The Mystery of Samba: Popular Music and National Identity in Brazil
Samba is Brazil’s “national rhythm,” the foremost symbol of its culture and nationhood. To the outsider, samba and the famous pre-Lenten carnival of which it is the centerpiece seem to showcase the country’s African heritage. Within Brazil, however, samba symbolizes the racial and cultural mixture that, since the 1930s, most Brazilians have come to believe defines their unique national identity.
But how did Brazil become “the Kingdom of Samba” only a few decades after abolishing slavery in 1888? Typically, samba is represented as having changed spontaneously, mysteriously, from a “repressed” music of the marginal and impoverished to a national symbol cherished by all Brazilians. Here, however, Hermano Vianna shows that the nationalization of samba actually rested on a long history of relations between different social groups — poor and rich, weak and powerful — often working at cross-purposes to one another.
A fascinating exploration of the “invention of tradition,” The Mystery of Samba is an excellent introduction to Brazil’s ongoing conversation on race, popular culture, and national identity.
1118398641
The Mystery of Samba: Popular Music and National Identity in Brazil
Samba is Brazil’s “national rhythm,” the foremost symbol of its culture and nationhood. To the outsider, samba and the famous pre-Lenten carnival of which it is the centerpiece seem to showcase the country’s African heritage. Within Brazil, however, samba symbolizes the racial and cultural mixture that, since the 1930s, most Brazilians have come to believe defines their unique national identity.
But how did Brazil become “the Kingdom of Samba” only a few decades after abolishing slavery in 1888? Typically, samba is represented as having changed spontaneously, mysteriously, from a “repressed” music of the marginal and impoverished to a national symbol cherished by all Brazilians. Here, however, Hermano Vianna shows that the nationalization of samba actually rested on a long history of relations between different social groups — poor and rich, weak and powerful — often working at cross-purposes to one another.
A fascinating exploration of the “invention of tradition,” The Mystery of Samba is an excellent introduction to Brazil’s ongoing conversation on race, popular culture, and national identity.
42.5 Out Of Stock
The Mystery of Samba: Popular Music and National Identity in Brazil

The Mystery of Samba: Popular Music and National Identity in Brazil

by Hermano Vianna
The Mystery of Samba: Popular Music and National Identity in Brazil

The Mystery of Samba: Popular Music and National Identity in Brazil

by Hermano Vianna

Paperback(1)

$42.50 
  • SHIP THIS ITEM
    Temporarily Out of Stock Online
  • PICK UP IN STORE

    Your local store may have stock of this item.

Related collections and offers


Overview

Samba is Brazil’s “national rhythm,” the foremost symbol of its culture and nationhood. To the outsider, samba and the famous pre-Lenten carnival of which it is the centerpiece seem to showcase the country’s African heritage. Within Brazil, however, samba symbolizes the racial and cultural mixture that, since the 1930s, most Brazilians have come to believe defines their unique national identity.
But how did Brazil become “the Kingdom of Samba” only a few decades after abolishing slavery in 1888? Typically, samba is represented as having changed spontaneously, mysteriously, from a “repressed” music of the marginal and impoverished to a national symbol cherished by all Brazilians. Here, however, Hermano Vianna shows that the nationalization of samba actually rested on a long history of relations between different social groups — poor and rich, weak and powerful — often working at cross-purposes to one another.
A fascinating exploration of the “invention of tradition,” The Mystery of Samba is an excellent introduction to Brazil’s ongoing conversation on race, popular culture, and national identity.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780807847664
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date: 02/16/1999
Series: Latin America in Translation/en Traducción/em Tradução
Edition description: 1
Pages: 168
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.39(d)

About the Author

Hermano Vianna is a Brazilian anthropologist and writer who currently works in television. John Charles Chasteen is associate professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Table of Contents

Contents

Translator's Preface
Author's Preface to the U.S. Edition
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. The Encounter
Chapter 2. The Mystery
Chapter 3. Popular Music and the Brazilian Elite
Chapter 4. The Unity of the Nation
Chapter 5. Race Mixture
Chapter 6. Gilberto Freyre
Chapter 7. The Modern Samba
Chapter 8. Samba of My Native Land
Chapter 9. Nowhere at All
Chapter 10. Conclusions
Notes
Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“A wonderfully knowledgeable and thoughtful investigation of how Brazil and samba helped create each other.”—Alma Guillermoprieto, author of Samba

“A subtle and convincing analysis of the connection between popular culture and its manipulation by the elite. A major contribution to our understanding of the development of Brazilian national identity.”—Thomas E. Skidmore, Brown University

The Mystery of Samba points to the Brazilian nation’s strong expression of popular culture as a long term transcultural experience between cultural elites and popular voices both inside and outside Brazil. . . . This masterful work is a very current and major contribution to the debate about culture across the social sciences and the humanities.”—Nelson H. Vieira, Brown University

From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews