythm over a single chord and very direct lyrics. Containing verses such as "We don't know how to choose a president 1 We don't know how to take care of ourselves 1 Inutile, we are inutile" and incorporating grammatical mistakes which are frequently found in colloquial Portuguese, "InGtil" provoked mixed reactions. Conservative chroniclers attacked what they considered to be a satiric depiction of the lower classes, while other observers were more sensitive to its ironic message in a moment when basic political rights were being denied to the society as a whole. Despite the divergent readings and interpretations, irreverent social1 political critique and deliberate musical simplicity inspired in punk and, mainly, new wave models were thus fundamental aspects of the rise of Brazilian rock as a stable commercial tendency in the early 1980s. Following the trend, record companies (WEA in particular) started signing several rock groups whose repertoire explored those characteristics in different dosages. The case of Eduardo Dusek in that context was particularly interesting. While his previous aesthetical postures, blending diverse imported and domestic musical influences, would hardly fit into a single category, irreverence and rock were consistent elements of his work since at least 1980. Maintaining his unorthodox attitude, Dusek would not restrain himself to the usual derivation of new wave models, characteristic of the most popular Brazilian rock groups. Instead, he would put together in 1984 an eclectic album, Brega-chique, chique-brega, with a distinct atmosphere on each side. The either ironical or overtly sarcastic tone of the texts on side 1 (or Brega-chique) was in a sense complemented by the borrowing from popular music genres associated with the lower classes, such as the baiza (for an account of this genre, see TinhorHo 1974: 209217) and brega. Side 2, on the other hand, conveyed a contrasting lyrical message, except for its first cut, a humorous version of an old Beatles hit ("WhyH-1964). In spite of Eduardo Dusek's manifest eclecticism, the song "Bregachique" (Polydor 8219744, side 1, track 7) alone would push forward the publicity and, consequentially, the sales. Its text (reproduced in the original version of this paper) provoked a very negative reaction from

60 : Samuel M. Aralijo
the national organization of dome'sticas; a prolonged polemic between that institution and the artist in question was sustained through general newspapers. The music of "Brega-chique" itself did not stimulate any kind of public discussion, although its title might imply a connection to brega style. In fact, the recording contains characteristics which are commonly found in the records made by rather representative brega singers. Perhaps the most evident similarity is the rhythmic basis provided by synthesizers in "Brega-chique," imitating the usual electric guitar, bass, and drums brega patterns (see Example 2 below and compare to Example 7 in the following section). Idiomatic are also its basic ABC formal scheme as well as its harmonic progressions (e.g., I-V-IV-111-11-V-Iin part A), which together delineate the piece's brega atmosphere. All those musical similarities, in combination with the narrative characteristic of the text, raise the question of how one would distinguish that specific recording from its original brega model. Not paradoxically, an important clue would be the employment of the word brega itself within the text, even without considering its implications in that particular case. This single datum reflects, indeed, the ironical mood of the text which is properly emphasized by the often irreverent singing style (involving, for instance, a forced dramatic tone at some points). Equally significant distinctions in musical terms, producing a caricatural effect, are also the strikingly dissonant lines played on distorted synthesizers at cadential points.
Example 2: Basic rhythmic patterns in "Brega-chique." From Polydor 8219744, side 1, Track 7

Guitar: Bass: Drums:

Despite Dusek's caution in not identifying his work as just another brega tendency, he was suddenly caught in the middle of a huge publicity which was centered precisely on that aspect of his new record. The apparent contradictions between rock and brega were explored exhaustively by the press, and after some time they were superseded by the "discovery" of brega as a significant cultural fact within the Brazilian context. Ironically enough, the pivotal figure behind the whole discussion,

Brega: Music and ConJict in Urban Brazil : 61

Eduardo Dusek, quietly returned to his usual standards of popularity by the time that brega singers themselves started to obtain a closer attention from the media. Volatile as it may seem, brega rock (or yet new brega) can perhaps be better characterized in two ways: first, through its textual irreverence, implying either an ironical use of brega imagery and/or critique of social/ political issues, with frequent references to the lower classes' conditions in a colloquial and still humorous tone; second, through its musical aspects. These include (1) a contrived singing style, often drawn on brega singers or common forms of colloquial speech, properly conveying the irony of the text; (2) a rhythmic section usually provided by guitar, bass, and drums, involving patterns which are commonly found in both rock (and perhaps more clearly in new wave) and some brega tendencies, such as the one represented by the singer Amado Batista; and (3) formal, melodic, and harmonic characteristics borrowed from either punk/ new wave rock or brega. Those procedures have been occasionally adopted by Brazilian musicians within the context of the huge popularity enjoyed by rock trends such as punk and new wave in the 1980s. As exemplified by the paradigmatic case of Eduardo Dusek, those performers would apparently prefer to see brega rock as a creative alternative rather than as a permanent choice in their respective repertoires. Avoiding playing the public role of spokesmen for a closed musical genre, they opened the way to the first journalistic accounts of the brega phenomenon.

Brega
As soon as brega became a notorious public issue, provoking all sorts of speculation about its meaning and extensions, one thing seemed to be very clear: there was an imbalance between the accounts of its broad social repercussion and the scattered attention previously given to its manifestations by an influential part of the media. The music, some commentators said, could not be heard either on FM radio or on the nationwide Globo T V network and was almost absolutely ignored by general newspapers and magazines (see, for instance, Kubrusly 1984). Indeed, that sort of discrimination turned out to be a consistent topic, since major daily newspapers such as the Folha de S6o Paulo started interviewing apparently "unknown" singers whose record sales figures placed them among the ten top artists in the business. Initially focused exclusively on the "paradoxical" commercial phenomenon without mentioning the word brega (see Anonymous 1984a), those accounts would begin to encompass texts and music by the time the publicity around

62 : Samuel M. Aratijo Eduardo Dusek's Brega-chique album reached its peak in MayIJune of 1984 (see Anonymous 1984b). Perhaps due to the explicit references to his name and repertoire appearing on that album (side 1, track I), singer/songwriter Amado Batista was promptly singled out as the consummate representative of a " brega genre." A popular music critic, in a pioneer review of Batista's eighth LP, observed that Dusek's success caused the public to become "acquainted with the existence of the word only, since the brega genre remains ignored" (Kubrusly 1984: 69) and provided a very generic description of its features. According to his perception, the "genre" was obviously modeled after the 1960s Jovem Guarda movement, involving a singing style which immediately evoked the early Roberto Carlos and the repetition of textual (naive romanticism) and musical (inspired on American and British rock groups of the late 1950s and early 1960s) Jovem Guarda cliches; distinguishing brega from its model, still following the same source, there was the "crude language" employed in the texts. This very concise description, despite the further interest on the brega issue, was apparently the only attempt to specify the main features of the correspondent musical "genre" made so far. Amado Batista's own recollections (see Anonymous 1984b) of his first exposures to music when still living and working on a farm seem to confirm the impact of Jovem Guarda on him. Besides the dance music played for local bailes (country balls) on violas (ten-string guitars) and sanfonas (accordions), he remembers singing Roberto Carlos's hit "0 Calhambeque" (1963) while working with his shovel, thinking about becoming an "artist." About eight years after leaving the countryside and getting to the city of Goidnia (capital of the state of Goihs), in 1975 Batista recorded his first single which, he affirms, had no repercussion. The next year he would be back to a studio, recording a song symptomatically called "Desisto" (I Give Up), which would eventually become his first hit and the beginning of a commercially successful recording career. Listening to "Desisto" and being familiar with the Jovem Guarda idiom, an inevitable association between both comes to one's mind. Each stanza of its enigmatic text, to begin with, basically comprises a rather simple rhyme scheme of aabccb, which may be commonly found in many samples from the Jovem Guarda repertoire. The same observation applies to the trivial character of the lyrics (see Example 3), properly conveyed by the nasal and contrivedly inhibited vocal tone, a Roberto Carlos trademark. It is, however, the music that causes a closer relationship with the Jovem Guarda style to emerge. Characteristic of the latter, for instance, are the rhythmic accentuation in quadruple meter provided by the drums, the anticipation at the end of the melodic phrases and subphrases, and the repetition of the introductory instrumental solo before each repetition of the basic structure (see Example 4).

