The Politics of Passion: The Impact of Bolero on Brazilian Musical Expressions

Author(s): Samuel Arajo

Source: Yearbook for Traditional Music, Vol. 31 (1999), pp. 42-56
Published by: International Council for Traditional Music
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/767972
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THE POLITICS OF PASSION:

THE IMPACT OF BOLERO
ON BRAZILIAN MUSICAL EXPRESSIONS*
by SamuelAraujo
Scholars who study world musics as fields of meaning formation have
been devoting a great deal of attention to a historical phenomenon that,
although not exactly new, is exerting a relatively greater impact on world
cultures at the end of the century. The term globalization has been used
to express this unprecedented movement of capital concentration on a
worldwide scale, diminishing or at least redefining the role of nationstates as traditional centers of power and decision-making. This phenomenon has conditioned the restructuring of economic, political, and cultural relations among human groups (nation-states, social classes, ethnic
groups, urban sub-cultures,etc.) worldwide (Ianni 1992). Making it possible to think of space and time in new terms, globalization has immersed
those groups in various types of virtual interaction, something that many
of their own musical practices had experienced since the growth of mass
reproduction technologies. In such context, several of the social sciences'
more influential concepts (culture, class, national state, etc.) have been
challenged to reaffirm their relevance (Ianni 1992).
This complex, worldwide process has led a number of scholars of culture to draw attention to what Ortiz (1988) has termed international popular culture, which "is born, circulates and is consumed as a commodity
released simultaneously in different national markets" (Ianni 1992:49).
In this paper I discuss the impact of American (meaning North, Central
and South) and Caribbean boleroforms on local musical practices in Brazil
vis-a-vis its strongly negative reception by critics and musicologists. In
discussing this particular instance of antagonism produced by presentday global relations, I elaborate on the following themes:
(a) A rationalized, international demand was produced as boleroforms
developed in peripheral areas of capitalism (in this case, primarily
Cuba and Mexico), and was reorchestrated through highly complex
industrial processes (through, for instance, the Hollywood soundtracks
of the 1940s containing pastiches of Caribbean and Latin American
boleros).
(b) Despite being confronted in Brazil with often paradoxical ideological
discourses on nationality and modernity and their "appropriate forms
of musical representation," bolerohas addressed subjective needs of a
fast-changing society under pressure and has become cross-culturally
popular; its patterns and meanings have been somehow integrated
into or reworked within local musical practices (mainly the so-called
samba-canfdo).
*To Pedro Santos, philosopher-musician, in memoriam.

ARAUJO

BRAZILIANMUSICAL EXPRESSIONS / 43

(c) Post-1960 developments have produced an even greater social diversification which is musically expressed in trends such as the global diffusion of bossanova and the success of Brazilian "romantic" singers in a
pan-Latin world market; both phenomena have taken the bolero-influenced Brazilian forms into the global arena, making possible new kinds
of appropriation elsewhere.
Attempting to grasp the broader contours and the seemingly paradoxical aspects of this circular phenomenon, I refer here to one basic idea
explored by the French sociologist Alain Touraine: the consolidating, imperative, and in some cases perverse triumph of reason vis-a-vis the multiplication of resistant expressions of subjectivity (for example, nationalities, ethnic groups, and circumscribed ideologies). According to Touraine,
this critical antagonism between rationality and subjectivityhas been vital
to the very definition of modernity from its inception. Thus, he argues,
the triumph of the Age of Reason is contradicted by the simultaneous
growth of various conceptions of "irrationalism" around the globe, described as "the ethics of responsibility" (Touraine 1994:67).
A parenthesis is certainly needed here in order to clarify Touraine's
twin concepts. The ethics of responsibility is articulated through worldwide hegemonic discourses that legitimate the so-called "logics"of industrial and post-industrial capitalism, reducing all sorts of local interests to
subaltern positions or eliminating them completely. The effectiveness of
this ethics lies in promising the insertion of even the most remote and
"backward"human groups into a supply-and-demand system, rationalized - if one may say so - by world market relations. This sort of
consentual imposition has been one side of modernity, one side of globalization: "we all, globally speaking, must agree to live through market
relations." But one should not be misled to think that this type of discourse is presented globally in a homogeneous form; there are a number
of locally conceived discourses (for instance, on the relationships between
modernity and national interests) seeking to introduce adjustments within
the global (capitalist) tongue.
The ethics of conviction (belief), in turn, resists its counterpart's pressure: "we, as individuals or local communities, have interests which are
not contemplated by the hegemonic discourses. In fact, our interests are
ridiculed as retrograde when not prosecuted as dangerous." This does not
mean, however, that such interests will necessarily have to be expressed
through long-standing, "traditional" values. What is at stake is how to
resist the imposition of a responsibility, how to stick to an unbroken conviction or belief. Therefore, it is possible to adopt outside values from
anywhere as long as they are seen to express a similar resistant attitude.
The Term "Bolero" and Transnational Music-and-Dance
Expressions
The use of the term "bolero"
to describe diversified and loosely, if at all,
connected music-and-dance practices has a traceable history. The first
known references in print suggest two concomitant contexts in 18th-century Spain: Andalusian gypsy culture and a number of stage forms (see

