The upbringing of a tropicalist: a brief study of the colum"of musical criticism of Torquato Neto

• Autor(a) principal: Coelho, Frederico
• Data de Publicação: 2002
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Estudos Históricos (Rio de Janeiro)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.fgv.br/reh/article/view/2171

From March to October 1967, while trying to make his name in journalism and popular music, Torquato Neto, a poet and lyricist from Piauí, published a column of musical criticism, ¿Música Popular,¿ in the literary supplement of the Rio daily Jornal dos Sports, together with such other columnists as Mister Eco, Fernando Lobo and Isabel Câmara. These texts are of fundamental importance for an understanding of Torquato¿s role in the period of ¿Tropicalist formation¿ in 1967 and its implications for the dynamics of the Tropicalist musical movement, for he was not only a journalist but also an active participant in the events he describes and discusses. This article presents to a wider public a largely neglected body of material with significant implications for the study of Tropicalism in particular and of Brazilian popular music in general, in order to propose new critical prospects for the study of Brazilian cultural production in the 60s and 70s and the different uses to which the memory of this production has been put. Over the last few decades, the existence of a revered canon, solidly erected by later generations, privileging Tropicalism and the major names of the movement in studies of the subject, has had the effect of discouraging researchers from seeking new relevant sources about the period in order to understand the event and the careers of its participants. With the purpose of deflecting the emphasis on issues, sources, and figures traditionally given pride of place in discussions of Tropicália, the article suggests new avenues of research and proposes a few hypotheses on Brazilian popular music of the 60s.