Brega: Music and Conflict i n Urban Brazil : 63 Example 3: "Desisto." First two stanzas. (From Vitamina i Cura. Continental 1-07-405-31 1, side 2, track 6)
"Desisto" Amado BatistaReginald0 SodrC

Rosto que beijei, corpo que abracei, olhos de fazer chorar, sHo coisas que eu nHo posso esquecer mas pretend0 abandonar Juras que eu ouvi, frases que escrevi pr8 enfeitar nossa ilusHo nHo importam mais, ficam para tr8s, talvez em seu c o r a ~ l o .

The face that I kissed, the body that I embraced, the eyes that make one to cry, are things that I cannot forget but I intend to abandon. The vows that I heard, the sentences that I wrote, to adorn our illusion do not matter anymore, are left behind, maybe in your heart.

Example 4: "Desisto." Basic structure repeated to each set of two stanzas. (From Vitamina i Cura. Continental 1-07-405-311, side 2, track 6)
" Desisto' '
Introduction
[piano (4 measures) + synthesizer (4 measures)]

Voice Drums

m& 1 - - -

Note: The second part of the second stanza is repeated.

64 : Samuel M. Aralijo Examining forty-five pieces recorded by Amado Batista and released between 1984 and 1986, some of which (including "Desisto") are reissues, one would observe the repetition, sometimes with slight variations, of the musical features highlighted above in at least thirty-eight of them. The remaining items consist of three songs in triple meter, resembling subgenres of mlisica sertaneja such as the rancheira, and four other pieces 1 in duple meter where the recurrent use of the rhythmic pattern \?j,b-,Q suggests close associations with the Northeastern baizo. The vast majority of the songs fit into a binary structure, usually symmetrical, but an ABC form is also common. In terms of their texts, the samples under consideration are mostly love songs, alternating between an introspective mood close to that of "Desisto" and, less often, a more erotic tone. A few lyrics eventually convey tragic situations in a very direct manner, as is the case of the controversial song "0 fruto do nosso amor" ("The Fruit of Our Love" -see Example 5). Despite its apparently scattered occurrence within Amado Batista's repertoire, it was precisely this aspect (or the "crude language" referred to above) that was picked up by rock singers as an ideal stereotype for their ironical purposes. Moreover, as soon as it attracted the attention of more sophisticated media, it started to be (and probably still is) seen as a strong symbol of identity of the brega repertoire by those who allegedly were outside that specific "cultural" context. Even if that is so, Batista's change to a more resourceful company, RCA, in 1985 coincided (at least temporarily) with the abandonment of that aspect of his previous image. His first RCA album (RCA 109.0139) does not contain a single song whose text could be described as "crude," although all the other usual formulae, both textually and musically, are definitively present. In addition to that, a more careful production in visual terms reinforces the impression that an attempt was made toward defining a new marketing strategy for the singer, capable of appealing to a presumably more selective audience. Whether or not Batista's style may be affected in the future by the events mentioned above, it shares at least one basic feature-the borrowing from Jovem Guarda models-with that of other artists usually labeled as brega. There may exist, however, significant particularities in each individual repertoire. The case of another top-selling singer, Carlos Santos, is perhaps the best example. Only three out of the twenty-four songs included in two of Santos's albums, respectively released in 1984 and 1985, would allow immediate associations with Amado Batista andlor his Jovem Guarda-modeled style. Among them, "Telefonista" (Gravasom, GVLP 30667, side A, track 3) bears a striking similarity to another Roberto Carlos hit, "Quando" (1965), as can be seen in Example 6.

Brega: Music and Confict in Urban Brazil : 65 Example 5: "0 fruto do nosso amor." (From Vitamina e' Cura. Continental 1-07-405-3 11, side 1, track 3)

''0 fruto do nosso amor"

Vicente DiasPraia0 I1 A perfect love existed between us, without expecting that later everything was going to end. But in this world, where nothing perfect survives, we do not deserve, dear, to live together and love. Our Lord took you forever. He did not even leave me the fruit of our love. That son would be our happiness. I felt myself, in that day, as a father, a mature man. At the hospital, within the surgery room, through the window I saw you suffering but smiling. And your smile vanishing little by little So I saw you dying without being able to say good-bye.

Refrain (repeated)

The idiomatic rhythmic section, the type of romanticism expressed in the texts, and the overall conception of form in all three Carlos Santos pieces mentioned in Example 6 are undoubtedly inspired by Jovem Guarda, as much as most of Amado Batista's songs. Generally, however, Santos's repertoire consists of quite contrasting material. Most of the songs in both 1984 and 1985 albums draw upon popular genres from Northern Brazil such as the lambada, with its characteristic Caribbeanlike rhythmic accent. In those pieces, the usual Jovem Guarda instrumental ensemble of electric guitar, electric bass, drum set, and, occasionally, piano or organ is often reinforced by brass (mainly trumpet

66 : Samuel M. AraGo

Example 6: Carlos Santos's "Telefonista" (first phrase and organ solo) and Roberto Carlos's "Quando" (first phrase)

"Telefonista" (voice)

' I T

7 i *

"Telefonista" (organ solo)

+ ,- ; -AL. .; -9-

.
L ' . l .

.
, '

' + -

. \

, , ,
*YO

"Quando"
(voice)

and saxophone) and percussion instruments (congas) as heard in "S6 pr6 vocC" (Gravasom GVLP 823 332-1, side A, track 1). Thus, even in the songs (the majority of the repertoire) consisting of elements that apparently come from sources other than Jovem Guarda, influences of the latter may still be felt partially in the composition of the accompanying ensemble and, perhaps more effectively, in the contents of the lyrics. Although both his less representative, Jovem Guarda-modeled style and his rendition of popular genres of Northern Brazil have produced some of his major hits, Carlos Santos omitted the former from his 1986 record. That fact, suggestively in my opinion, coincides with the releasing of Santos's first album sung in Spanish, recorded in Cannes, France (see Anonymous 1986a). Here, as in the case of Amado Batista, noticeable shifts in significant aspects of the repertoire take place by the time the singer starts aiming to a broader-international in Santos's casemarket. In any case, it seems reasonable to state that, despite the clear

Brega: Music and Conflict in Urban Brazil : 67 influences of the Jovem Guarda idiom and the consistent textual similarities found in the repertoires of two representative singers such as Amado Batista and Carlos Santos, both being accredited by several sources as standing among the five top-sellers in the local record business, presenting both manifestations as a single musical category (i.e., brega) would demand going beyond their presumable stylistic sources.

