Text written by Tânia Braz, published on the magazine Revista Boca a Boca, on June 18 1999, in the city of Belo Horizonte.

Commercial music released by mass media has become omnipotent and omnipresent. It packs stadiums, sells in the millions, and is the most popular sound track of any social event, where ladies in high heals and gentlemen in ties cheerfully dance the same moves their kids enjoy at the university’s barbecue. Rich and poor, adults and children, believers and non-believers – all know these lyrics and melodies by heart. This would be considered a real social bond if it wasn’t such a uniform behavior, and the very face of mental manipulation! 

I agree that what drives the penetrating power of this music is indeed the deep roots from which it is originated, and I recognize that this same music is an expression of popular culture – and that is its meaning.  Let’s analyze some of its most common characteristics; a distinctive rhythm, catchy tunes - many times, let us admit, derived from a recurring refrain - all linked to an elementary form of poetry and an aesthetic that bends over backwards to feed into the basic instincts of human nature.  When we then add the amusing “standard tribal behavior” which so pleases us, since it transports us nostalgically to a time of primeval innocence, bringing us a type of relief, a quasi infantile joy, to this recipe we then have a powerful social pain killer for the harsh reality of life, a miracle elixir capable of keeping us distant from our own interior void.

It is good to jump, to dance, to scream, it is good to have sex and laugh, but it is also good to be quite, to ask questions, to feel and walk in search of something more private and personal.

We must then defend, above all, our human basic privilege, given to us by God, which is the act of THINKING!  It is not possible anymore to allow someone to choose our priorities for us! Let me say it again:  I don’t want to proclaim lack of value to any type of music, even more if it is the “popular preference”.  But every value, prior to its idolatry, must be weighed on the scale of good sense.

This emphasis on the projection of certain types of cultural products, meaning, the manner in which they are exasperatingly exposed to the public, brings serious disarray to what would be the natural scope of people’s interest. The truth is that they do not even bother to acknowledge the many musical styles, which even though they may assimilate more slowly and have less commercially appealing lyrics, are exactly those that would give the answers to the most subtle desires of ones sensitivity –therefore, with its own cultural function and relevancy!

On the other hand, there is a general tendency to give in to arguments that say that simplistic music is the authentic expression of our people and roots.  This kind of thinking has caused an important cultural shift in the country.  That has leveled out important highs and lows in the cultural landscape of the country, and being more alternative, has removed intellectual meanings. It’s a shame! Especially since the human mind works from a foundation of established parameters.

There is no longer an outcry for a protection provided by law that guarantees a promotional space just for independent artists, since time has taken care of that affair, with calm and wisdom; that’s why we have cable TV, community radio, the internet etc.

I wish, therefore, to send my warm regards to my colleagues in the struggle, saying with the assurance of one who takes pride in what they do: no one better represents the culture of their own people than an active artist, faithful above all to oneself and one’s self-actualization!

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