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The
Brazilian educational system includes both public (federal,
state, and municipal) and private institutions, ranging
from pre-school, elementary (First Degree – I Grau),
and secondary (Second Degree - II Grau) to university
and post-graduate levels. Education is compulsory for
ages seven through 14. Public education is free at all
levels. Every school day three meals are provided by
the government to 35 million pre-school (aged six or
less) and elementary school children (age 7-14) enrolled
in the public system. Non-profit private schools are
also eligible to receive public funding. The 1988 Brazilian
Constitution as amended allocates at least 25 percent
of state na local tax revenues to education. Significant
advances have been made in the Brazilian educational
structure in the last 25 years. In 1964, there were
tem million students attending school at all levels.
In 1994, there were 42.7 million students: 4 million
in pre-school; 27.4 million at the elementary level;
9.6 million at the secondary; and 1.7 million in university.
Despite this progress, less than 40 percent of the high-school-aged
population are enrolled in school.
The
federal government maintains at least one federal university
in each state. Due to the great demand for higher education
and the lack of places, colleges (faculdades) and universities
in Brazil, both public and private, require na entrance
exam called vestibular. Upon completion of a full academic
course of study, university students may obtain the
bacharel degree or, with na additional year spent in
teacher training, the licenciado degree. In 1996 a new
amendment to the Constitution makes it possible for
foreign professors and scientists to secure academic
appointments at Brazilian universities.
Twenty
years ago there were few post-graduate courses in Brazil.
In 1996 there was a total of 922 tertiary institutions,
including 136 universities. More than 1,000 post-graduate
courses are available, most of which benefit from highly
capable faculties, on a par with similar institutions
in the more advanced countries.
Literature
Brazilian
fiction, poetry, and drama account for about half the
literary output of Latin America, calculated by the
number of titles of individual books.
Literary
development in Brazil roughly follows the country’s
main historical periods – the Colonial period,
from 1500 until independence in 1822, characterized
mostly by writings in the Baroque and Arcadian styles,
and the National Period since 1822. Important literary
movements during the National Period can be linked to
the country'’ political and social development:
The Romantic Movement in literature coincided roughly
with the 57 years of the Empire; the Parnassians and
the Realists flourished during the early decades of
the Republic, followed, around the turn of the century,
by the Symbolists. In the 20th century, the ascendance
of the Vanguardist or Modernist Movement, with ideas
of na avant-garde aestheticism, was celebrated during
the famous São Paulo Week of Modern Art in 1922.
This movement profoundly influenced not only Brazil’s
literature, but also its painting, sculpture, music,
and architecture.
Many
of the notable writers of the Colonial Period were Jesuits
who were mesmerized by the new land and ita native inhabitants.
Among the luminaries of this period were Father José
de Anchieta (1534-1597), a poet dedicated to the evagelization
of the Indians, Gregório de Matos (1623-1696),
who composed poetry layered on lyricism and mysticism
but is best known for his satirical vein, and the famous
preacher Father Antônio Vieira (1608-1697). The
Arcadians, Cláudio Manoel da Costa (1729-1789),
Basílio da Gama (1740-1795), and Tomás
Antônio Gonzaga (1744-1810), wrote lyric and epic
poems and were also known for their involvement in the
liberation movement called “Minas Conspiracy”
(“Conjuração Mineira”).
The
transfer, in 1808, of the Portuguese royal family to
Brazil brought with it the spirit of the incipient European
Romantic Movement. Brazilian writers began to emphasize
individual freedom, subjectivism, and a concern for
social issues. Following Brazil’s independence
from Portugal, Romantic literature expanded to exalt
the uniqueness of Brazil’s tropics and its Indians,
concern for the African slaves, and to descriptions
of urban activities. Some of the best known literary
figures of the Romantic Period were poets, such as Castro
Alves (1847-1871) who wrote about African slaves and
Gonçalves Dias (1823-1864) who wrote about Indians.
Manuel Antônio de Almeida (1831-1861) is credited
with initiating picaresque literature in Brazil. José
de Alencar (1829-1877) wrote a number of popular novels
including Iracema about Indians, O Guarani, a historical
novel, and novels on regional, social, and urgan affairs.
