
Advertisement

Advertisement
Marcelo Machado: The new government hasn’t changed the way politics is managed, and most of the politicians don't really represent the people who elected them. They only care about their own interests and those of the corporations. Social programs created better conditions for the poorest, but I can't agree with a government that spends millions on events that won't really change Brazilians’ lives instead of fighting corruption. We can’t be a real developed country with just bread and a circus.Sure. Going back a few decades, can we talk about the political climate in which Tropicália was born?
In the 1950s, we had this dream of modernization; we were fighting very strongly to build our democracy—we’re still fighting for a stable democracy in Brazil. President Juscelino Kubitschek [who ruled Brazil from 1956 to 1961] was a very modern man. He was responsible for the construction of the modern capital, Brasília. His successor, Joao Goulart, having leftist ideas, suffered a military coup d'état in 1964. The military was afraid of communism. However, in the period between 1964 and 1968, they left a bit of room for the opposition in the streets. But in late 1968, they took away all the civil rights, shut down all the protests, and press censorship began. They put people in jail and tortured the "enemies." The dream of modern Brazil suddenly collapsed. My movie documents exactly that period, when the military dictatorship shut off all freedom of opposition. Edson Luis was killed during this period. What was the significance of that incident?
Edson was protesting against the condition of a students’ restaurant [Calabouço] in Rio when he was shot by a policeman and died in March of 1968. His death and funeral brought thousands of students to the streets in a series of demonstrations that [culminated in] the March of the One Hundred Thousand in Rio, which is considered one of the main reasons for the introduction of AI-5 [Institutional Act Number Five, a military decree overruling the nation’s Constitution].
Advertisement

Os Mutantes performing at Fundação Padre Anchieta, a Brazilian organization for educational radio and television programmes, in 1969.Do you think there are similarities between the March of the One Hundred Thousand and the ongoing nationwide protests initiated by the Free Fare Movement?There are some similarities. The protest Edson took part in was about food prices, and now the students are complaining about transport [fares], both demanding better life conditions. And what the students started spread out to different segments of our society. But it's important to remember that 45 years have passed, and Brazil is now a democracy. So the protests are happening in a completely different political environment.Interestingly, the left wing at the time was against the Tropicalists. Why was that?Those we could call the “left” were engaged in a political movement against the military dictatorship; they were making music charged with political ideas, with explicitly leftist lyrics. Tropicalists didn’t agree with the traditional left, they didn’t want to do what nationalist and leftist musicians were doing with their lyrics—just talking about poverty and starting a revolution. The Tropicalists’ point of view was more complex; maybe they were inclined more towards the left, but they said, “We need to understand that the world is not just left and right.”This was a very avant-garde position, if you consider that we’re talking about the 1960s. It was the Cold War era, and there was a dichotomy in the way people understood the world, in terms of left and right. What the tropicalists talked about was really difficult to understand for the Brazilian [people]. When Caetano and Gil were put in jail, even the nationalists and the leftists were surprised because they believed it should be them, not Caetano and Gil. Nowadays, our interpretation is that maybe the military wasn't about [being against] communism, but about being against "counterculture" and people with different attitudes, who could be seen as a threat.
Advertisement
The trailer forTropicália.Can you explain the cultural and economic differences between Bahia, the birthplace of Tropicália, and Rio, the birthplace of bossa nova?
Advertisement
After the cane-sugar period, during the colonial era, Pernambuco was looking inward for many years. It combined Catholic and Afro-Brazilian traditions with many rural expressions. The ciranda [circle dances and songs] and the maracatú [heavy drum music and dance] are just two of the genres among them. So Pernambuco was the secret source of many traditions adopted later in Bahia, such as the frevo, another musical genre that influenced the trio elétricos, the music trucks that bring thousands of people to dance first in the streets of Salvador's carnival, then all over Brazil.
Advertisement

There's a very famous bossa nova song with the title, “Love, a Smile, and a Flower.” Everything in bossa nova is romantic and nice—people sing about the sea, the beach, and the young and beautiful girl from Ipanema, you know? In Tropicália songs, you heard about the poor Brazil. Yes, there would be a beautiful beach, but there would be a hungry and poor child there. This was, and still is, a more accurate portrait of Brazil. Yeah, Caetano Veloso did a parody of "Strawberry Fields Forever" as "Sugar Cane Fields Forever," right?
He was talking about colonization, because the sugar cane represents the old Brazil. First we were the land of the Brazilwood, then gold, then cane sugar, then coffee. At the time of that song, we were beginning to make cars and build Brasilia, a city that expressed our idea of how modern life should be. So when he talked about cane-sugar fields, he talked about the aspects of our culture that were resisting [change]. Brazil has always been based on commodities, even nowadays with meat and soya. Brazil is still struggling to be a modern nation, to have a service industry. But richness is still based on commodities, like the way cane sugar was a commodity at the time. When this old Brazil is done with, we’ll be modern. Lastly, where do you think these protests will lead?
This is the question that most Brazilians are asking right now. My opinion is that the changes we really need won't come soon. Even though we’re a democratic country now, most of the bad habits that come from our colonization are [still] present in our society. It's a legacy that comes from the Portuguese colonization, which based the economy on slavery—with rules that preserved the privileges of just a few—and a strong Catholic mentality. We won't change the mentality and behavior of five centuries within five years. We’re just starting to walk the first steps, and I'm happy that young people want to go further.Follow Esra on Twitter: @esragurmenWant to learn more about the current protests in Brazil?The Battle of ConsolaçãoWe Are Live Streaming Coverage of the São Paulo ProtestsHow Last Week's Celebration in Rio de Janeiro Turned Violent
