From the tightrope walker hope to filthhitting the fan: wandering through politically engagedsongs –MPB and BRock (1970-1987)

Abstract

This article focuses on three politically and socially engaged songs from1980s’Brazilian national rock: “Que país é esse”, by Legião Urbana, “Inútil”, by Ultraje a Rigor, and “Selvagem”, by Paralamas do Sucesso. Theseare three songs which, as censorship was already (almost) dead, resort to an explicit and fierce language –and also mockery, in the second case– to expose the problems Brazil faced, which became crystal clear after the civil-military dictatorship ended. For comparison, I also analyse three socially and politically engaged songs dating back from the same dictatorial period–“Que as crianças cantem livres”, by Taiguara, “Apesar de você”, by Chico Buarque, and “O bêbado e a equilibrista”, by João Bosco and Aldir Blanc, sung by Elis Regina. The comparison between the three former and the three latter hinges mainlyon the idea of horizon of expectation and space of experience, particularly as to the idea of future in both groups. While MPB shows a future that redeems from a corrupted present, rock n roll is already in “the future” and yells that it is not even close to what was promised.

keywords: Nationalrock; MPB; criticism.