Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part 1 Colonial and Postcolonial Transnationalisms, Migrations and Diasporas
- Part 2 Relocating Rio de Janeiro
- Part 3 Demetropolitanizing the Musical City: Other Scenes, Industries, Technologies
- Notes on Contributors
- Notes
- References
- Index
Chapter 5 - ‘A Piece of Brazil in Lisbon’: Brazilian MusicalPractices in the Portuguese Capital
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part 1 Colonial and Postcolonial Transnationalisms, Migrations and Diasporas
- Part 2 Relocating Rio de Janeiro
- Part 3 Demetropolitanizing the Musical City: Other Scenes, Industries, Technologies
- Notes on Contributors
- Notes
- References
- Index
Summary
When some well-known song is played, such as Nãodeixa o samba morrer (recorded by Alcione in 1975)or Vai Vadiar (a Zeca Pagodinho hit), theBrazilian crowd goes wild: everyone dances andsings frenetically as if they were in their homecountry. While trying to walk around the dancefloor, I hear, between one song and another, manypeople saying they are feeling like they were inBrazil. In the queue for the toilet I hear someonesay: ‘Why should I go back to Brazil if I havethis here? I don't need anything else! I have thebest of two worlds: I’m in Europe but I have sambajust like in Brazil!’ Throughout the evening Icould hear people saying: ‘This is a piece ofBrazil in Lisbon’. It was neither the first northe last time I would hear this sentence duringfieldwork. (author's fieldwork diary, 10 January2016)
I have chosen a part of my fieldwork diary to open thisessay because it demonstrates very clearly howBrazilian musical practices take place in the heartof Lisbon's nightlife. Moreover, it shows that thosepractices are directed at a diverse audience,something that is elucidative of contemporary Lisbonsociety and its efforts to consolidate its image asa multicultural European capital. ‘A piece of Brazilin Lisbon’ is a phrase I heard often during thefieldwork I conducted for my doctoral research,which deals with issues related to the experiencesundergone by Brazilian migrant musicians in Lisbon,Portugal. Whether I was at a bossa nova performance, a carnival partyor a roda de samba,the phrase was frequently repeated by Portuguesepeople, foreign tourists and Brazilian migrantswhile dancing and singing to easily recognizableBrazilian songs.
The relationship between Portugal and Brazil dates backacross centuries of shared colonial history andthere is therefore an undeniable proximity betweenboth countries afforded by these multiple historicalrelations. Due to this proximity, the artistic andmigratory experiences undergone by the musicianswith whom I work can be seen as unique.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Music Scenes and MigrationsSpace and Transnationalism in Brazil, Portugal and the Atlantic, pp. 57 - 64Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2020