Deluxe Brega
O n the basis of the preceding discussion, we can infer that any definition of a brega archetype in musical terms must take into consideration developments which have affected the popular music of Brazil for about twenty-five years. The indigenous recreation of contemporary international rock tendencies beginning in the early 1960s and eventually becoming known as Jovem Guarda seems to have played a major role in this process. Epitomized by the enormous popularity of the singerlcomposer Roberto Carlos, Jovem Guarda emerged as a nationwide musical and behavioral trend as soon as its homonym T V show, led by Carlos, started to be broadcast in 1965 (see Marcondes 1977, vol. 11: 662-663). After the decline in audience and consequent withdrawal of its related T V program from the air in 1969, Jovem Guarda progressively became an antiquated term through the 1970s. Once in a while, though, T V shows would capitalize on its nostalgic potential. The now mature faces of yesterday's idols would then be brought back to the screen for singing the so-called classics from the Jovem Guarda period. A few of its representatives, however, overcame the relative ostracism to which most of their old partners were relegated by trying out more ambitious paths. Undoubtedly, the most successful case of career metamorphosis among former Jovem Guarda singers was that of the tendency's foremost exponent, Roberto Carlos. Since his very first hit, a 1962 rendition of Bobby Darin's "Splish Splash" (which, according to Whitburn 1979 reached the third position on the billboard charts in August 1962), his music has maintained a considerable influence of rock 'n' roll. Having his merchandising strategies designed by a marketing agency since 1964, Carlos's public image was initially constructed to represent youth symbols with the necessary dosage of ambiguity to sensitize a national audience. Thus, his long hair and outrageous (for the previous standards) clothes exhibited signs of a detailed production, and in this case they were perhaps more socially acceptable while conveying a certain nonconformist attitude characteristic of youth. The music was no less ambiguous. Its usually romantic texts allowed now and then space for scattered and vague manifestations of disenchantment in existential terms, while the

68 : Samuel M. Aralijo musical ambience alternated between a soft-rock climate and a rhythmically more agitated one, usually with a brass section joining the basic guitar-bass-and-drums ensemble. With the imminent decline of Jovem Guarda as an influential musical tendency, Roberto Carlos's career would go through major changes. They are tentatively summarized in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Tentative picture of Roberto Carlos's artistic development

display of youth symbols combined with respect for "basic" societal values production aimed at the national market

display of middle-age symbols combined with references to other age groups' values production aimed at both the national and the international (mainly Hispanic) market mature and subtly erotic romanticism in addition to mystical or reflective statements hybrid style incorporating, in different forms of combination, elements from rock, bolero, funk, samba, etc. definitive incorporation of the brass section with the accompanying ensemble and gradual adoption of a full orchestra

naively romantic song texts sometimes punctuated by vague signs of misadjustment ballad-type rock alternated with a more vigorous type of rock in rhythmical terms

accompaniment provided by a standard rock group with occasional addition of a brass section

Today, Roberto Carlos's huge popularity can be measured in several ways. From 1965 to 1984, his records hit number one among Brazilian releases every year, with sales figures of more than one million units being reported in most cases. Twenty-seven LP records in Portuguese and fifteen in Spanish had been released until 1986 when, according to Souza (1986: 3), Carlos's overall sales throughout his career were estimated to be around thirty million units. What the journalist did not specify, though, was whether or not the figures for the international market (Latin America, Hispano-American community, etc.) had been included in that computation. Having his songs frequently hitting number

Brega: Music and Conflict in Urban Brazil : 69

one on billboard Latin charts, enjoying a great success in Cuba, or being elected the favorite popular singer in a poll conducted among the Japanese-Peruvian community (see Olsen 1980), Roberto Carlos is, side by . . side with singers such as Julio Iglesias or JosC JosC, a mass phenomenon which transcends national, and even political, barriers in the so-called Latin world. Analyzing Roberto Carlos's recent musical output within the context of brega, one could probably start by looking for possible retentions of the Jovem Guarda style. Actually that might turn out to be a rather difficult task due to the stylistic ambiguity of the repertoire and/or the internationalization of the production process. Thus, what our ears might select as a "clear influence" of whatever style may actually be the result of a much more complex chain of relationships which are definitively not anymore determined at a "national" level. In Roberto Carlos's records a samba beat recorded by an American drummer at a studio in Los Angeles can hypothetically be added to an original playback made by Brazilian musicians in Rio before going through a mixing process in a New York City facility. All those questions considered, it might be more efficient to look at the final product as the result of a more sophisticated manipulation of musical formulas but still analogous in that respect to its less ambitious counterpart, brega. A comparison between two recent Roberto Carlos hits gives us a perspective of how those variables may successfully interact. Released in 1984, "Caminhoneiro" ("Truck DriverH-CBS 230095, side B, track 1) recollects a truck driver's love thoughts when far away from his beloved. The whole accompaniment was recorded at the A&M Records studio in Los Angeles. All participants in the recording session are U.S.based musicians, except one who seems to be the only Brazilian participant, percussionist Paulinho da Costa. Elaborated by another American musician, the arrangement is conceived for a type of instrumentation commonly employed in Roberto Carlos's records: piano, guitars (electric and acoustic), electric bass, drums, percussion, synthesizer, harmonica, and a string section with a harp. No particular musical detail in "Caminhoneiro" seems to have an obvious source. A few of them are perhaps associable to generic characteristics of certain types of music, but still in an inconclusive manner. The formal scheme, for instance, comprises a strophic structure with a refrain between each set of two strophes and might be said to draw upon a whole variety of ballad-type genres. Patterns such as .?I* : ? w s ~ L z

played by the percussionist might suggest a discrete Afro-Caribbean or even an Afro-Brazilian flavor, although not particularly distinct from patterns heard on a wide spectrum of modern Western popular music. Still more intriguing are the drum rhythms at the refrain section, creating

70 : Samuel M. Aratijo a diffuse samba ambience in 4/4 time (instead of the traditional 214) while the string section reinforces the climax with expressive interventions. By the end of 1985 (his records are invariably released a few weeks before Christmas) a new Roberto Carlos record would reach the stores, this time containing a surprise for many of his admirers on the very first track. The lyrics of the song in question, "Verde e amarelo" ("Green and Yellow"), was sort of a nationalistic credo (the title alluded to the colors of the Brazilian flag) put by its co-writers, Roberto and Erasmo Carlos, into an unequivocal rock tune. According to the singer/composer, he hesitated after finishing his composition but let it be once "today, the Brazilian is also a rock enthusiast" (Roberto Carlos, quoted in Souza 1986: 4). Referring indirectly to the political climate affecting the astonishing public response (even for his usual standards), he affirmed:
In fact, it surprises me this reaction from the public. When I go out on the street, for example, the kids start yelling at me the song's refrain. Last year they called me "truck driver" but they did not sing the refrain of the homonym song. I think that the public celebrates with me that happiness contained in the song, this euphoric moment of greater union among the Brazilian people. After all the song has a strong refrain, similar, for instance, to the one that the soccer torcidas [organized groups of fans of a particular team] sing at the stadiums. (Roberto Carlos, quoted in Souza 1986: 4)

