Playlist: vanguarda paulista

November 21, 2017 9:14 AM

Russ Slater’s vanguarda paulista playlist [After tropicalia ended, the more conservative MPB reigned,] The vanguarda paulista that emerged at the end of the 70s attempted to return to those heady days of tropicália, when it was possible for music to be popular, even as it combined advanced compositional theories with irreverent lyrical ideas and an awareness of mass culture. These same traits characterised the work of the São Paulo based group of musicians and composers who congregated around the small theatre, live venue and record label called the Lira Paulistana.
posted by OmieWise (4 comments total)

This is not Os Mutantes or anything like American garage or psychedelia of the period. Based on this playlist, Tropicalia is a serious attempt at a fresh kind of eclectic modernist composition style. Some pieces are more successful than others, but there's a heady sort of feeling that anything is possible, and that we are all on the verge of stumbling into the next big thing. It's the sort of optimistic playfulness one hopes is going on somewhere today among classical, jazz and intra-generic composers.
posted by Modest House at 10:46 AM on November 21, 2017

Cool. I'm a big fan of Tom Ze but know nothing of his larger context.
posted by latkes at 11:03 AM on November 21, 2017

Super-cool. Huge Tom Ze fan myself, and totally excited to dip into this again.
posted by aspersioncast at 11:42 AM on November 21, 2017

I've been on an Itamar Assumpção kick lately. He has this deeply hilarious and biting sense of humor. The stuff that he did with his band Isca da Policia (Police bait) is amazing, and his backup singers are really great.
posted by umbú at 11:42 AM on November 21, 2017