FORTRADITIONAL
44 / 1999YEARBOOK
MUSIC

Angles and Pena 1954). Stage boleronumbers, in particular, seem to have

produced a considerable impact throughout Europe around the turn of
the century, stimulating several "exotic"works in the field of art music.
Beethoven, Auber, Weber, Chopin and Verdi are among various 19thcentury composers who wrote "boleros,"a tradition that continued well
into the 20th century, as exemplified by Ravel's famous Bolero.The descriptive literature on Spanish boleroforms highlights as common aspects
their ternary rhythm and zapateadodancing, features that appear or are
evoked in the art music versions.
Nineteenth-century boleropractices emerging in Latin America and the
Caribbean seem to bear no relationship to the European phenomena just
described other than the terminological one. Early Cuban literary sources
describe boleroas a slow-tempo, duple meter, ballroom song-and-dance
genre of great popularity. Discarding any direct links between the Cuban
boleroand its Spanish counterpart, Alejo Carpentier (1984) closely relates
the former to the so-called cancioncubana;both refer to a type of sentimental song suited for ballroom dancing. After the pioneering impact of
the Cuban bolero,this binary form became popular throughout the Caribbean and Latin America, notably in Mexico (see Geijerstam 1976).
In 1928 a key musician in this process, pianist and composer Agustin
Lara, moved to Mexico City from Veracruz,where he had reportedly become familiar with Cuban genres such as the habanera,guarachas and
boleros.'Lara'sfirst bolerohit, "Impossible"(1928), was followed by an estimated roll of 500 boleros,several of which became quite successful international hits. During the 1930s and '40s, boleroswritten and sung primarily
by Mexicans and Cubans were widely diffused throughout Latin America
via shortwave radio (the XEW station, La Voz de La America Latina), 78
rpm records, and Mexican-produced melodramatic films, making singers
(in some cases, singer-actor/actresses)such as Pedro Vargas,Jorge Negrete
and Pedro Infante widely popular in various countries, including Brazil
(see Behague 1992/3). Agustin Lara was the first Mexican artist (accompanying one of his favorite interpreters, singer Ana Maria Gonzalez) to
perform in Brazil - Rio de Janeiro - in 1941, anticipating visits by
many other prominent bolerosingers.
The peak of popularity of the Mexican boleroin the 1940s (La Epocade
Oro, or "The Golden Era") coincided with the U.S. State Department's
Good Neighbor Policy,which urged the Hollywood film industry to use
idealized representations of Latin American cultures to promote strategic
cooperation (under U.S. leadership, of course). Musicians such as Cubanborn arranger and conductor Xavier Cugat were instrumental in working
out pasteurized versions of genres such as the samba,rumba and bolero,
making their impact on musical cultures in and outside Latin America
even more effective and lasting.2
Sentimental Song Forms in Brazil and the Emergence of Sambacangdo
The 18th-century modinha is highlighted in the musicological literature as the prototype of a Brazilian song genre defined by its sentimental

