How did American jazz influence Brazilian guitar music - Essay Example

Affiliation: How did American jazz influence Brazilian guitar music? The earliest effect of jazz on Brazilian music may be traced back to Choro music which is considered the precursor of Brazilian jazz and bossa nova. Choro bands appeared as early as 1870 and by 1920s this music was made popular by prominent national composer Heitor Villa-Lobos. This music resembled New Orleans Jazz known as ragtime (Candelaria and Garcia 93).   Livingston-Isenhour et al (104) trace the influence of American jazz on Brazilian guitar music. According to them, in the beginning, it was actually American audience mesmerized by exotic freshness of the Brazilian music sung by Carmen Miranda in 1940-1950. However, they posit that American music influenced Brazilian culture much more, thereafter. American music being sophisticated and cosmopolitan was also considered a threat to Brazilian culture by some. During World War II Roosevelt began a good neighbor policy to keep Brazil on its side. As a result of this policy American creative artists such as filmmakers and musicians also traveled to Brazil. Though the cultural exchange did flourish American music in Brazil but American Jazz had become popular in Brazil much before the good Neighbor policy of Roosevelt. As early as in 1920s American jazz music was available in Brazilian market. By 1940s American music overtook Brazilian music in record sales and frequency of transmission on radio. The music of Frank Sinatra, Glenn Miller, Ella Fitzgerald and others became very popular. In the cultural exchange policy, Brazilian musician also toured America and brought back with them American popular Music, Bebop and cool jazz. The effect of jazz on choro was felt prominently since 1920s. The jazz was incorporated in Choro and increased in amount under the influence of American dance band. Lyrics of choro began to be written and set in American big band song styles for big singers in 1930s and 1940s (Livingston-Isenhour et al 105). Choros with such added lyrics such as “Tico, Tico no fuba” and “Nao me toques” were made famous by including American band music. There were even new terms coined for choro influenced by American music viz. Choro de big band and choro de jazz band. At the same time the guitar emerged as main, the solo instrument in the choro and thus elevated in status from being a lowly instrument of street musicians. Its new versions pandeiro and seven string guitar were added to choro group. Later the politicization of this American music blended choro occurred as self appointed protectors of culture started blaming it as cultural invasion that is destroying the purity of native culture. Both prominent singers Pixinguinha and Carmen Miranda came under pressure to remain current and also preserve national identity. By 1950s Choro craze succumbed to wave of new popular music (Livingston-Isenhour et al 106). The Bossa Nova era: Marshall (10) credits Brazilian musicians Joao Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim for creating the Bossa Nova sound. It was basically soft samba of Brazil to which very refined American jazz harmonies were blended. It was a 1959 Brazilian movie Black Orpheus that introduced musical gift of Brazil to international audience. The much acclaimed film presented to the viewers the genuine Brazilian culture and music to the world. The movie plays the story of lovers Orpheus and Eurydice in Rio de Janeiro during carnival. The musical storytelling used exotic repercussion instruments and call and response singing with solo guitar melodies composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Luiz Bonfa, the then young musicians of Rio. Their compositions combined rhythm and texture from Brazil with elements from American Jazz. These elements fused so well that soon the world was going to have its enormous influence on popular music as bossa Nova or new beat (Kirchner 548). Basically the experimentation had begun in early 1960s to create this unique blend. In 1956, in the guitar academy of Carlos Lyra lots of experiments with chords influenced by the jazz music of Gerry Mulligan carried out. Along with other musician Jobim and Gilberto created new combined style by fusion of samba, jazz and Villa-lobos and other Brazilan music. Harmonically their bossa nova tunes included altered chords, inverted chords and unusual harmonic progression as well as unexpected melodic leaps and tonal shifts. Thus a low key, simple and extremely melodious effect was created (McGowan and Pessanha 67). Bossa nova is based on samba rhythm and has a swaying rather than swinging (as in jazz) feel. In terms of harmonic structure, bossa nova has a great deal in common with jazz particularly in its sophisticated use of seventh and extended chords (Bossa nova 1). Marshall (12) then goes on to add that bossa nova was a fusion of Brazilian rhythm with American cool jazz of that time. The lyrics were poetic, sung in a soft, sensual voice giving a soothing musical sound. This type of music became popular with university –educated and middle class of Brazil. This fusion of samba with jazz created huge following both in Brazil and United States. Antonio Carlos Jobim’s immensely popular song “ Garota de Ipanema” or the girl from Ipanema was a craze around world so much that Frank Sinatra sang it also in his own style. Till date the Brazilian sounds of bossa nova are present distinctly in jazz music (Candelaria and Garcia 93). The Bossa nova was typically played with slow Brazilian samba rhythm and performed in a light unaccented manner just like the cool jazz of 1950s United States (Kirchner 548). However, it was not only Jobim who created exceptionally melodious bossa nova, American artist too were mesmerized by it and created further musical fusions using it. American jazz guitarist Charlie Byrd heard bossa nova music on his good neighbor trip to Brazil in 1961. He took a few records of jazzy bossa nova back to America for his saxophonist colleague Stan Getz. Getz also fell immediately in love with the rhythmic music. Together they created Jazz samba which became instant huge hit. The bossa nova craze was not only limited to music, there were bossa nova tee-shirts , buttons and other accessories in the markets of Brazil and United states . Byrd took out the music from night clubs of Rio and made it international music. Currently the popular music of Brazil, Musica Popular Brasileira (MPB) has all categories of Brazilian rock, pop and tropicalia. These music categories are defined by the electric instrument used and represent the post bossa nova musical movement in Brazil (Candelaria and Garcia 93). Work Cited Bossa Nova. 17 May 2009. http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/moneychords/bossanova.html, Candelaria, C and Peter J. Garcia. Encyclopedia of Latino popular culture. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004 Kirchner, B. The Oxford companion to jazz. Oxford University Press US, 2005 Livingston-Isenhour, T., Thomas George and Caracas Garcia. Choro: a social history of a Brazilian popular music. Indiana University Press, 2005 Marshall, Dave. Learn to Play Brazilian Jazz Guitar. Mel Bay Publications, 1999 McGowan, C and Ricardo Pessanha. The Brazilian Sound: Samba, Bossa Nova, and the Popular Music of Brazil. Temple University Press, 1998 Read More