Critical Brass: The Alternative Brass Movement and Street Carnival Revival of Olympic Rio de Janeiro By Andrew Graver Snyder A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Music in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Jocelyne Guilbault, Chair Professor Tamara Roberts Professor Angela Marino Professor Christopher Dunn Spring 2018 Critical Brass: The Alternative Brass Movement and Street Carnival Revival of Olympic Rio de Janeiro © 2018 by Andrew Graver Snyder Abstract Critical Brass: The Alternative Brass Movement and Street Carnival Revival of Olympic Rio de Janeiro by Andrew Graver Snyder Doctor of Philosophy in Music University of California, Berkeley Professor Jocelyne Guilbault, Chair This dissertation examines relationships between public festivity and articulations of power through investigation of alternative carnival practices in Rio de Janeiro. I explore the musical and cultural knowledge of Rio’s instrumental street musicians as cultural repertoires enacted in and circulating between a variety of scenarios—from carnival to protest and the stage. Through embracing the “alternative carnivalesque,” they seek to critique and expand the dominant repertoires available to them. Rather than viewing music as a “resource” of social movements, I argue for a model of “socio-musical movements” that considers such movements’ musical and social, as well as aesthetic and ethical, elements as dynamically intertwined. Emerging during Rio de Janeiro’s spectacular rise in the first decades of the twenty-first century to hosting the 2016 Olympics, a contemporary brass movement (neofanfarrismo) has articulated itself as an alternative to the neoliberal governance of a global city heavily invested in particular forms of cultural representation. I view the term “alternative” as the movement’s theoretical framework, rather than a generic term. It generates a dynamic debate within the community through which participants theorize relations of power, tradition, innovation, and politicization. Based on eighteen months of ethnographic research, I examine the processes of consolidation of neofanfarrismo as it transformed from a culturally nationalist revival of carnival traditions in post-dictatorship Brazil into an internationalist, musically eclectic, and activist movement. Grounding my analysis on my collaborators’ rejection of generic theoretical terms, I argue for the exploration of frames used by musicians themselves, such as the local concepts of “cultural rescue” and “cannibalism” in examining musical circulation. This dissertation moves away from the typical focus on lyrical content in studies of musical activism to address instead the instrumental force of loud, mobile, and participatory ensembles in the public commons, reframing sound studies by asking what role acoustic sound plays in shaping senses of the public and private. Embracing an instrumental form of musical activism that promotes social inclusion, occupation of public space, and participation in protest, these musicians theorize carnival as an ethical guide to action and view public festivity as itself a mode of governance. Resisting celebratory narratives, however, this study probes the possibilities, limits, and contradictions of the articulation of alternatives by a middle-class demographic entangled in the privileges of a capitalist city, and I foreground the implications of 1 “alternative whiteness” in the study of Brazilian music. Through examination of feminist, class, and racial critiques of neofanfarrismo, I ask how diversification of the movement has altered its internal hierarchies and expressive practices. Lastly, in discussing the rise of the Honk Rio! Festival of Activist Brass Bands, I explore how this carnivalesque movement has been consolidated as a politically engaged socio-musical movement in global conversation with an international, “rhizomatic” street band network. 2 In memory of my father, George Walter King Snyder Jr., who believed in all my endeavors, no matter how outlandish, but who did not live to see this project come to completion—though he did get to enjoy brass band parades with me in the streets of Rio de Janeiro. i Table of Contents Acknowledgements iii Introduction: A Socio-Musical Movement of Public Festivity in an Olympic City 1 Part I: From Rescue to Cannibalism 27 1. “Old Iron:” The Death and Life of Street Carnival 28 2. The Brass Bloco Revival and Diversifying Cultural Nationalism: Rescued Repertoires of Rio’s Street Carnival 54 3. “To Play Anything:” Musical Eclecticism and the Cannibalist Brass Band 82 Part II: Instrumental Activism in an Olympic City 120 4. “Nothing Should Seem Impossible to Change:” Instrumental Protest, Repertoires of