BRAZILIANMUSICAL EXPRESSIONS/ 45

ARAUJO

character. This distinctive property is usually associated with the lyrics,

but also with the song's melodic features (wide leaping, very likely borrowed from operatic arias) and its proper performance settings, such as
informal recitals in bourgeois salons or popular street serenades. Following the declining popularity of the modinhaby the end of the 19th century,
the vast majority of other popular genres in the history of Brazilian music
were song-and-dance forms such as the samba,established as one of the
major Carnival musical expressions since 1917. All such popular song
genres deal eventually - but not systematically as in sentimental genres
- with individual feelings of love and hate, desire and privation, abandonment and depression. They usually have a very incisive, "hot"rhythm,
which is once again the case of Carnival samba, particularly through its
polyrhythmic form (Example 1), which appeared on recordings made
around 1928 and became the predominant sambaform for decades ahead.
Example 1: Typical interlocking patterns in samba
J=100
Tamborim

Agog6

Cuica

II

~f~r~

~iJ
_______________________________

Pandeiro

Surdode resposta

Surdocentrador

11

*I

( '.

Surdode marcaqao

With a sentimental mood similar to that of the 18th- and 19th-century

modinhas,the samba-canfdowas a new genre that emerged by the end of
the 1920s in musical theatre. Closely following an international industry
trend of the time, Brazilian commercial recordings made a distinction on
their labels between genres meant to be danced to (not necessarily having
lyrics), and those with texts (usually about love) worth listening to carefully, such as valsa-canfao,fox-canfdo, and tango-canfdo(see, for instance,
Santos et al. 1982). Recordings of samba-canfdowere issued as early as
1928 (e.g., 'AmarA Uma So Mulher"[To Love A Single Woman] by Sinho,
recorded by FranciscoAlves in Februaryof that year). But the first turning

46 / 1999 YEARBOOKFOR TRADITIONAL MUSIC

point in the consolidation of the genre came only with the great success of
the song "LindaFlor"(Beautiful Flower; Henrique Vogeler, Luis Peixoto),
performed in a 1928 musical theatre play and recorded the following year
by singer Araci Cortes (see Tinhorao 1988).
Contemporary journalist and music researcher Marisa Lira (Tinhorao
1988) defines two basic features of samba-canfdoas opposed to the samba
song-and-dance genre: the slowing down of the tempo (from ca. 100 to
ca. 80) and the maintenance of the modinha'smelodic characteristics.
Tinhorao, however, argues that Lira may have overemphasized the links
between modinhaand samba-canfdo;he maintains that the latter may have
developed as a rhythmically interesting off-Carnival song form. One will
agree with Tinhorao after an analysis of selected recordings of sambacanfto made between 1935 and 1940 by Orlando Silva ("The Singer of
the Multitudes,"a major star of Brazilian radio in the '30s). As opposed to
the polyrhythmic sambaform comprised of several interlocking ostinato
patterns - a Carnival season trademark - the typical rhythmic framework of samba-canfdoin this sample is defined by the pandeiro(tambourine) alone, playing the only remaining pattern of the Carnival samba.
The tempo is, indeed, a little bit slower than in Carnival sambas,but undoubtedly livelier than sentimental songs in general.
Early Impact and Repercussion of the Bolero in Brazil
The early impact of Cuban and Mexican bolerosin Brazil, as pointed
out above, was due primarily to the wide repercussion of shortwave radio
broadcasts and Mexican melodramatic movies. But also extremely important in this process were local versions of Cuban radionovelas(the radio
predecessor of today's TV soap operas), which maintained their original
soundtracks, and pasteurized versions of Latin American musical genres
- including bolero- performed in Hollywood movies of the 1940s by
artists such as Xavier Cugat and Carmen Miranda. The term bolerodid
not appear on Brazilian record labels until 1941. The first examples seem
to be reissues of foreign matrixes sung in Spanish, such as the first big hit
in Brazil, "SolamenteUna Vez,"by Agustin Lara. This initial outburst of
popularity also prompted the first Portuguese versions of mainly Mexican
bolerolyrics recorded by Brazilians, finally evolving into bolerosin the Mexican style written and sung by Brazilians (see Santos et al. 1982).
(Let's Walk, by
Apart from the extremely successful song "Caminemos"
Heriberto Martins), recorded by Trio Los Banchos with a Spanish text by
TLP requintoplayer Alfredo Gil, very few boleroswritten by Brazilians
achieved international renown through the 1940s and 50s. Within Brazil,
however, bolerobecame popular both as a ballroom genre and as a sentimental song type suited for private listening, cutting across any imaginable socialboundaries. The production of new Brazilian-madesongs, labeled
as such, increased dramatically from 1941 onwards. Eventually, genre
names suggesting the development of hybrid forms proliferated, such as
bolero-indio(Indian bolero),
bolero-canfdo,bolero-cha-cha-chd,
bolero-beguine,
bolero-rancho
(an apparent fusion with marcha-rancho,a popular carnival

