Brazil: “Que País É Este”?
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BRAZIL: “QUE PAÍS É ESTE”? MUSIC AND POWER IN LEGIÃO URBANA Ana Cláudia Lessa Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2011 0 Abstract This thesis addresses, amongst other issues, the phenomenon of protest music with particular reference to Brazil within its pre- and post-dictatorship period. The time- frame being understood as that which finds its roots many decades prior to the 1964 so-called revolution – a de facto military putsch – and comes to flower in the democratic moment of the 1980s and since. The focus will be, eventually, directed to one of the most celebrated Brazilian rock phenomena, the band Legião Urbana, the impact of which still resonates across the artistic, cultural and political scene in Brazil and beyond. In order to establish the context in which such a claim can be viable, the thesis explores the ideological and historical background to the emergence, on a national, and international, stage of something beyond the artistic and cultural ‗dependence‘ seing before that period within Brazilian music. Key Words Rock‗n‘Roll, Punk rock, protest music, popular culture, BRock, Brazilian music, dictatorship, Legião Urbana. 1 Acknowledgements I would like to thank all my previous colleges and professors who helped me to be here today, contributing in different forms and through different periods of the development of this thesis. Also a great thank you to all my students ever, for their curiosity and interest in everything-Brazilian. Without those students I would not exist as a professional. To Nicholas Shaw, my friend and mentor, who has been such an important influence and inspiration during my stay in the UK, and my love for this green land. To Beverly Tribbick and Sharmista Chhaya for always been there for me, no matter the amount of paperwork I would have to deal with. To Fabienne Viala and Laiz Rubinger, who has been a strong arm, holding me up and pointing me forward. To Raquel Ribeiro, ‗the midwife‘, who, without a doubt, was my strength and inspiration to finish this thesis; and also who taught me the value of ‗owing the universe‘, to whom I promise: I‘ll pay it all back, soon. To Helmut Schmidt for coping, so bravely, with my insanity in the last months of ‗gestation‘ of this thesis. Such a brave man and invaluable partner and friend. To Professor Bernard McGuirk, a friend and an example, for always believing that I could do it. To my mother and my son for their support, pride and patience, you are my reason for being. 2 List of Contents ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................ 0 KEY WORDS ....................................................................................................................................... 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................. 2 LIST OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................... 3 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 5 CHAPTER 1 – HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ............................................................. 21 THE POST-WWII AND THE NORTH AMERICAN COMMUNIST FEAR .................................................. 22 BRAZIL DURING THE POST-WAR PERIOD.......................................................................................... 31 CHAPTER 2 – THE WORLD IN ROCK„N‟ROLL, AN AFFAIR BETWEEN MUSIC AND POLITICS IN THE 1960S AND 1970S .................................................................... 41 BOSSA NOVA, THE BRAZILIAN JAZZ? ............................................................................................... 44 REVOLUTION OR COUP D‘ÉTAT? BRAZIL 1964 .................................................................................. 56 PROTEST IN BRAZIL IN THE 1960S AND 1970S .................................................................................. 66 CHAPTER 3 – TROPICÁLIA AND ITS ANTI-PROTEST PROTEST ........................ 69 THE CASE FOR PANIS ET CIRCENSES ................................................................................................ 83 CHAPTER 4 – THE EMERGENCE & CONSEQUENCES OF AN ETHICS OF CARITAS IN BRAZIL ......................................................................................................... 99 CANUDOS AND THE SEARCH FOR A MESSIANIC GOVERNANCE ........................................................ 107 SOCIAL POLARIZATION AND THE CASE OF THE FAVELAS .................................................................. 112 BRAZILIAN MUSIC OF PROTEST: THE CASE OF CHICO BUARQUE .................................................... 115 GADISMO IN GERALDO VANDRÉ AND CAETANO VELOSO ............................................................... 124 CHAPTER 5 – THE 1970 WORLD CUP: THE AFFAIR BETWEEN POLITICS AND MUSIC IN BRAZIL .......................................................................................................... 144 CHAPTER 6 - IS THIS BROCK? .................................................................................... 158 HOLLYWOOD ROCK, ROCK IN RIO AND CIRCO VOADOR ............................................................... 165 RENATO RUSSO, A MAN AHEAD OF HIS TIME? .............................................................................. 187 ABORTO ELÉTRICO, PROVING THAT THERE WAS PUNK IN BRAZIL .................................................. 192 3 CHAPTER 7 - THE CASE OF THE LEGION ............................................................... 202 SOME OF LEGIÃO URBANA‘S MORE POLITICAL SONGS .................................................................. 208 CONCLUSION - FIFTEEN YEARS WITHOUT RUSSO ............................................ 239 LEGACY AND THE FUTURE OF WHAT IS NOT PAST ........................................................................... 242 BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................. 248 4 Introduction Eu quis cantar Minha canção iluminada de sol Soltei os panos sobre os mastros no ar Soltei os tigres e os leões nos quintais Mas as pessoas da sala de jantar São ocupadas em nascer e morrer Mandei fazer De puro aço luminoso um punhal Para matar o meu amor e matei Às cinco horas na Avenida Central Mas as pessoas da sala de jantar São ocupadas em nascer e morrer... (Panis et Circences – Caetano and Gil, 1968) This is not supposed to be a thesis about protest movements or protest music. Yet, for the matters of the discussion which will follow it is impossible to avoid talking about these movements in the context of so many world struggles in the turbulent political decades of the 1960s and 1970s, when Brazil was developing its own, very particular and very new, protest movements. A country of Carnival and football, Brazil would soon become the birthplace of one of the most prolific and successful Rock‗n‘Roll bands of all times. Just as Brasília, Brazil‘s capital, had been conceived at the end of the 1950s, as a kick-start to a new political and social era, replacing Rio de Janeiro as the capital of the country, a new beginning for Brazilian politics was starting in the mid-1970s, despite (or possibly because of) the military dictatorship, initiated in 1964, which purportedly ruled both the country and its culture for over twenty years. Much before, and strongly throughout this period, new bands were forming, changing, and 5 reshaping the way Brazilians made and listened to music. Different genres were created and assimilated. One of the important developments of this process was the formation of a band which would change forever the way young Brazilians approached issues such as distribution of wealth or corruption, faced by their own generation and the generations of their parents and grand-parents. One of these groundbreaking bands was Aborto Elétrico or AE (Electric Abortion) formed at the beginning of the 1980s, by André Pretorius, a young man who was the son of a South African diplomat living in Brazil, and who enjoyed walking around Brasília‘s night scene dressed as a ‗Punk‘. The other member was the 16 year-old Fernando Lemos, who, in the 1980s, had recently returned from England, where he lived for a few years, a country in which he got in touch with the music of bands such as the Ramones, Sex Pistols, and The Clash. These were the same bands that yet another young man was listening to and performing at local parties in Brasília. His name was Renato Russo, and he was to become the leader of one of the most successful bands in Brazil: Legião Urbana. The band Legião Urbana, the case study of this thesis, and whose albums, musicians and song-texts will be analysed in more depth in Chapter 7. This case study follows a pertinent discussion about the band and its uniqueness in the Brazilian music scene. The band was never confined to one musical genre (Rock‗n‘Roll, Punk or Brazilian Popular Music, known as MPB), and its song-texts and style demonstrate the cross- fertilization of these genres and others. This eclecticism is partially regarded as arising from the charismatic and ackowledgable image of its leader, Renato Russo, 6 whose biography conspicuously reflects the 1980s and 1990s in Brazil and around the world. As such, as we will see further in the thesis, Legião Urbana is a major example of BRock, a specific Brazilian descent of Rock‗n‘Roll. When