Brazilian popular music: the soundtrack of the political opening (1975/1982)

Abstract

The idea of "liberalisation", a central element of the political agenda of the Brazilian military regime in the second half of the 1970s had a major impact on the cultural scene, which had previously been dominated by the civil opposition to the regime. The phase of "decompression-opening" coincided with the commercial and cultural highpoint of Brazilian Popular Music (MPB) that, since the 1960s, played an important role in the culture of the political left. With the easing of censorship, this musical genre became even more a privileged area of artistic expression, a mouthpiece for the ghosts, desires and utopias of the middle class that was critical of the regime. In this work, we analyze the variables of the Brazilian music scene of the second half of the 1970s, the various readings transmitted by the songs of MPB and its main socio-cultural settings.