ARAUJO

MUSICALEXPRESSIONS
BRAZILIAN
/ 47

form of the early 20th century), bolero-rock,

bolero-satirico
(satirical bolero),
tango-bolero,and valsa-bolero.
fox-bolero,samba-bolero,
This popularity, however, faced strong criticisms from ideological discourses in defense of "appropriate Brazilian music." Similar concerns were
expressed by Brazilian musicologists in the first half of the century, since
the earliest writings of Mario de Andrade around 1928, and to this day
continue to inform critical reactions to the impact of boleroin Brazil. Accordingly, the popularity of bolerois seen as "imposed by the international
record enterprises," when it is not completely ignored (as, for instance, in
the two existing editions of the Enciclopedia da miusicabrasileira; see
Marcondes 1977; 1998). Brazilian versions of boleroare despised as "unimaginative" and "sterile." Likewise, even such a thorough researcher of
Brazilian popular music history as Jose Ramos Tinhorao (1988) argues
that the fusion of bolerowith samba-canfaoin the late 1940s was responsible
for the overshadowing of the latter in the national musical scene. Tinhorao
makes the dubious assumptions that, first of all, the only difference remaining between a post-1940s samba-canfgoand the Latin American bolerowas linguistic, and second, that the importance and popular prestige
of samba-canfdohad simply vanished after its presumably integral assimilation of boleropatterns.
Another major figure in contemporary Brazilian music studies - art
music composer and music researcher Guerra Peixe - has strongly criticized carioca (i.e., from Rio de Janeiro) commercial songwriters' lack of
training and imagination. In a newspaper article of the early 1950s, he
wrote,
In fact, these composers - which are not even a bit concerned
with a good outcome, but with a more or less granted success wish for a good turn-over from the copyright societies. Searching
for the "easy,"through resourcing to the "known," they model
their compositions upon the horrible and sickening bolerosthat
are sent us from abroad. Some other times they are not even
modeled upon, but are just cynical copycats of well-known national and foreign melodies. (Guerra Peixe 1951:17)
This radical stance, however, did not prevent Peixe from later writing
beautiful sambas-canfoes,such as "OAmorMorreno Olhar"(Love Faints In A
Look, 1956), in partnership with Jair Amorim, one of the pioneers in
writing Portuguese texts to Mexican-style bolerosand one of the more important songwriters in the realm of samba-canfdo.
Back to Global (I): The Bolero/Samba-canfdo Fusion in Brazilian
"Romantic" Song
By the 1940s, Brazilian boleroand samba-canf-owere hardly distinguishable practices in textual, musical, and social terms (leading to the ephemeral use of another hybrid term, sambolero).A few common aspects in the
production and consumption of both genres may have facilitated their
merging:
(a) the contents of their texts, typically dealing with love impasses, anger,
privation, and humiliation - but also with social mobility ("Youowe

48/ 1999YEARBOOKFOR TRADITIONAL MUSIC

me your social uplifting, but now you look down upon me") - in
ambiguous ways;
(b) the fact that both of them were popular as ballroom dance genres in
medium to slow tempo and duple meter (see Example 2);
(c) their prestige at a time when ballroom dancing was a widespread practice in Brazil (and certainly in other parts of the world), cutting across
more rigid class and/or ethnic boundaries; and finally,
(d) their common types of instrumentation, using either orchestral settings or a small ensemble of guitar(s), requinto(Mexican bolero)or
cavaquinho(samba-canfdo),and light percussion. (Generally speaking,
the use of congas in Brazil signals a greater proximity to standard
boleropatterns, while that ofpandeiro indicates a samba-canfao;this distinction, however, may be confusing since both instruments are used
in some performances.)
fusion patterns
Example 2: Bolero/samba-canado
.=86

a
m
_

GuitarI

*iii
Guitar2

Pandeiro

.. ' ,: '

...

.'

