When Brazil Got the Blues: The Diffusion of Blues in Brazil
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Published:
Feb 18, 2022
Keywords:
Brazil, blues, Blues Etílicos, globalization, music geography
Main Article Content
Abstract
The focus of this article is to understand and examine the phenomenon of the introduction of blues as a musical genre in Brazil (1985-1992), which has never been studied. By highlighting the processes of globalization and the Brazilian blues band from Rio de Janeiro, Blues Etílicos, I ask what were the spaces, places, and venues that helped to disseminate blues throughout Brazil? How does an African-American-based genre adopted and popularized by upper-and-middle-class white urbanites in Brazil? To answer these questions, I examine political, musical, and cultural backdrops, and the end of Brazil’s military dictatorship in 1985, which overlapped with a major Brazilian rock festival, “Rock in Rio,” and Brazil’s first blues festival in Ribeirão Preto in 1989. This article adds to the scholarly literature of blues and music geography by looking at ongoing discussions of Brazil’s changing political, cultural, and musical landscapes.
Article Details
How to Cite
Marcus, A. P. (2022). When Brazil Got the Blues: The Diffusion of Blues in Brazil. Brasiliana: Journal for Brazilian Studies, 10(2). https://doi.org/10.25160/bjbs.v10i2.125517
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General Articles
Articles published in Brasiliana are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
References
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Connell, J. and Gibson, C. (2003). Sound Tracks. Popular Music, Identity and Place. London & NY: Routledge.
Dunn, C. (2001). Brutality Garden: Tropicalia and the Emergence of a Brazilian Counterculture. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.
Ford, L. (1971). Geographic Factors in the Origin, Evolution, and Diffusion of Rock and Roll Music. Journal of Geography, (70)8, p.455-464.
Frame, P. (2007). The Restless Generation. How Rock Music Changed the Face of 1950s Britain. London: Rogan House.
Gioia, T. (2008). Delta Blues: The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters who Revolutionized American Music. NY: W.W. Norton and Company.
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Goldsmith, M. U. D. and Fonseca, A. J. (Eds.) (2019). Hip Hop Around the World: An Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, California, and Denver, Colorado: Greenwood.
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Mandinga Blues (2020). Available at: https://mandingablues.wordpress.com (Accessed March 20, 2020).
Marcos Ottaviano (2020). Available at: https://www.marcosottaviano.com.br/ (Accessed March 20, 2020).
Marcus, A. P. (2020). Skiffle in the U.K.: The Indigenization of a Musical Genre. Journal of Cultural Geography 37 (2), p. 216-235.
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Nuno Mindelis. (2020). Available at: http://nunomindelis.com.br/v2/bio/ (Accessed, March 20, 2020).
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Palmer, R. (1981). Deep Blues: A Musical and Cultural History from the Mississippi Delta to Chicago’s South Side to the World. NY: Penguin.
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Perrone, C. A. and Dunn C. (Eds.) (2002). Brazilian Popular Music & Globalization. NY: Routledge.
Poiger, U. G. (2000). Jazz, Rock and Rebels. Cold War Politics and American Culture in a Divided Germany. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Strait, J. B., and Fujimoto-Strait, A. R. (2017). ‘The Impact of Multi-Layered Diffusionary Processes on Musical Evolution: The Global Nature, and Hawaiian, Spanish and African Roots of Delta Music Culture.’ European Scientific Journal, October 2017, Special Edition, p.257-276.
Stratton, J., (2010). ‘Skiffle, Variety and Englishness.’ In Britpop and the English Music Tradition, pp. 27-40, A. Bennett and J. Stratton, Eds., Surrey, U.K.: Ashgate.
Stroud, S. (2016) [2008]. The Defence of Tradition in Brazilian Popular Music. Politics, Culture and the Creation of Música Popular Brasileira. NY: Routledge.
Terra Blues. (2020). ‘Blues Publications.’ Available at: https://www.terrablues.com/bluespublications.html (Accessed March 20, 2020).
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The Blues Foundation (2020). Memphis, Tennessee, Available at: https://blues.org/about/#mission (Accessed March 20, 2020).
Urban, M. with A. Evdokimov (2004). Russia Gets the Blues: Music, Culture, and Community in Unsettled Times. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
Wallach, J., H. M. Berger, and Greene, P. D. (eds) ( 2011). Metal Rules the Globe. Heavy Metal Music Around the World. Durham: North Carolina, Duke University Press.