The refrain in question actually consists of one of the melodies sung by the torcidas, which is, in its turn, sort of a derivation from the one sung in the film Woodstock by the audience during the "rain scene." Although we lack the necessary empirical basis for tracing precisely how and when that particular melody began to be sung at the stadiums, it might be worth adding a few personal observations. First, it should be noticed that the practice of singing lively refrains to a rhythmic accompaniment (usually with marcha patterns) to encourage a team has been a long-standing tradition in Brazilian soccer. It seems that at a certain point, but surely sometime in the 1970s, autonomous torcidasjovens ("young torcidas") started being organized and singing melodies which were distinct from the ones sung by the main torcidas. The new lines, including the one which motivated this digression, were eventually adopted by the fans in general and added to the established repertoire. Example 7 illustrates how the "no rain" melodic line appeared in the three different contexts mentioned above. As in both a and b the crowd sings it to a percussive accompaniment, and melodic variants such as the one actually found in b are likely to occur. It is exactly that variant (assuming that the other is the "original" line) that is sung in c by a

Brega: Music and Conflict in Urban Brazil : 7 1 Example 7: "No Rain" melody in three distinct contexts
"No Rain"
Melody
Woodstock: Soccer stadiums (Clapping Hands) (Percussion)
\

3b

"tefx* i*x
,
'

-,,,

1- - -

(Soloist)

"Verde e amarelo" (CBS 230.105, Side A, Track 1)

large choir in unison, accompanied either by drums alone or by the full ensemble with "bluesy" fill-ins by Carlos. Even when examining a Roberto Carlos song in which the musical style seems less ambiguous, such as "Verde e amarelo," one should pay attention to the nuances of its production if willing to discuss the global effect. In this case, the arrangement was written by an American musician but recorded in Brazil by local musicians (with the addition of a solo by an American guitarist, probably recorded in Los Angeles) and a local choir. The final stage, as usual, would be the mixing process done in New York City and the result is technically and stylistically similar to ordinary rock recordings. Yet, in addition to the refrain melody, the language, and the lyrics' contents, a hardly audible samba percussion (also in 414) added at the final repetitions of the refrain helps to slightly delineate a culture-specific atmosphere. Looking retrospectively at the two samples commented on here, both of them highly successful hits in the Brazilian market, the most general characteristics of Roberto Carlos's musical style may be identified. O n the one hand we had an example of a stylistically diffuse number in which elements from generic musical tendencies are roughly outlined. Contrastingly, a clearer style (i.e., rock) prevails on the second recording, but references to other music spheres are subtly superimposed. In both cases, however, a careful and expensive production maintains a certain level of opacity in stylistic terms which is apparently a fundamental piece of the whole production process. That rather flexible amalgam of national and international stylistic influences, pervaded by a deliberate ambivalence and then open to multiple symbolic readings, became in about two decades of continuous success sort of a paradigm in the Brazilian record industry. From their repertoire or singing style to their personal appearance, highly popular

72 : Samuel M. Aralj,jo singers within the brega universe have emulated one or another of Roberto Carlos's trademarks.' Very often, the isolation of and emphasis on some of its central features, such as its romantic stereotype (e.g., singerlcomposer Nelson Ned) or its erotic appeals (e.g., singer Sidney Magal), in addition to "personal interpretations" of Carlos's repertoire (e.g., Waldick Soriano) are the path followed by other artists who gravitate around the same musical sphere (i.e., deluxe brega). In many cases that is just a matter of planning in more detail each new production once those singers' repertoires already have several points in common, both musically and textually speaking, to their paradigm. Sometimes, however, the phenomenon in question may affect (and eventually be challenged by) quite distinct musical traditions, as in the case of the Brazilian samba examined in the next section.

Samba Romdntico
Attempting to analyze the samba connection in brega, the main obstacle one finds is perhaps the definition of samba itself. As the term has been applied to a whole variety of manifestations (e.g., samba-de-roda, samba rural, etc.) which can be very distinct from each other, it would probably take a separate book-length essay to provide a comprehensive view of its various meanings in Brazilian music. However, given the scope and consistency of its diffusion, it is the samba tradition as developed in the city of Rio de Janeiro, and since its early days (with the recording of Donga's "Pelo telefone" in 1917; see Silva 1978) diffused through mass communication media such as the record and the radio, that will be the main reference throughout this section. That is not to say, of course, that such a "tradition" may be easily isolated as a self-contained musical genre. Frequently defined as a type of dance genre of Afro-Brazilian derivation (for two definitions in English sources, see B6hague 1980 and Stigberg 1986), the carioca (i.e., native of Rio) samba has gone through several changes. Some of the earliest experiments concerning the genre (i.e., its pioneer orchestrations, its fusion with international tendencies, etc.) may be traced back to the 1930s (see Saroldi and Moreira 1984: 20). Today, pieces labeled as samba in the sense observed here are heard in quite different settings including the following: 1. Escolas de samba (samba schools) in Carnival rallies, where each of these groups of thousands of people sing and dance intricate steps to their respective samba enredo (a long, usually historic-descriptive poem put into a samba form) accompanied by a percussion orchestra of about one hundred players;

Brega: Music and Conflict in Urban Brazil : 73

2. Pagodes (social gatherings) characteristically held in Rio de Janeiro's slums or at modest houses within working-class neighborhoods, where a much smaller group of people play (percussion but sometimes melodic or harmonic-e.g., the guitar-instruments), sing, and often dance samba steps; 3. Churrascarias (barbecue restaurants), night clubs, and beer houses, where usually small professional ensembles play guitars, basses, keyboards, and a few percussion instruments (often with a drum set) through some sort of amplification system, a solo singer (obviously using a microphone) does the singing and the audience, when it does it at all, does a type of samba dance (a couples' dance as opposed to the individual steps of the escolas de samba) adapted for the popular salon balls called gafieirm; 4. Theaters, T V , and radio (mostly on AM stations) programs where the performers are usually well-known recording artists (people with all kinds of social backgrounds) accompanied by an orchestra or smaller ensemble, but where performers who are more likely to show up at the other settings mentioned above are eventually featured. Given the diverse contexts (and there are many others) mentioned, it is reasonable to expect that the music played may vary considerably from one setting to another. That is actually the case, although certain features are maintained relatively intact. A few basic ones are the duple meter, the bass drum stress on the second beat, syncopated and diversified time lines played by certain instruments (for the relationships between the latter and their possible African origins, see Mukuma n.d.), and the wide-ranging and also syncopated melody punctuated by quite demanding intervallic leaps (fifths, sixths, or even tenths). Text contents may also differ substantially from one setting to another. In the first context above, a certain (usually historical) theme is characteristically developed in a hyperbolic style; in the second context, scenes from daily life are usually depicted through either a humorous or a sad prism, sometimes involving text improvisation (e.g., samba de partido alto genre). In both the third and fourth contexts, there is a great deal of diversity as far as the thematic universe is concerned, but two other streams (besides the two already referred to) are worth mentioning. First, there is one which represents recent developments following the path of movements such as bossa nova and Tropicfilia (see BChague 1973), consisting of texts which usually are articulate social, philosophical, andlor political statements; singers and composers in this stream are quite often college-educated and it is among them that many popular music critics identify the members of the "first team" (all-stars) of Brazilian popular music. The other tendency, usually referred to as samba romcintico but also

