Brazilian Popular Music and Globalization
Black or Brau: Music and Subjectivity in a Global Context
Ari Lima
Article synopsis: Since 1970, music in Bahia has transcended music itself and involved affirmations of identity and hegemony. New signs attract consumers, the music industry, national audiences, and a global public. This music results from the assimilation of diverse musical codes (funk, rap, salsa, pop, samba, romantic music, self-reflective song) and such extra-musical codes as individualizing sentimentalism, the search for a mythical and pure Africa, the assimilation of global themes of black issues, ethnic pride, and corporal language. The Timbalada band is the point of departure to study the crystallization of a Bahian identity based on cultural manifestations of black youth who re-elaborate identities in search of social ascension.
About the author: Ari Lima is a doctoral candidate in Social Anthropology at UNB, the University of BrasÃlia.
