As part of a culture exchange with the University of São Paulo, professor Álvaro Faleiros and musician Evandro Gracelli demonstrated the high points of Brazilian popular music at Carleton on March 22.
Through the commercialized beats, imitation country, naked women, and the Justin Biebers of Brazil, the South American country has a very strong musical heritage and tradition of impact-making guitarists.
Faleiros, a professor of literature at the University of São Paulo, chose artists for his lecture who “illustrate the ways new Brazilian music has taken.”
He says that the “lyrics of songs since the ‘60s can be seen as poetry.”
Ottawa singer-songwriter and PhD student Rachel Beausoleil championed the international culture exchange between Carleton and the University of São Paulo.
“This is part of a project that’s funded by the University of São Paulo, the project is called Panamerica Canção and it is a cultural exchange where they are essentially bringing their culture here to us and I’m going to be going back there in September,” she said.
Beausoleil is currently completing a PhD in cultural mediations with a specialization in Brazilian music at Carleton through the Institute for Comparative Studies in Literature, Art and Culture.
She has performed internationally and plans on going back to Brazil next year to lecture on Canadian popular music in accordance with the exchange.
“For me it touches on several aspects of my whole life,” she said. “Part of this was to present and to have raw data for my analysis.”
“Also, I am a jazz vocalist myself so this is in conjunction with my performance interests.”
The lecture looked at the musical contributions of Brazilian guitarists from the 1940s to present day. It included Chico Buarque, Caetano Veloso, José Miguel Wisnik, Guinga, Victor Ramil, Lenine, Romulo Fróes, and Chico Saraiva.
“We are trying to focus on the guitar players that were also composers and also related to the songwriting vein,” musician Evandro Gracelli said.
Faleiros presented slides and gave an insightful oration about the artist, then he would turn the focus over to Gracelli, who would play a sample on nylon string guitar while vocalizing an accompaniment.
The two invited Brazilian musicians Beth Amin and Emilio Martins to help demonstrate the dynamics of the music.
They also called upon Carleton music department instructor Mark Ferguson and local musician Rommel Ribeiro.
In addition to the lecture and recital, Carleton also hosted a master’s lecture on Brazilian jazz voice and songwriting by Amin later that afternoon.
The presentation was given to a modest group, many of whom are involved with the music program at Carleton.
While attendees bobbed and nodded with the rhythm, Faleiros and Gracelli performed with an earnest love for their music and culture.