74 : Samuel M. Aratijo generically called brega, stands as one of the best-selling trends in current Brazilian music. Its distinct characteristics, judging by the few written attempts to define it (see, for instance, Anonymous 1986a: 58) would be either its suggestive or overtly romantic lyrics in combination with an invariably romantic musical atmosphere. Leading the tendency in terms of LP sales figures since at least 1984, when, according to the available sources (Rafaelli 1985; Anonymous 1986a), he would have hit number three in the Brazilian charts, singer/composer AgepZ became in recent years one of the top challengers to both the Turma do BalHo Mkgico (a children's group) and, especially, to Roberto Carlos (respectively, number one and two). AgepZ's trajectory in the record market has a few points in common with those of other brega singers. Like Amado Batista or Milionkrio and Z C Rico (see the next section on brega sertaneja), he started his career recording for a label (Chantecler) owned by Grava~oes ElCctricas Ltda. After having reportedly sold 900,000 units of a single containing the samba "Moro onde nHo mora ninguCm" ("I Live Where Nobody Lives") in 1976, AgepZ shifted in 1984 to a bigger company (again, as Amado Batista did in 1985), SiglaJSom Livre, where he established himself as a highly successful artist in commercial terms. That move, as we shall see, was accompanied by significant changes concerning both music and texts. The music in "Moro onde nHo mora ninguCmW(reissued in Continental 2.04.405.170, side 1, track 1) somehow fits into a generic samba form with the characteristic alternation between refrain (A) and strophes (in this case B and C). As sort of an introduction and resembling performance practices (i.e., a cue for the accompanying players) mostly observed in contexts one and two mentioned above, the refrain is first sung by the unaccompanied solo voice. After the introductory refrain is repeated with the instrumental accompaniment, the song follows an ABACA scheme in which A or the refrain is sung by both soloist and choir while each stanza is sung by the soloist alone. Other musical features of samba such as the bass drum accent, the syncopated rhythmic style, or the wide range covered by the melody are also present. The accompanying ensemble consists of a small percussion ensemble involving standard escolas de samba instruments such as the cuica (friction drum) or the bumbo (bass drum); plucked-string instruments such as the cavaquinho (small four-string guitar which basically plays chords to syncopated rhythms) and the seven-string guitar (which provides the bass line); and a flute which is sometimes doubled throughout the recording. Through its lyrics, "Moro" also reproduces common thematic patterns found in many samba texts-the praising of a bucolic setting, ideally uncontaminated by the evils of civilization ("I live where nobody lives, 1

Brega: Music and ConJict i n Urban Brazil : 75

Where nobody passes by, / Where nobody else lives. 1 It is there, where I live, / That I feel good," etc.). Six years of relative oblivion followed the success of "Moro," a period in which AgepC would follow the path of many other artists who have enjoyed a transitory popularity. Singing outside the biggest cosmopolitan centers, under the most unpredictable circumstances, becomes a routine in those cases. Nevertheless, that situation would change after the releasing and the unexpected sales boom of his first Som Livre LP, M i s tura brasileira ("Brazilian Mixture"). Its production involved several innovations, beginning with the eclectic repertoire which, coherent with the title, included other genres besides samba such as baiiio and frevo (a fast-tempo Carnival genre with a corresponding dance characteristic of the Brazilian Northeast). Also easily noticeable were the relatively elaborate orchestrations making consistent use of a string ensemble, keyboards, bass, harmonica, and drums (including a drum synthesizer), in addition to the typical plucked-strings-and-percussion samba ensemble. The effects of the arrangements were maximized by Som Livre's better recording standards, capable of emphasizing the solos or even subtle melodic fragments. Despite all this stylistic eclecticism, it would be apparently a samba (according to Anonymous 1985, 1986a), "Deixa eu te amar" ("Let Me Love You"), which would push forward the sales. This time, however, significant changes were introduced in terms of the music itself. The recording begins with an eight-bar instrumental introduction consisting of sort of a counterpoint between strings and keyboard over a harmonic progression from the subdominant to the minor tonic (Example 8); in the background we can hear the characteristic samba percussion. Once the singer starts other novelties appear. The formal scheme, for instance, is inverted, so that the single strophe (A) precedes the refrain (B). Yet instead of the high register used at the beginning of "Moro" as sort of an alert to both accompanists and dancers, he explores his lower register in phrase A and uses the higher one only in phrase B where the climax of the piece is reached. These two contrasting ambiences are still emphasized by the massive orchestration used at the refrain section, which, by the way, resembles the procedures used at the refrain of Roberto Carlos's "Caminhoneiro" (the upward motion of the strings, etc.). While other traditional musical features of samba are maintained (e.g., wide-ranging melody, syncopation, etc.), the text contents ("I want to lay you down on the ground / and make you a woman. / Let me love you. / Pretend that I am the first," etc.) present one more contrasting element to AgepC's previous style and help to delineate his new "romantic'' image. Taking into account both his 1985 and 1986 LPs (Som Livre 403.

76 : Samuel M. Araijo
Example 8: "Deixa eu te amar" (AgepE-Mauro Silva-Camillo). (From Som Livre 530.037, side A, track 1)

6333 and 530.049, respectively), where the same overall formula is repeated, AgepE's success seems to be in establishing a type of alternative paradigm (i.e., samba romcintico) to the one personified by Roberto Carlos. Nonetheless, as suggested above and reinforced by other passages in which we hear distinct Jovem Guarda clichCs, influences of the latter seem to be inevitable. In fact, the assimilation of more global musical tendencies by representatives of the so-called samba romcintico may go even further, making extremely difficult the identification of samba characteristics, if any, in

Brega: Music and Conflict in Urban Brazil : 77

determined repertoires. That is particularly clear in the case of Wando, another top-selling singer in the Brazilian market. Although his name is often cited as an exponential figure in samba romcintico, it is difficult to isolate features of his music which could suggest any relationship to samba. Actually most of Wando's pieces seem to bear much more similarities to the Roberto Carlos model than to Agep?. Indeed, we can still hear a certain syncopation and, here and there, relatively wide melodic leaps (see Example 9), but it would be much harder than in the case of Agep? to describe the overall style even as a derivation from samba. Making still more problematic the ostensible connections between his individual style and samba, typical samba percussion instruments are not used in Wando's records. O n the other hand, the featured background singers overlap with the ones who are usually featured in deluxe brega records and the general production standard closely resembles that tendency (the only exception being the absence of bowed strings). The song texts, however, do connect Wando to Agep?, as we can see, for instance, in a Wando song such as "Da tenta~5.0B cantada" ("From the Temptation to the InvitationH-ARCA 803.1003, side 2, track 4). In this particular case, the erotic appeal of the lyrics ("It is you, in your 'cool' way, / Saying that you just love me. / You're the one who teases me, shakes me, / Provokes me and makes me tremble," etc.) led the Brazilian censorship authorities to prohibit its radio diffusion and public execution throughout the country.
Example 9: "Chora cora&?io" ("Cry, Heart, Cry") (Wando-Pedrinho Medeiros). (From ARCA 803.1003, side 1, track 1)

