Brazilian Popular Music

Dr Lorraine Leu, formerly Lecturer in Portuguese & Brazilian Studies at the University of Bristol, UK.

• Contents: Culture, politics and the weight of tradition in 1960s Brazil; Style and sexual politics in the Tropicália period; 'You don't know me at all' - challenging vocal traditions; Language, meaning and memory: the songwriting tradition; The tradition of the love song in Brazil; Unidentifiable objects of desire: Caetano Veloso's love songs; Conclusion; Appendix; Bibliography; Index.

'In addition to a very well researched and carefully footnoted volume, the reader gets forty-two marvelous pages of love song analysis, a subject to which not engouh musicological schoarship has been dedicated... [Leu's] interpretation and translations of, and sensitivity to, some of Brazil's best poetry, its popular music lyrics, are highly commendable and beautiful in their own right. Leu has set a new, higher standard for English language interpretations of this magnificent cultural treasure trove.' Notes ...I was greatly engaged by Leu's analyses of Veloso's work itself... Anyone interested in Caetano Veloso's music will be inspired by Leu's interpretations of his work. Ethnomusicology There are excellent discussions of some of Veloso's key songs... a useful exploration of a musical figure who grows in stature both in his homeland and abroad. British Bulletin of Publications