,r1i

.
r

olerobassline

Best-selling recording stars of the 1940s and '50s such as Dalva de

Oliveira, Nelson Gon~alves, Angela Maria, and Anisio Silva typically followed the dramatized performance style of international bolerostars such
as Gregorio Barrios, Pedro Vargasor Lucho Gatica. This dramatized style
continues to be very popular in Brazil to this day, despite the negative
reactions of music critics and many trained musicians who have regarded
it as a stickyform of sentimentalism and nostalgia, or even as a pathological demonstration of bad taste in music, evoked by terms such as "dor-decotovelo"(perhaps translatable as heartache; 1960s), "cafona"(1970s) or
"brega"(1980s on).3 Perhaps this may explain the following statements
made by a comparatively moderate critic:
. . . [Samba-candao]- that has been threatened with its own
dissolution into the Central-American bolero, not as much because of its accompanying rhythm accentuation, but because,
among other factors, of its non-use of rhythmic configurations
able to characterize it - only came back to the fore with bossa
nova. (Brito 1968:30)
This suggested "redemption" of samba-canfdothrough the sophistication of bossanova (to be discussed further in this paper) reveals, once

BRAZILIANMUSICAL EXPRESSIONS / 49

ARAUJO

again, an attempt to impose a given ethics of responsibility upon popular

music fans, in this case, involving a supposedly unavoidable alliance with
presumed cosmopolitan aesthetic values. But despite all "(ideo)logical"
arguments invoked against it, the wide popularity of the bolero/samba-canfao
connection, in all its ambiguity, has persisted as a visible social fact. This is
evidenced by the repertoires of Brazil's best-selling recording stars - romantic singers such as Cauby Peixoto, Angela Maria, Roberto Carlos,
Wildick Soriano, Altemar Dutra, and Nelson Ned, or the so-called sertanejos
(the Brazilian equivalent to the country music phenomenon in the U.S.)
such as Roberta Miranda, Chitaozinho e Xororo, Milionario deJose Rico,
and Zeze di Camargo e Luciano. Moreover, as these artists' recordings in
Spanish (a trend emerging in the 1970s) now reach fans of"Latin music"
in other parts of the world, songs with a boleroflavor "made in Brazil"
somehow reinforce the genre's global renown.
Musical and Textual Ambivalence in Samba-canfdo
A closer examination of the song "Distdncia"(Distance), written by
Adelino Moreirain 1961 and recorded by Angela Maria(LP GrandesSucessos
[Greatest Hits]), may provide a brief illustration of the post- 1941 composThe instrumental introduction begins with a charite bolero/samba-canfdo.
acteristic eight-bar dialogue between the cavaquinho (small four-string,
guitar-type instrument) and the string section, over a rhythmic section of
pandeiro(playing the standard pattern), guitars and bass. Two key features
connection are maintained throughout the enof the bolero/samba-canfao
tire performance: (a) the bass rhythm alternating between the standard
bolerobass figure and a composite ostinato made up of the three typical
bass drum figures in polyrhythmic Carnival samba,and (b) the elaborate
lower strings (bordoes)guitar line, the resposta(response), which is characteristic of other genres such as sambaand choros,and usually played during
the main melody's long sustained tones (Example 3a).
Example 3: Introduction
3a: Cavaquinho/orchestradialogue

string
!rmnsr
strings _

I|I

!
ai

.-

3b: Cavaquinhosolo

f
^s^SO^.. i

t-

cavaquinho

In bar 5, the cavaquinho- which plays an embellishing role similar to

the requintoin Mexican trios - takes the lead, quoting another song by

50/ 1999 YEARBOOKFOR TRADITIONAL MUSIC

the same composer ("Trovador");

in bar 8 it progresses toward the relative
major mode, preparing the voice's entrance (Example 3b).
An emotional cimax is achieved within the song's ABC scheme (Example 4) through the balancing of (a) the text that relates a failed relationship with ideals of social uplifting, (b) the range and contour of the
vocal line, and (c) the dramatic use of the instrumental parts not as static
background but as intervening commentaries on the vocal part. In part A,
a typical serenade ensemble ofcavaquinho, guitars and pandeirodelineates
an intimate atmosphere for a smaller-range melody; this sets the mood of
the song, with the help of the ambiguous lyrics. As the B section conveys
a more dramatic account of the bad times of a love experience, the melody
proceeds by successive leaps in arpeggios, now exploring a wider range;
the strings again join the ensemble, while the cavaquinhoembellishes the
background with frequent ornamentation and either tremolo or staccato
passages. Similar characteristics are found in the orchestration of part C,
where the emotional content is also very intense.
Example 4: "Distdncia"(Adelino Moreira)
As pedras que hoje me atiram
Passam distante de mim
Mas querem como as mentiras
Que nosso amor chegue ao fim

The stones that you throw at me

Pass too far away from me
But they want, as lies also do,
That our love gets to the end.