Amont the novelists of the Romantic Period two are still
widely read in Brazil today: Joaquim Manuel de Macedo
(1820-1882), who wrote A Moreninha, a popular story,
and Alfredo d’Escragnolle Taunay (1843-1899), the
author of Inocência.
The
Parnassian school of poetry was, in Brazil as in France,
a reaction to the excesses of the Romantics. The so-called
“Parnassian Triad” of Brazilian poets –
Olavo Billac (1865-1918), Raimundo Correa (1860-1911),
and Alberto de Oliveira (1859-1937) – wrote refined
poetry in which the poet’s personality and interest
in social issues were obliterated.
Machado
de Assis (1839-1908), widely acclaimed as the greatest
Brazilian writer of the 19th century and beyond, was
unique because of the universality of his novels and
essays. Today, Machado de Assis remains one of the most
important and influencial writers of fiction in Brazil.
His works encompassed both the Romantic style and Realism
as exemplified in Europe by Emile Zola and the Portuguese
novelist, Eça de Queiroz. The prose of Euclides
da Cunha (1866-1908), was committed to a Brazilian literature
portraying social realities. His famous works, Os Sertões
(Rebellion in the Backlands), about a revolt in the
northeast led by a religious fanatic, was published
in 1902.
At
the turn of the century the Brazilian literary imagination
was drawn to Symbolism, represented by poets Cruz e
Souza (1861-1893) and Alphonsus de Guimarãens
(1870-1893). The Symbolists were interested in mysticism
and used metaphor and allegory to express their ideas.
Beginning
in the 20th century, na innovative state of mind imbued
Brazilian artists, culminating in the celebration of
the 1922 Week of Modern Art held in São Paulo.
This new way of thinking propelled na artistic revolution
that appealed to feelings of pride for national folklore,
history, and ancestry. Participants in the Week of Modern
Art resorted to experiments in writing and in fine arts
known elsewhere as Futurism, Cubism, and Dadaism. Poet
Menotti del Pichia sumarized the aims of the new artistic
movement with these words: “We want light, air,
ventilators, airplanes, worker’s demands, idealism,
motors, factory smokestacks, blood, speed, dream in
our Art.” The most important leader of the literary
plahse of this movement was Mário de Andrade
(1893-1945) who wrote poetry, essays on literature,
art, music, and Brazilian folklore, and Macunaíma,
which he called “a rapsody, not a novel”.
Oswald de Andrade (1890-1953) wrote a collection of
poems entitled Pau-Brasil (Brazilwood) which evaluated
Brazilian culture, superstitions, and, for the first
time in Brazilian poetry, with humor.
The
transition to a more spontaneous literaty approach is
represented by poets Carlos Drummond de Andrade (1902-1987),
who used irony to dissect the customs of the time, and
Manuel Bandeira (1886-1968), who built language associations
around proverbs and popular expressions. Bandeira wanted
his last poem “to be eternal, saying the simplest
and least intentional things”.
The
modern Brazilian novel took on a new shape and social
content after José Américo de Almeida
(1887-1969) wrote A Bagaceira, a pioneer story about
the harsh conditions of life in the backward northeast.
He was followed by Jorge Amado (1902 - ), Graciliano
Ramos (1892-1953), José Lins do Rego (1901-1957),
and Rachel de Queiroz (1910- ), all noted for the power
of their images in evoking the problems and hardships
of life in the northeast region where they were born.
Jorge
Amado’s first novels, translated into 33 languages,
were heavily influenced by his belief in Marxist ideas
and concentrated on the sufferings of workers on the
cocoa plantations of his home state of Bahia, producing
a succession of books which have received worldwide
acclaim. Gabriela, Cravo e Canela (Gabriela, Clove and
Cinnamon) is perhaps the best known of Amado’s
books. Dona Flor e seus Dois Maridos (Dona Flor and
Her Two Husbands) has provided the scripts for films,
plays, and television.
Arguably
the most innovative Brazilian writer of his century
was João Guimarães Rosa (1908-1967). A
career diplomat, he first captured the attention of
the public and critics alike with a volume of short
stories, Sagarana, soon followed by his best known work
Grande Sertão: Veredas, translated into English
as The Devil to Pay in the Backlands. Delving deep into
speech mannerisms from the hinterland region of the
eastern seaboard, Guimarães Rosa started something
of a semantic revolution. He dared to present his readers
with coined word combinations and syntax so unrestrained
as to constitute almost a new language.