7 8 : Samuel M. AraljLjo

Comparing other samples of samba romcintico to the examples presented here, it can be observed that they somehow gravitate around the generic musical characteristics of either one of the two "models" discussed here and sometimes of both (see, for instance, Luiz Ayrzo's Copacabana COLP (12876). In any case, it seems reasonable to suggest that samba romcintico stands within a type of continuum (for an in-depth discussion of similar processes affecting other traditions in world music, see Nett1 1985), having more traditional forms of samba at one pole and a very diffuse style at the other extremity, where samba features are practically unrecognizable. The degree of romantic intensity or overt eroticism may vary, but most song texts focus on love themes and tend to be descriptive. The association of samba romcintico to brega, as the evidence collected indicates, reflects much more the dynamics of the record business than a systematic process of stylistic assimilation. It would be by no means surprising, for instance, to see individual singers moving back and forth along the continuum suggested above following the sales tendencies of the local market. That does not mean, however, that eventual processes of stylistic fusion or innovation are totally determined by established marketing strategies. These variables considered, analyzing further developments within the samba connection, as much as in any other subdivision of brega, surely constitute a provoking subfield in Brazilian popular music scholarship.

Brega Sertaneja
They [Milionbrio and Jost Rico] do a brega music that has nothing to do with the values of the man from the [Brazilian] interior. (Folk singer and researcher Inezita Barroso, in Anonymous 1986b: 153). W e follow the evolution. Those who record folk music do not sell in these days. Tonico and Tinoco (a prestigious dupla sertaneja) got stuck with toada caipira (a traditional sertaneja genre) and are not capable of playing a bolero. W e play everything and became champions. UosC Rico in Anonymous 1986b: 153).

The examination of the subfield tentatively defined here as brega sertaneja demands a few introductory remarks. First of all, the term sertanejo, or its feminine form, sertaneja, is generically applied in Brazil to people who live in the "remote" or rural interior (i.e., sertio) as well as to various aspects of their respective realities, including music. There are, however, significant discontinuities concerning the actual manifestations named as such, depending upon the part of the country considered. Obviously, they reflect not only the sociohistorical and geographical

Brega: Music and Conflict i n Urban Brazil : 79

specificities of each region in a big and heterogeneous country but also the different roles assigned to those regions in the context of a capitalist economy. So far, brega influences have supposedly been affecting the sertaneja tradition developed within the rural areas of the Midwestern and Southern states of Brazil. Alternatively designated as either mzisica sertaneja or, in a derogatory sense, mzisica caipira (an equivalent perhaps to hillbilly music in the United States), this body of music encompasses a great variety of subgenres and is often believed to remain relatively static or, at least, to change according to indigenous patterns (see the first quotation above). Nevertheless, the scarce data available concerning its history and context raise a suspicion that that is a rather unlikely premise. Following a musical culture area division proposed by Correa de Azevedo, Bastos (1974: 42) analyzed the general features of moda-de-viola, the main subtype of mtisica sertaneja, as a folk or rural manifestation. They include two-voice singing in parallel motion (most often thirds andlor sixths), a rather "loose" rhythm, and the consistent use of a five-double-string guitar called a viola. Examining a sample collected in the state of Minas Gerais, Bastos noted the prevalence of the second, followed by the third and unison, as a melodic interval, the parallel motion of the two voices exclusively in thirds, its isometric rhythm, and its repetitive form a a ' a ' ' a ' ' '). He also indicated, without giving any details except for the joking contents of the new texts, that profound changes had taken place within the style after its transformation into a popular music genre. We learn in Tinhorzo (1974) that as early as 1929 both the Columbia and the Victor companies, through their respective Brazilian branches, started releasing the first records containing samples of mzisica sertaneja. According to the author, "On October 25, 1929, the expression moda de viola appears for the first time on the label of a commercial record [issued by Victor], released not only for being sold in the central and southern regions [as the precedent Columbia issues were], but throughout Brazil as a whole" (Tinhorzo 1974: 197). Having the commercial viability of their style progressively assured by a satisfactory public response, sertanejo musicians, quite often in pairs of singers (duplas), continued developing that tradition in sort of a bifurcated way. While the production of mtisica sertaneja remained predominantly concentrated in the interior, the area in question went through a rapid process of urbanization, accelerated in the 1950s by massive industrialization. O n the other hand, its diffusion became more and more centered in the city of S l o Paulo, today's megalopolis of about fifteen million inhabitants and, with Buenos Aires and Mexico City, one of Latin America's main industrial and financial centers. The metropolis

80 : Samuel M. Aratijo offered not only the conditions for an intermittent interaction between mzisica sertaneja and a whole variety of other musical idioms but also created new conditions for its production. Aimed at and disseminated through films, records, and radio and T V shows, mzisica sertaneja could hardly remain unaffected by its new environment (see, for a substantial sociological study of sertaneja music within the mass media, Caldas 1977). A key figure connected with stylistic changes in the moda-de-viola genre was radio singer/composer Raul Torres (the son of Spanish immigrants born in the state of SZo Paulo) who, drawing upon Paraguayan styles such as the guarania and the rasqueado, recorded the first pieces labeled as moda guarania and rasqueado estilo paraguaio in the mid-1940s. In the words of TinhorZo, that tendency would progressively consolidate itself within the sertanejo style adopted by professional musicians and bring with it the "distortion and impoverishment" (1974: 200) of that style. Once again, no detailed description of how the process of musical assimilation took place is provided, except for a brief commentary on the addition of an accordion to the accompanying ensemble of guitar and viola. In any case, the development of a commercially successful trend within mzisica sertaneja elaborating (or claiming to elaborate) upon popular traditions of Spanish-speaking Latin American countries is today a wellestablished phenomenon in the Brazilian record market. According to one producer, "It evolved from the dupla caipira in SBo Paulo but universalized itself by drawing upon both Paraguayan and Mexican rhythms and the record industry strategies" (Biaggio Baccarin, ex-artistic director of the main record company in the sertanejo market, Continental, quoted in Anonymous 198613: 154). It is precisely at this juncture that critics of that tendency started applying the term brega to it, directing their bitter commentaries not only to the "Paraguayan and Mexican rhythms" but also to concomitant changes in performance practices (electric guitars, synthesizers, etc.) and poetical focus (urban imagery, "affected" sentimentalism, machismo, etc.). Despite all criticism concerning its authenticity, the brega sertaneja stream has become a key factor boosting the overall sales of mzisica sertaneja in the Brazilian market. It is usually by showing its representatives' (e.g., Milionbrio and JosC Rico, SCrgio Reis, and Carmen Silva) sales figures that record companies justify their continuous investment in sertaneja music as a whole. Yet, a comparison between two unique sources (see Arafijo 1987) suggests that the region of the country where the sertanejo market is mostly concentrated (see Anonymous 1986b: 154) fairly coincides with the moda-de-viola culture area delineated by Correa de Azevedo (see Bastos 1974: 71). Standing as the most prominent figures in brega sertaneja, Milionbrio