Por teu desejo tirano

Por seu beijo desumano
Tornei-me de ano em ano
Numa sombra de mulher

Because of your tyrannical will

Because of your inhuman kiss
I became, year after year,
A shadow of a woman

Mas deixei o lamacal

E galguei o pedestal
Onde me encontro afinal
Distanciada de ti
E so desejo o que vejas
E sei que tu me apedrejas
Somente porque desejas
Que eu desca o que ja subi

But I left all the mud

And stepped up to the podium
Where I finally find myself
Far away from you
And I just desire what you can see
And I know that you throw stones at me
Only because you desire
That I step all the way back down

RI 11t)
A

J tJ'
As pe-dras que ho-je me a

J bJJ ! JJ'

I
* tJ J
J
;
pas - sam dis-tan- te de mim

J 1.
ti

.J

I
- ram

t)

Mas que-remco mo as men-

ti

ras

que o nos-so a-morche-gue ao fim

BRAZILIANMUSICAL EXPRESSIONS / 51

ARAUJO

Example 4: "Distdncia"(Adelino Moreira) (continued)

B

Porteu-dse - jo ti - ra -

Porteubei-jo de-su - ma - no

112.

Ii.

FM _:1

IjjiJ7If

Tor-neimede a- no em a - no

u-masom-brade mu- Iher

u - masom-bra
de mu- Iher

rit
C

j^

_
t
j-iJ
dis-tan-ci-a
da
de
ti
dis-tan-ci-a da de ti

4,---h.jl,

On- de men-con-tro
a-fi- nal

E gal-gueio pe-des-tal

Masdei-xei o la-ma-9al

"r

lj

de-se--jo que ve-jas

ve-jas
ee s6 de-se

Esqutu
m a-pe- re
E
sei quetu me
-jas

_:

7L.i'

So-men-te
de - se - jas Queeudes-qao queja su - bi
por-que
-,i

Queeu des-gao queja su- bi

1_11

-^_

Back to Global (II): Bolero/Samba-canfao Fusion in Bossa Nova

In addition to the widely popular trend outlined above, a sophisticated
bolero/samba-canfio
practice was developed in affluent night-clubs of the
1950s by songwriters such as Dolores Duran and Antonia Mario, drawing
upon more complex harmonies and more elaborate texts that evoked a
certain sense of bohemian detachment from mundane life. This vogue
may perhaps be explained, on one hand, by the successive influences of
bebop and particularly cool jazz, which gradually drove Brazilian musicians into similar performance styles, and, on the other, by the increasing
textual and musical sophistication found in popular sambas-canfoessuch
as those written by Lupicinio Rodrigues (many examples may be found in

