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From Rio to São Paulo: Shifting Urban Landscapes and Global Strategies for Brazilian Music

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Sounds and the City

Part of the book series: Leisure Studies in a Global Era ((LSGE))

Abstract

Recently, international media outlets have celebrated São Paulo for its cosmopolitan musical output and vibrant street art scenes. Based on ethnographic research in the independent music industry in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro between 2007 and 2015, I argue that the shift in attention from Rio de Janeiro to São Paulo is accompanying larger strategic changes among independent record labels after years of uncertainty. That geographic reordering from tourism-friendly Rio de Janeiro to the relentless urbanity of São Paulo is an indication of whether or not music businesses choose to represent a “Brazilian” essence in music. I show that Brazil’s musical brand now emphasizes genres and styles closely linked to São Paulo and the cosmopolitanism that city embodies. In a break with the past, these labels rarely emphasize discernible “Brazilian” musical styles, such as forró and bossa nova, without also promoting globally urban musical styles such as “indie” rock, dancehall reggae, electronic dance music, and hip-hop.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For more on the history of samba in Rio de Janeiro, see Vianna (1999), Sandroni (2001), McCann (2004), Hertzman (2013).

  2. 2.

    See Frederick Moehn (2012) for a study of recent musicians coming out of the Rio de Janeiro MPB (música popular brasileira) scene.

  3. 3.

    In addition to being an important site of tourism and musical life, Rio de Janeiro was the national capital of Brazil from 1763 to 1960.

  4. 4.

    To date, the majority of English-language scholarship about Brazilian music is on the legacies from Rio de Janeiro and the country’s northeast region.

  5. 5.

    Galletta (2016) argues that the São Paulo scene started gaining attention in Brazilian publications in 2009/2010. I witnessed signs of it during my first visit in 2008. For international examples, see coverage by US public radio, the BBC, and The Guardian: “AfroPop Worldwide: The Soul of São Paulo” (Bishop 2012), Rocha (2010), Jonze (2014).

  6. 6.

    Batuk Freak appeared on Pitchfork critic Jessica Hopper’s top 10 albums of 2014 and songs from the album were featured on NPR alt.latino in May 2014 and February 2015 (Garsd 2014; Contreras and Diaz-Hurtado 2015).

  7. 7.

    For a thorough critique of the discourse around global bass, see Font-Navarette (2015).

  8. 8.

    FIFA ‘14 and FIFA ‘18 were both released by EA Sports in September of 2013 and 2017, respectively. See EA Sports, “FIFA 14 Soundtrack Reveal” (2013) and “FIFA 18 – Soundtrack” (2017).

  9. 9.

    For more on “soft power” in contrast with military power, see Nye (2004).

  10. 10.

    See Comaroff and Comaroff (2009) for a thorough exploration of ethnicity in nation branding.

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  1. Wellesley College, Boston, MA, USA

    Kariann E. Goldschmitt

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  1. Kariann E. Goldschmitt
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Correspondence to Kariann E. Goldschmitt .

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  1. Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK

    Brett Lashua , Stephen Wagg , Karl Spracklen  & M. Selim Yavuz , ,  & 

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Goldschmitt, K.E. (2019). From Rio to São Paulo: Shifting Urban Landscapes and Global Strategies for Brazilian Music. In: Lashua, B., Wagg, S., Spracklen, K., Yavuz, M.S. (eds) Sounds and the City. Leisure Studies in a Global Era. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94081-6_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94081-6_6

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