Brega: Music and Confict in Urban Brazil : 81 and JosC Rico are frequently cited (and eventually blamed) as embodying most of the characteristics found in modern sertaneju music. An examination of their 1984 and 1985 LPs confirms many of the statements made by previous writers about borrowings from other Latin American styles. The singerlcomposer JosC Rico himself acknowledges those influences but adds a few others: "I have as inspiring figures in my work Nelson Ned, Miguel Aceves Mejia, Roberto Carlos, Miltinho and Nelson Gon~alves.We balanced the influences but the stronger one is [still] that of the Mexican mariachi" UosC Rico, quoted in Anonymous 1986b: 153). Thus, besides external influences of Mexican origins (i.e., Mejia and the mariachi ensemble), he also credits as his inspirers two deluxe brega singers enjoying a wide popularity in Latin America (i.e., Roberto Carlos and Nelson Ned) and two romantic singers specializing in the sambacayrio genre (i.e., Miltinho and Nelson Gon~alves). Interestingly enough, and unlike the vast majority of popular music records in Brazil, each piece in Milion5rio's and JosC Rico's productions has its respective style named next to its title both on the record label and the back cover. An inventory of the styles featured in the two samples examined shows that the songs identified as Mexican styles (i.e., cangrio rancheira, corrido, and huapango) account for 37.5 percent of the repertoire, while Paraguayan genre names (i.e., rasgueado and guarania) cover 20.8 percent. If we add to those figures the percentage corresponding to genres which have been indistinctly assimilated by various national traditions in Latin America (i.e., bolero and polka), the resulting percentage would increase to 91.6 percent. Of the three other genres found, only one, forrd, might be said to represent a recognizable Brazilian tradition, although bairio (instead of the more generic term forrd) would probably be a more proper form of categorization. The overall ambience of the records is indeed dominated by a mariachi type of sound, to which the idiomatic passages for both trumpets and violins are fundamental. Other commonly employed instruments are the guitar, electric bass, drums, the Mexican requinto, and the viola sertaneja. Occasionally, flute, organ, accordion, and/or percussion instruments join the accompanying ensemble. Many arrangements follow a scheme in which an instrumental introduction, with emphasis on either trumpets or violins, is followed by the alternation between JosC Rico's vocal solos and two-part singing (a third and/or a sixth apart) passages. Frequent are also spoken interpolations during the instrumental sections. In Example 10, the cay50 rancheira "Duas camisas" ("Two Shirts"), we will find all those musical features represented. It should be noted that the subtle rhythmic articulation of the vocal parts (especially during the solos) may not coincide at some points with the tentative transcription provided.

Example 10: "Duas camisas. " (From Chantecler LP 1-7 1-405-644, side A, track 1)
"Duas camisas" Miltinho Rodrigues Waldemar de F. Assunqa'o

Brega; Music and Conflict in Urban Brazil : 83

Contrastingly, the vocal duet in parallel thirds comes right after the instrumental introduction (plucked strings solo) in the bolero "Entre 1Lgrimas" ("In between Tears"-Chantecler LP 1-7 1-405-644, side A, track 3) and is maintained through the entire piece. It is important to notice in this case that, despite the melodic chromaticism characteristic of bolero, the harmony remains rather more static than is typical of the bolero standards. In spite of maintaining a certain lamenting mood also characteristic of no&-de-viola and other subtypes of mlisica sertaneja, the singing style often tries to emulate exogenous styles; for example, in the case of the huapango "Minha casa" ("My House"-Chantecler LP 1-71-405-654, side B, track I), where the use of falsetto and vibrato clearly evokes the idiom of its Mexican model. Particularly intriguing are the pieces labeled as balan~o,where the overall form follows the scheme outlined above (instrumental introduction-solo voicelstanza-vocal duet in thirds andlor sixthslrefrain) but the musical atmosphere is somehow a combination of deluxe brega formulas (i.e., the basic drum beat, the bass line, and the stereotyped orchestral climaxes) and the sertanejo idiom (i.e., two-voice harmonies in parallel motion and predominance of the second as a melodic interval). As far as texts are concerned, passionate love themes account for the vast majority of the repertoire (twenty-one pieces), a fact that reinforces the connections with other brega tendencies. Most of the lyrics refer to impasses or frustrations in romantic situations, sometimes exposing what critics have deplored as either moralist or machista principles (Example 11).

Example 11: Text excerpt from Milionhi0 and Josh Rico song. (From Chantecler LP 1-71-405-654, side B, track 6)
"Flor da lama" ("Mud Flower"; GuarAnia) Paiozinho-Bendito Now I came to say goodbye to my friends. I can't live in this place anymore Because the woman who had been living with me since the beginning Disgraced my name and went to live in the mud. Although Milionhrio and Josh Rico are far from encompassing the whole variety of stylistic tendencies usually classified as brega sertaneja, they do represent a solid stream within that musical universe. Recurrent characteristics found in the samples examined are (1) the assimilation

Seviero

84 : Samuel M. Ararijo
of a wide range of Latin American musical traditions, usually merged with or maintaining compatible features of Brazilian styles (mainly of mlisica sertaneja subgenres); (2) certainly less representative in number, the inclusion of pieces which remind us of the deluxe brega tendency, still combined with traces of the sertanejo style; and (3) the almost absolute predominance of passionate romantic texts. As in the case of samba romcintico attacks directed at its "lack of authenticity" seem to be the only way through which brega sertaneja has deserved its critics' attention. As in the case of all other brega manifestations, commercial success is apparently in direct proportion to its neglect as a field of study.

Conclusion
From the definitions which have arisen thus far, we can certainly infer that the term brega consistently implies a depreciative value judgment. Despite its socially determined roots, it can be attached to anything or anyone. In fact, brega is even a commonly used label to qualify the behavior, attitudes, or values of the upper social strata and particularly those who reveal the "nouveauness" of their riches. The various definitions of brega also indicate that music is an important dimension of the phenomenon. Beginning with a general inventory of the channels of its diffusion and moving on to an overall profile of its representatives, we then observed how the contours of the brega universe conform to the trajectories of its musical exponents. The examination of a selected number of brega substyles provides a picture of a rather complex situation. First, it confirms the pervasive influence of the Jovem Guarda model (and, by extension, of British and American rock of the 1950s and early 1960s) in all subfields examined. Epitomized by Roberto Carlos, this tendency became from the 1970s to the present time a paradigm in the Brazilian record market. It observes, however, various nuances in its general profile. The Jovem Guarda musical style may appear in a more crystallized fashion (Amado Batista), may be alternated with other styles in different dosages (Carlos Santos, Milionbrio and JosC Rico), or, in its more successful version, merge with national and international tendencies, producing ambiguous stylistic results (Roberto Carlos). An equally significant fact emerging from the samples analyzed here is the assimilation of brega influences by established traditions in the popular music of Brazil such as the samba and musica sertaneja. In the case of samba romcintico, the evidence collected suggests the delineation of a continuum which proceeds toward the relative abandonment of idiomatic characteristics of samba. In brega sertaneja, the attachment of the word

Brega: Music and Conflict i n Urban Brazil : 85 brega seems to reflect both the usual Jovem Guarda derivation and the consistent adoption of other Latin American models (mainly Mexican), with an almost indistinguishable retention of sertaneja music features in both cases. Despite (or, perhaps, because of) its extreme ambiguity, brega opens a quite provoking field to those interested in the ways music expresses the social dynamics within the global village.