52 / 1999 YEARBOOKFOR TRADITIONAL MUSIC

his LP Dorde Cotovelo,remastered and reissued in 1994 as CD Continental

179033-2.
Such changes should also be seen in light of the 1955-1960 modernization drive ofJuscelino Kubitschek's government, with its "fiftyyears in
five" slogan. Promoting, among other initiatives, the establishment of
leading U.S. and European automobile industries in Brazil, this modernizing policy boosted the growth of a new and socially visible middle class
ready to patronize whatever was presented as a cosmopolitan way of life,
mainly the presumed socio-cultural standards of the U.S. middle class.
The sophisticated night-club version of samba-canfdohad a considerable impact - in terms of certain musical procedures and the overall
bohemian feeling of the songs - on younger songwriters of the midfifties, such as Vinicius de Moraes, Antonio CarlosJobim, Johnny Alf and
others, who later became known as the creators of bossanova. Blending
the bolero/samba-canfdo
structures and atmosphere with cool jazz harmonies and melodic thinking, these songs found their preferred mode of
performance in the ballad singing style ofjazzmen like the early Frank
Sinatra, Mel Thorme, and Chet Baker (all of whom were emulated by
Brazilian singers). This was a soft, slightly "acid" singing style instead of
the open and strongly dramatized vocal style of boleroand samba-canfdo.
The broader argument of critic Brasil Rocha Brito, whose perception
of bossanova's creative appropriation of samba-canfdohas already been
mentioned in passing, is worth appreciating in detail. Brito highlights
bossanova'ssurpassing of a romantic (meaning sentimental) legacy in Brazilian popular music (his words). This seems to be particularly clear to
him in the singer's new role:
In the case of the singer/interpreter, the so frequently unarrested
emotions, grandiloquences, strongly contrasting effects - e.g.,
the so-called "dynamic" ones: screaming high notes, underlined
by the voice's loudness, fermatas, etc. - are all rejected by the
bossa-nova's proper singing style. The singer is no longer opposed, as a soloist, to the orchestra. Both ones are integrated,
reconciled, without presenting contrasting elements. (Brito 1968:
18-19)
The cool [style] inhibits personalism in favor of a real integration
of the singing into the musical work . . . The "full voice," the
"chest C" (d6de peito), the "tear in the voice," the singing that has
caused and still causes surprise and huge sobbing," etc., are rejected by bossa nova. (ibid.:31)
The relative unimportance of dynamic (or, posed differently, dramatic)
contrasts also strikes him as a procedure applied to the entire musical
arrangement of the songs, which leaves behind previous orchestration
cliches such as the contrast between small ensembles (less intense moods)
and full orchestra (dramatic climaxes).
Brito enumerates several structural elements as unique to bossanova
vis-a-vis previous musical practices in Brazil, such as the consistent employment of (a) chords consisting of four or more distinct notes, (b) al-

BRAZILIANMUSICAL EXPRESSIONS / 53

ARAUJO

tered chords (although less frequent than in, for instance, bebop), (c) minor dominant chords and the circle of fifths in descending motion, (d)
modulation and counterpoint, and (e) tunes consisting ofjust one or two
pitches over which a relatively rich harmonic progression develops (the
case of Antonio CarlosJobim's "One-Note Samba" or, injazz, pieces such
as "Perdido,""Old Black Magic"or the introduction to "Night And Day").
In many ways, similar procedures had already been used in Brazil since
the 1940s by night-dubjazz musicians, such as pianist and composer Dick
Farney. However, the uniqueness of bossanova, according to Brito, was
achieved through its blending of these elements with local forms of popular music, incuding samba-canfdo.One of the key musicians in this process was singer/pianist/composer Johnny Alf. As stated by Brito,
His [Alf's] sambas-canfaoswere closer to jazz, to bebop, to cool
jazz than to anything definitely rooted in our popular music. Progressively,however, some of the procedures employed by Johnny
Alf were metamorphosed into other ones more integrated to the
spirit of the Brazilian popular repertoire. Many have acknowledged, as Antonio Carlos Jobim himself did, this musician's paternity of bossa nova. (Brito 1968:16)
Johnny Alf's typical blending ofjazz-inspired harmonic thinking and
the bolero/samba-canfao
patterns may indeed be found in many of his compositions, such as the song "Iluso A Toa"(VainIllusion; see Example 5). A
similar atmosphere is found in songs such as "AsPraiasDesertas"(Deserted
Beaches) by Antonio Carlos Jobim and "Medode Amar"(Fear of Love) by
Vinicius de Moraes. This latter song was recorded on the historical 1958
LP CanfaodoAmorDemais,featuring singer Elizeth Cardoso, guitaristJoao
Gilberto, and the young arranger/conductor Antonio Carlos Jobim;
Gilberto's guitar style on the album's first track, "Chegade Saudade"by
Jobim and Moraes, is considered the "soundmark"of bossa-nova.
Example 5: Johnny Alf's "IlusdoA T6a" (excerpt)
G7
9
4

Dm7

A.Voice
Voicel
Am 7

e e5
Eb ?

'

G97
B 6.e--- r

A? Ab? Gb? E? B 6-

7-

C7M

I.

