www.scene4.com

April 2023

BRAZIL

Altenir Silva

Brazil is a country full of contradictions. Brazilians celebrate the Carnival every year in February, a pagan feast that exalts glee and sensuality. Last February, it was no different, the country temporarily suspended important affairs to fully embrace the joy of the carnival, where the samba is its foundation.

 

After a time of pandemic-related restrictions and with a former president who is being accused of genocide and who opposes popular manifestations, carnival has returned as a cry for freedom. Brazil seems to be reclaiming its sense of joy and love of life, which samba portrays so well.

 

To better understand the samba and all these contradictions, I will reproduce excerpts from an article I wrote as an invited author to talk about the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. The article was published on the *blog of George Vecsey, who previously wrote the "Sports of the Times" column for The New York Times from 1982 to 2011. Currently, he continues to write for the Times as a contributor.

 

**Rio de Janeiro is a divided city in its complexities. There are two sides in Rio de Janeiro and we can put these terms in a musical context: the sadness of Bossa Nova and the happiness of the Samba.

 

The Rio of "Bossa Nova" is a movement musical that shows the soul of existence of the middle class on the way of sadness. There's a poem by Vinicius de Moraes with a melody by Tom Jobim, "Tristeza Não Tem Fim; Felicidade Sim" (Sadness Doesn't End, Happiness Does) that shows the broken heart of Bossa Nova, formed by composers who lived in the South Zone of Rio, a rich region.

 

And there's a Rio of Samba, our African musical heritage, where the music is sung with joy about the heartaches and the cultural characteristics of the place.

 

Samba has its origin in the North Zone and the favelas, which are poor regions, but with a great vocation to be happy. There's a samba that is very meaningful by songwriter Zé Keti, "A Voz do Morro" (The Voice of the Favela) that says on its verses "I'm samba; I'm native from here, from Rio de Janeiro; I'm the one who brings joy to millions of Brazilian hearts". Even in different contexts, the Bossa Nova is a softer way of singing and playing Samba.

 

The Olympic Games in Rio are happening on this musical equator: for one side is the image of a city that is all right, but is sad because we know that this city is temporary - it finishes after the Olympics Games. This city is Bossa Nova.

 

There's a Rio of Samba, where the people know that this feast isn't made to them, but they are being happy because they believe that the glee is the matter of the soul. The life is difficult and the smile makes it bearable. The paradox is our essence: the Brazilian smiles to not cry.

 

It was hard to coexist with a right-wing government that caused deforestation in the Amazon, refused to vaccinate the population against COVID-19, attacked various marginalized groups (Indigenous People, Afro-Brazilians, LGBTQIA+, women, and so on), increased poverty and hunger, and harbored extremists who hate democracy; as occurred in the US Capitol, they also attacked government buildings in Brazil.

 

Now the country has elected a new ex-president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a democrat with a social commitment. He has a big challenge ahead of him, and he can't make mistakes for the good of Brazil. We're beginning to see a new horizon, as if we'd taken up the samba and bossa nova to get going. The samba has brought back our joy of life, and we hope that bossa nova, with its existentialism, can help us maintain a healthy mind and prevent the return of fascism.

 

Chico Buarque, a talented MPB (Brazilian Popular Music) artist, has always been inspired by samba and bossa nova. In 1978, he recorded a samba that would be an anthem of democratic resistance. The song ***"In Spite of You" is a testament to the singer-songwriter's artistry against the dictatorship in Brazil. In this lyric, we get to feel our vocation for freedom and for the joy of living, and it remains relevant today: "In spite of you, tomorrow will be another day."

 

We hope so!

 

Links

*Blog by George Vecsey https://www.georgevecsey.com

 

** Link to the article:

https://www.georgevecsey.com/home/our-man-in-rio-describes-the-musical-equator-in-the-city

 

***Link to the song by Chico Buarque:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RhKTzVVDno

 

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Altenir Silva is a Brazilian playwright and screenwriter working in mass media and communications, including Cinema, Theater, Television and the Web. His texts and scripts - both fiction and reality-based - have been presented , produced and performed in the US, the UK, and Brazil.
For more of his writings in Scene4, check the Archives.

©2023 Altenir Silva
©2023 Publication Scene4 Magazine

 

 

 

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