| Uniform title | Mistério do samba. English |
| Series |
Latin America in translation/en traducción/em tradução
Latin America in translation/en traducción/em tradução. ^A322448
|
| Contents |
The encounter -- The mystery -- Popular music and the Brazilian elite -- The unity of the nation -- Race mixture -- Gilberto Freyre -- The modern Samba -- Samba of my native land -- Nowhere at all. |
| Abstract |
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, the author 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. An exploration of the "invention of tradition," this book is an introduction to Brazil's ongoing conversation on race, popular culture, and national identity. |
| Local note | Little-314787--305131023444U |
| Local note | Little-314787--305131023444U |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 119-135) and index. |
| Action note |
Little- committed to retain 20200101 20401231 CUSP |
| LCCN | 98022170 |
| ISBN | 080782464X (cloth : alk. paper) |
| ISBN | 0807847666 (pbk. : alk. paper) |