Contention, and Politicizing a Musical Movement 121 5. Whose Rio? Possibilities, Limitations, and Contradictions of Public Participation in Music 153 6. Neofanfarrismo and the Excluded: Gender, Race, Class, and Contesting a Socio- Musical Movement 179 7. The Honk Rio! Festival of Activist Fanfarras: Consolidating a Socio-Musical Movement 216 References 239 Appendix 1. A History of Neofanfarrismo in the Words of a Carioca Musician 259 Appendix 2. Glossary 261 Appendix 3: Chronology of Important Brass Blocos, Musical Institutions, and Bands in Rio de Janeiro Considered in this Dissertation 264 ii Acknowledgements I could have never expected that I would complete a project such as this when I entered graduate school. The prospect that a growing and internationally connected instrumental movement that seeks to claim public space, spread musical education, and militate for a different world even existed was far from my mind eight years ago when I began to formulate thoughts about potential dissertation projects. I first want to thank, therefore, the musicians whose innovative work made my research possible and who inspired me to believe that it is indeed possible to change culture and the world through music. I owe an invaluable debt to the brass ensembles in Brazil, the primary subject of this dissertation, especially the ones with which I had the most engagement, including Cordão do Boitatá, Céu na Terra, Orquestra Voadora, Bagunço, Fanfarrada, Damas de Ferro, Os Siderais, Favela Brass, and BlocAto do Nada. Thanks to all those in Rio de Janeiro who patiently explained the history of this movement over hours of interviews, all listed at the end of this document. This dissertation is a tapestry of their voices. I owe special thanks to Juliano Pires and Clément Mombereau for providing various forms of access. All the organizers of street carnival’s brass blocos, brass bands, political actions, Honk Rio!, and all the HONK! and brass band festivals that are the subject of this dissertation deserve thanks for doing what you do. The various mentors who helped bring this writing to fruition all bear influence in these pages. My advisor, Jocelyne Guilbault, has provided caring, thoughtful, and demanding attention throughout the research and writing process. My dissertation committee—Tamara Roberts, Angela Marino, and Christopher Dunn—also provided years of intellectual engagement and support. Other scholars at many points in the research and writing process supported the development of this project, including Carla Brunet, Peter Glazer, Geoffrey Lee, Elena Schneider, Bonnie Wade, Martin Stokes, Candace Slater, and Ben Brinner. Thanks to Christopher Dunn for introducing me to the exciting intellectual community at Tulane University in New Orleans, perhaps the city outside Brazil with which Rio’s brass band community is most in conversation. Tulane professors Matt Sakakeeny and Dan Sharp also gave their time to provide feedback, read drafts, and chair panels. Brazilian scholars too provided immense support and resources on the ground; many thanks especially to Samuel Araújo who welcomed me into the intellectual community of ethnomusicologists in Brazil. My conversations with Prof. Reebee Garofalo and Erin Allen, two other scholars focused on the HONK! community, helped produce vital perspectives on this project. I am also extremely grateful to the faculty of Reed College who gave me the tools to pursue ethnomusicology. I feel very fortunate to have been financially supported by Berkeley’s music department such that I could focus on research, music, and writing for eight years. The financial support of the John L. Simpson Memorial Research Fellowship, BRASA, FLAS, and Berkeley Dissertation Completion Fellowship also helped make this project possible. I am deeply grateful to my Bay Area community that shaped me into the person who would embark on a project such as this. I have much gratitude for the fellow graduate students of UC Berkeley, whose creativity is inspiring and who are always happy to dialogue about research, provide mutual support through the maze of graduate school, and call out injustice. I could not have done this work without the support of my friends and the inspiring musicians I am privileged to know in the Bay, fortunately too numerous to be able to mention all here. The San Francisco Bay Area brass bands, who are linked in direct and indirect ways with the Brazilian scene, gave me invaluable musical and political experience. Thanks to all the musicians in the iii Brass Liberation Orchestra, Inspector Gadje, Extra Action Marching Band, and especially Mission Delirium, the group with which I have experienced the most musical growth of my life. My last thanks go to my