Brazilian music styles range greatly like in many cultures. Before the Portuguese settled in Brazil, there was not much information recorded about the styles of music in Brazil. Once the Portuguese settled in Brazil, they brought with them music of the Roman Catholic Church. The Brazilian music styles contain influences from Amerindian, European, and African cultures. Since taking the Luso-Brazilian Studies course with Dixon, we learned about how Portugal colonized African and Indian nations in the fifteenth century before Brazil in 1500. The idea that Brazilian music contains African and European influences then makes a lot of sense, because the Portuguese may have brought some styles from African colonies to Brazil.
When I meet with Gabi, I typically ask her for a few songs to listen to over the next week to hear the language, and hear the accent. This past week, Gabi told me to listen to her friend Chella, and specifically the song, “São Paulo.” Upon listening to this song, I felt relaxed in a good way. Her sound is very smoothe and almost jazz-like. On Chella’s Spotify page, her style is described by being influenced by Brazlian music, Latin music, jazz, and pop. Her voice is very clear, so when I listen, I can pick out bits and pieces of what she is saying in “São Paulo.” In the song, she describes her home city of São Paulo. She starts off asking, “Onde já se viu uma cidade que convida todas as culturas, cada raça cada vida?” She is asking, “Where have you seen a city that welcomes all cultures, every race, every life?” She goes on to mention certain aspects that appear to be very specific to the city, like on Wednesdays to Sundays, there are fresh tomatoes all along the streets, and on Thursday nights, it is time for selling and frying foods. During her chorus, she talks about how people are not alone, and people join together in the bars to celebrate. She talks about São Paulo’s great hospitality, and once you see and experience the city, it is hard not to fall in love with it. Chella says it is forever in her. She follows her chorus with the sound of her voice, in a way that we may say “yeah” or “oo” in a song, she sounds like she is rolling her L’s. In Portuguese, the combination of “lh” sounds like an “L” followed by a “Y” in the most smoothe way as one syllable. I enjoyed this aspect of the song, because I was able to hear something I had never heard before in music.
Listening to the song, and hearing the descriptions of São Paulo made by Chella, and also talking with Gabi about the city, has made me realize how much pride and love they have of São Paulo. I know I may not be able to generalize every Paulista loving the city, but the descriptions of every-day life, the food, the music, made by Chella and Gabi sound so wonderful.
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My music theory professor is from Brazil and he has played some Brazilian music for us during the class. After reading your cultural post, I do found a lot of similarities between Brazilian music, European, Jazz, and African music. The song you shared with us has a very Brazilian vibe to it, and I like it a lot.
Hi Alana,
This is such a thoughtful Post! I really appreciated the way you dissected this song. I have found music in general to be hard to understand in other languages. It's so awesome that you are able to pick up some bits from it. I listened to the song and the sounds were so beautiful and I really enjoy it. Although I have listened to quite a few Brazilian songs, I didn't know much about the history of Brazilian music. One song I really like is Serenata-Ao Vivo by Marília Mendonça, who is Brazilian. Thank you for sharing your insights!