Zantige, A. (2015). ‘Not the same old blues. Brazil gets the blues in its own, unique way.’ Wall Street International Magazine. March 14, 2015. https://wsimag.com/entertainment/13725-not-the-same-old-blues (Accessed March 20, 2020).
Alderman, J. (2001). Sonic Boom. Napster, MP3, and the New Pioneers of Music. Foreword by E. I. Schwartz, Preface by H. Hancock. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Perseus Publishing.
Bellos, A. (2005). ‘Baile funk might be the most exciting music in the world - it certainly comes from one of its most dangerous places.’ The Guardian, September 17, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/sep/18/brazil.popandrock (Accessed March 20, 2020).
Big Allambik (2020). Available at: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/big-allanbik-mn0001402419 (Accessed March 20, 2020).
Blues’n’ Jazz Brasil (2020), https://bluesnjazz.com.br/web/ (Accessed March 20, 2020).
Brandellero, A. M. C., and Pfeffer, K., (2011). Multiple and Shifting Geographies of World Music Production. Area, 43 (4), p.495-505.
Brazilian Federal Government. Presidency of the Republic of Brazil (2020a). ‘Brazilian music market grew 18% after ten years of recession,’ http://www.brazil.gov.br/arts-culture/music/brazilian-music-market-grew-18-after-ten-years-of-recession (Accessed March 20, 2020).
Brazilian Federal Government. Presidency of the Republic of Brazil (2020b). ‘Brazil has Festivals for All Tastes.’ http://www.brazil.gov.br/arts-culture/music/Brazil-has-festivals-for-all-tastes-Check-out-a-few-highlights (Accessed March 20, 2020).
Brocken, M. (2003). The British Folk Revival 1944-2002. London: Ashgate.
Calado, C. (1991). ‘Veteranos criticam blueseiros oportunistas.’ Folha de São Paulo, December 20, 1991, 3.
Connell, J. and Gibson, C. (2003). Sound Tracks. Popular Music, Identity and Place. London & NY: Routledge.
Dunn, C. (2001). Brutality Garden: Tropicalia and the Emergence of a Brazilian Counterculture. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.
Ford, L. (1971). Geographic Factors in the Origin, Evolution, and Diffusion of Rock and Roll Music. Journal of Geography, (70)8, p.455-464.
Frame, P. (2007). The Restless Generation. How Rock Music Changed the Face of 1950s Britain. London: Rogan House.
Gioia, T. (2008). Delta Blues: The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters who Revolutionized American Music. NY: W.W. Norton and Company.
Giron, L. C. (1991). ‘Bluesboys invadem MPB, roubam espaço do rock e viram moda de verão.’ Folha de São Paulo, December 20, 1991, 1.
Goldsmith, M. U. D. and Fonseca, A. J. (Eds.) (2019). Hip Hop Around the World: An Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, California, and Denver, Colorado: Greenwood.
Grossberg, L. (1992). We Got to Get Out of This Place: Popular Conservatism and Postmodern Culture. NY: Routledge.
IFPI (2020). ‘Representing the Recording Industry Worldwide, Brazil: A top performing market.’ Accessed March 20, 2020, https://www.ifpi.org/brazil.php and https://www.ifpi.org/consumer-research.php (Accessed March 20, 2020).
Johansson, O. and Bell, T. L. (2009). Sound, Society and the Geography of Popular Music. Surrey, UK: Ashgate.
Júnior, E. M. (2009). ‘Mandinga Blues.’ Available at: https://mandingablues.wordpress.com/o-blues-no-brasil/ (Accessed March 20, 2020).
Kruse, H. (2003). Site and Sound: Understanding Independent Music Scenes. NY: Peter Lang.
Kruse, H. (2010). ‘Local Identity and Independent Music Scenes, Online and Off.’ Popular Music and Society, 33(5), p.625-639.
Lima, E. S. (1989). ‘Com Blues na Veia.’ Jornal do Brasil, April 14, 1.
Making a Scene, The Independent Music Magazine (2020). ‘Selling the Blues’ first published on August 28, 2015, Available at: https://www.makingascene.org/selling-the-blues/ (Accessed March 20, 2020).
Mandinga Blues (2020). Available at: https://mandingablues.wordpress.com (Accessed March 20, 2020).
Marcos Ottaviano (2020). Available at: https://www.marcosottaviano.com.br/ (Accessed March 20, 2020).
Marcus, A. P. (2020). Skiffle in the U.K.: The Indigenization of a Musical Genre. Journal of Cultural Geography 37 (2), p. 216-235.
Marcus, A. P. (2013). Sex, Color, and Geography: Racialized Relations in Brazil and its Predicaments. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 103(5), p.1282-1299.
McCann, B. (2007). Blues and Samba: Another Side of Bossa Nova History. Luso-Brazilian Review, (2), p.21-49.
Mello, J. (2012). ‘The Brazilian Music Industry. The Brazil Business.’ November 21, 2012. Available at: https://thebrazilbusiness.com/article/the-brazilian-music-industry (Accessed March 20, 2020).
Mississippi Delta Blues Festival, Caxias do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul (2020). Available at: https://mdbf.com.br (Accessed March 20, 2020).
Moreira, M. (2013). ‘A voz do blues carioca foi embora – um adeus a Ricardo Werther.” Estado de São Paulo, February 19, 2013. Available at: https://cultura.estadao.com.br/blogs/combate-rock/a-voz-do-blues-carioca-foi-embora-um-adeus-a-ricardo-werther/ (Accessed, March 20, 2020).
Nuno Mindelis. (2020). Available at: http://nunomindelis.com.br/v2/bio/ (Accessed, March 20, 2020).
Obvious Magazine (2016). ‘Blues no Brasil.’ Available at: http://obviousmag.org/viver_a_deriva_e_sentir_que_tudo_esta_bem/2016/blues-no-brasil.html (Accessed March 20, 2020).
O Globo. (2012). ‘Morre músico Celso Blues Boy aos 56 Anos.’ O Globo, August 6, 2012. https://oglobo.globo.com/cultura/morre-musico-celso-blues-boy-aos-56-anos-5702995. (Accessed March 20, 2020).
Palmer, R. (1981). Deep Blues: A Musical and Cultural History from the Mississippi Delta to Chicago’s South Side to the World. NY: Penguin.
Perrone, C. A. and C. Dunn (2002). ‘Chiclete com Banana’: Internationalization in Brazilian Music.’ In Brazilian Popular Music & Globalization, C. A. Perrone and C. Dunn (eds), pp.1-38. 2002. NY: Routledge,
Perrone, C. A. and Dunn C. (Eds.) (2002). Brazilian Popular Music & Globalization. NY: Routledge.
Poiger, U. G. (2000). Jazz, Rock and Rebels. Cold War Politics and American Culture in a Divided Germany. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Strait, J. B., and Fujimoto-Strait, A. R. (2017). ‘The Impact of Multi-Layered Diffusionary Processes on Musical Evolution: The Global Nature, and Hawaiian, Spanish and African Roots of Delta Music Culture.’ European Scientific Journal, October 2017, Special Edition, p.257-276.
Stratton, J., (2010). ‘Skiffle, Variety and Englishness.’ In Britpop and the English Music Tradition, pp. 27-40, A. Bennett and J. Stratton, Eds., Surrey, U.K.: Ashgate.
Stroud, S. (2016) [2008]. The Defence of Tradition in Brazilian Popular Music. Politics, Culture and the Creation of Música Popular Brasileira. NY: Routledge.
Terra Blues. (2020). ‘Blues Publications.’ Available at: https://www.terrablues.com/bluespublications.html (Accessed March 20, 2020).
The Blues Foundation (2020). Available at: https://blues.org/affiliate-map (Accessed March 20, 2020).
The Blues Foundation (2020). Memphis, Tennessee, Available at: https://blues.org/about/#mission (Accessed March 20, 2020).
Urban, M. with A. Evdokimov (2004). Russia Gets the Blues: Music, Culture, and Community in Unsettled Times. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
Wallach, J., H. M. Berger, and Greene, P. D. (eds) ( 2011). Metal Rules the Globe. Heavy Metal Music Around the World. Durham: North Carolina, Duke University Press.
Zantige, A. (2015). ‘Not the same old blues. Brazil gets the blues in its own, unique way.’ Wall Street International Magazine. March 14, 2015. https://wsimag.com/entertainment/13725-not-the-same-old-blues (Accessed March 20, 2020).