JohnnvAlf
E7
9

0
-

Em

Em7
\II

dp
te)

Instrumental
accompaniment

Through its various uses by bossanova musicians, the bolero/samba-canfaao

connection has been one of the more influential genres in what local
record business executives define as the "sophisticated segment" of Brazilian popular music. This view is supported by relatively recent CD releases of artists such as Maria Betania, Joao Bosco and Nana Caymmi, all
of whom provide creative illustrations of the bolero/samba-canfao
continuity
(Example 6).

54 / 1999YEARBOOK
FORTRADITIONAL
MUSIC

Example 6: Bass line variations of the standard boleropattern in a

Joao Bosco recording
[ll

? .

,?

'

As the heirs to bossanova's international movement, these contemporary artists reach a global audience with their reinterpretations of bolero/
samba-canfdopatterns, structures and sentimental moods, reinflecting as in the case of the romdnticosand sertanejosdiscussed in the previous
section - the worldwide phenomenon that, in many ways, made their
respective musical expressions possible.
Ethos and Pathos: Reconsidering the Brazilian Appropriations of
Bolero in Samba-canfdo
As we have seen, interpretations of boleroas a pathological form of
sentimentalism and as a deviation from a "natural history" of Brazilian
popular music typically stem from an ideological discourse on "appropriate Brazilian music." The roots of this discourse are found in the often
paradoxical, anti-romantic attitudes of an industrializing society's intelligentsia, who posit the backwardnessof individual feeling and immediacy
(implicit in Touraine's ethics of conviction) vis-a-vis the urgency of material progress, with its narrowly correlate notions of welfare and freedom,
the ultimate goals of reason (also, the ethics of responsibility). Feeling
that irrational human attribute - could endanger plans for surplus accumulation, i.e., progress, the condition for adequately redistributing materiallydefined welfare.Tragically,however,one of the conditions for progress
is the fostering of competition, individualism, and a contradictory - perhaps predatory - sense of detachment from collective values. Speaking
in social terms, this line of thought may tend to overvalue notions of
progress in Brazilian political discourses during the first half of this century; musically speaking, it may lead to the profusion of intellectual statements on the matter of "proper"musical representations of social groups,
of nationality, or of the era.
In this engaging dialectics, which may catch off-guard an otherwise
highly critical and methodical thinker like Guerra Peixe, homogenizing
modes of musical expression such as the Latin American boleroadvertise
potential relief for a chronic pain produced by detachment and loneliness
in a world seemingly dominated by the responsibility of one logic: the
logic of capital. On the other hand, as the primarily individual feelings
and recollections evoked or aroused by boleros may never be truly
socializable, they concomitantly build refuges for radical subjectivity,ever
more dependent on a virtual sense of place and time (music's favorite
function), where love, passion, pain and pleasure - all subjective states
irreducible to rational measuring and control - may be cultivated far
away from shame or censorship. The ethics of intimate conviction (belief)

ARAUJO

BRAZILIANMUSICAL EXPRESSIONS / 55

distilled through "irrational"sentimental song forms such as bolero- or

through Brazilian song forms that absorb its influences and become globalized themselves - involuntarily confronts the ethics of imposed responsibility, of situational group alliances, and of socially negotiated cultural values. In this process, the imprints of radical subjectivity- men's
and women's self-perception as disenfranchised beings -will alwaysleave
open, as once noted by Frith (1987), possibilities of meaning formation
that may not otherwise be available.
FOOTNOTES
1. Foran analysis of the similarities between the habanerastandard rhythmic pattern and that of bolero,see Manuel (1985).
2. One among many other possible examples is the song "If I Fell"
(Lennon and McCartney), recorded by the Beatles in their Help! album.
3. See Araiujo(1987) for an analysis of the use of musical taste attribution as a tool of derision in Brazilian society.
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Angles, Higinio and Joaquin Pena, eds.
1954 Diciondriode la muzsica
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Araujo, Samuel
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Behague, Gerard
"Recursos para o estudo da musica popular urbana latino1992/93
americana." RevistaBrasileirade Musica 20:1-24.
Carpentier, Alejo
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Frith, Simon
1987 "Towardsan Aesthetic of Popular Music." In Music and Society,ed.
Susan McClaryand Richard Leppert, 133-149. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Guerra Peixe, Cesar
1951 "Aprovavel proxima decadencia do frevo." Didrioda Noite, Recife,
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Manuel, Peter
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