Notes
1. This paper is a condensed version of the homonym master's thesis, supervised by Dr. David Stigberg and submitted to the Musicology Division of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 2 . The Milionhrio and JosC Rico tour through China actually created a diplomatic embarrassment to Brazil. Under an agreement for cultural interchange, China sent to Brazil the Peking Symphony Orchestra and requested in turn Milionhrio and JosC Rico, who were the most popular Brazilian artists in that country. As the Brazilian Ministry of Culture declined to provide funds for their trip, the singers took it at their own expenses and, according to their report (see Anonymous 1986b), presented their show eight times to audiences of about 2,500 people per show. 3 . It comprises a network of commercial stores, a school, two AM radio stations (with plans to acquire an F M and a T V station), a record company, and a music publishing company and employs about six hundred people. 4. A recent fact indicates that brega may be achieving its social "redemption." The title of T V Globo's most recent and extremely successful novela is nothing less than "A brega e a chique." 5. It suffices to take a look at the photos contained in albums by artists as diverse as Amado Batista, Milionkrio and JosC Rico, or Waldick Soriano (see discography at the end of this article). Symbols such as the bracelet, the medallion supported by a metal chain hanging around the neck, or the shirt always with two buttonholes strategically open are found in nearly all cases.

86 : Samuel M . Araijo

Discography
All items share the following characteristics: they are 12" LP records issued in Brazil; their respective dates are indicated. Agep& 1984 1984 1985

0 s grandes sucessos de AgepP. Continental 2.04.405.170. Agepi. Som Livre 530.037. AgepZ. Som Livre 403.6333.

Ayrlo, Luiz 1985 Samba na crista. Copacabana COLP 12876. Batista, Amado 1984 Amado. Continental 1-07-405-293. 1985a Amado Batista "85. " RCA 109.0139. 1985b 0 s sucessos de Amado Batista. Continental 1-07-405-305. Vitamina i cura. Continental 1.07.405.311. 1986 Carlos, Roberto 1984 Roberto Carlos. CBS 230.095. 1985 Roberto Carlos. CBS 230.105. Dusek, Eduardo 1984 Brega-chique, chique-brega. Polydor 82 19744. Magal, Sidney 1982 Magal espetacular. Polygram 245 1 189. Milion6rio e JosC Rico 1984 Lembran~a.Chantecler 1-7 1-405-644. 1985 Minha prece. Chantecler 1-7 1-405-654 Ned, Nelson 1984 Caprichoso. EMI-Odeon 31C 052 240 168. Santos, Carlos 1984 Carlos Santos: Vol. 6. Gravasom 823 332-1. 1985 Carlos Santos: Vol. 7. Gravasom 825 884-1. 1986 Carlos Santos: Vol. 8. Gravasom 829 895-1.

Brega: Music and Conflict i n Urban Brazil : 87

Soriano, Waldick 1984 Waldick Soriano interprets Roberto Carlos. Arca 809- 1001. Wando 1985 1986

. . . vulgar e comum i ncio morrer de amor. Arca 803.1003. U i - Wando paixcio. Arca 803.1009.

References

Anonymous 1984a Folha de Scio Paulo, March 9, p. 30. 1984b Folha de Scio Paulo, May 5, p. 41. " 0 s encantos do brega." V q a , July 25, pp. 139-140. 1985 1986a "No cora@.o do povo." V g a , January 29, pp. 58-63. 1986b " 0 s reis sertanejos." V i a , September 24, pp. 152-154. Aralijo, Samuel Brega: Music and Conflict i n Urban Brazil. M . M . thesis, 1987 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Bastos, Rafael JosC de Menezes 1974 "Las mlisicas tradicionales del Brasil. " Revista Musical Chilena 28 (Jan./Mar.): 21-77. BChague, Gerard 1973 "Bossa and Bossas: Recent Changes in Brazilian Urban Popular Music." Ethnomusicology 17, no. 2: 209-233. 1980 "Samba. ' ' In The N e w Grove Dictionary of Music and M u s i cians, ed. Stanley Sadie, vol. XVI, pp. 447-448. New York: Macmillan. Caldas, Waldenyr Acorde na aurora: M i s i c a sertaneja e indistria cultural. Sao 1977 Paulo: Cia. Editora Nacional. Castro, Ruy 1984 "Sidney Magal." Folha de Scio Paulo, May 5, p. 41.

88 : Samuel M . Aralijo
Coon, Caroline 1978: The N e w Wave Punk Rock Explosion. New York: 1978 Hawthorn. Hoos, Willem "Bright Future Seen for Brazilian Industry. " Billboard, 1983 May 10, pp. 72-73. Kubrusly, Mauricio 1984 "A midia chique ainda discrimina o brega." Folha de S i o Paulo, May 27, p. 69. Luca, Patricia de n.d. " 0 s anos sessenta: A quest50 do brega." Radio USP, SZo Paulo. Marcondes, Marco Antonio EnciclopLdia da mlisica popular brasileira; erudita, folcldrica e 1977 popular. 2 vols. SZo Paulo: ArtEditora. McGowan, Chris 1985 "Brazil: Industry Struggles Uphill against Four-Year Recession, Aided by Strong Musical Heritage." Billboard, January 26, pp. VL-22, VL-24, VL-35, VL-52. Mukuma, Kazadi wa n.d. A contribui~ciobantu na mlisica popular brasileira. SZo Paulo: Global. Nettl, Bruno 1985 The Western Impact on World Music. New York: Schirmer. Olsen, Dale 1980

"Japanese Music in Peru." Asian Music 11, no. 2: 41-51.

Petta, Rosangela "Esse rock vai passar." Isto i, January 4, pp. 62-64. 1984 Rafaelli, JOSE Domingos "Brazilian Industry Facing Problems." Billboard, January 1985 19, p. 3 .

Brega; A4usic and Conflict in Urban Brazil : 89

Saroldi, Luis Carlos, and Sonia Virginia Moreira Ra'dio Nacional; 0 Brasil em sintonia. Rio de Janeiro: 1984 Funarte. Silva, Flhvio "Pelo telefone." Cultura 8, no. 28: 64-74. 1978 Souza, Okky de "A recompensa do rebelde." V i a , August 14, pp. 5-8. 1985 "Cora550 verde-amarelo." V q a , February 12, pp. 3-4. 1986 Souza, Paulo Renato Emprego, sala'rio e pobreza. S5o Paulo: Hucitec and Funda1980 550 de Desenvolvimento da Unicamp. Stigberg, David "Samba." In The Haruard Dictionaly of Music, ed. Don 1986 Michael Randel. Cambridge, Mass.: BelknapIHarvard, p. 725. Szwarcwald, C . L . , and E. A. de Castilho "A mulher brasileira: Estatisticas de safide." Dados 10: 1986 1-24. Tavares, Maria da Concei~50,and J . C. de Assis 0 grande salto para o caos. Rio de Janeiro: Zahar. 1985 Tinhor50, JosC Ramos Pequena histdria da mlisica popular brasileira. Petr6polis, Rio 1974 de Janeiro: Vozes. XexCo, Artur "PCrolas para o povo." Zsto i , July 4, pp. 78-80. 1984 Whitburn, Joel Top Pop Artists G? Singles, 1955-1978. Menomonee, Wis.: 1979 Record Research.

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Japanese Music in Peru Dale A. Olsen Asian Music, Vol. 11, No. 2. (1980), pp. 41-52.
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