There
are many other noteworthy Brazilian writers. Gilberto
Freyre (1900-1987), a master of style and a pioneer
of the new school of Brazilian sociologists, is the
author of Casa Grande Senzala (The Masters and The Slaves)
a perceptive study of Brazilian society. One of the
best known Brazilian poets is João Cabral de
Melo Neto (1918- ). His poetry is sober and he uses
words with the accuracy with which and engineer would
use his building materials. Special mention must be
made of Vinicius de Moraes (1913-1980). His poetry became
part and parcel of the bossa nova musical movement which
produced a new style of samba, tha typically Brazilian
rhythm. Vinicius (as he is known worldwide) also wrote
a play, Orfeu da Conceição, which became
internationally famous as the film Black Orpheus.
Among
the living or recently deceased novelists, mention should
be made of: Orígenes Lessa, Adonias Filho, Érico
Veríssimo, Dinah Silveira de Queiroz, Lygia Fagundes
Telles, Herberto Sales, Rubem Fonseca, Clarice Lispector,
Dalton Trevisan, Nélida Piñon, Osman Lins,
Paulo Coelho, and Moacir Scliar; and among the poets:
Raul Bopp, Murilo Mendes, Augusto Frederico Schmidt,
Mário Quintana, Cassiano Ricardo, Jorge de Lima,
Ferreira Gullar, Cecília Meireles, Augusto de
Campos, and Haroldo de Campos.
[Top]
Music
Brazil's
origins - the Indians with their reed flutes, the Portuguese
with their singers and viola players, and the Africans
with their many thrilling rhythms - make it a musical
country. From the classical compositions of Villa-Lobos,
to the soft sounds of bossa nova to the driving beat
of samba, Brazil has developed music of striking sophistication,
quality, and diversity.
When
the Jesuit fathers first arrived in Brazil they found
that the Indians performed ritual songs and dances accompanied
by rudimentary wind and percussion instruments. The
Jesuits made use of the music to catechize the Indians
by replacing the original words with religious ones
using the Tupi language. They also introduced the Gregorian
chant and taught the flute, bow instruments, and the
clavichord. Music accompanied the sacramental ceremonies
which were performed in village and church plazas. African
music was introduced during the colony's first century
and was enriched by its contact with Iberian music.
One of the most important types of music used by the
Negro slaves was the comic song - dance called lundu.
For a long time it was one of the typical popular musical
forms and it was even sung in the Portuguese Court during
the 19th century. In the second half of the l8th century
and during the 19th century, the sentimental love song
called the modinha was popular and it was sung both
in Brazil's salons and at the Portuguese Court. No one
knows if the modinha was born in Brazil or in Portugal.
Schools
of music existed in Bahia in the early 17th century
and religious music was played in churches throughout
the colony. As with other art forms, musical activity
intensified with the arrival of the Royal Family in
1808. King João VI, a music lover, sent to Europe
for the composer Marcos Portugal, and for Sigismund
von Neukomm, an Austrian pianist, a pupil of Haydn.
Local musicians also attracted the King's attention,
such as José Nunes Garcia (1767-1830) who was
a notable improviser on the organ and clavichord. João
VI appointed him Inspector to the Royal Chapel, a body
which had more than 100 instrumentalists and singers,
many of whom were foreigners.
By
the end of the century, Carlos Gomes (1836-1896), born
in the town of Campinas in the state of São Paulo,
produced a number of operas in the prevailing Italian
style, especially Il Guarany, an opera eased on a famous
Brazilian novel by José de Alencar about a colonial
villain who incites an Indian attack in order to gain
a Portuguese nobleman's treasure and his daughter as
a bride. Brasílio Itiberê (1848-1913) was
the first Brazilian composer to use a popular national
motif in erudite music. His 1869 composition, A Sertaneja
(The Country Maiden) was played by Franz Liszt and has
remained active in the piano repertoire.
As
in literature and painting, the Week of Modern Art in
1922 revolutionized Brazilian music and brought acceptance
to a crop of new composers. Led by Heitor Villa-Lobos
(1887-1959), they brought avant-garde techniques from
Europe and undertook the challenge of transplanting
Brazilian folkloric melodies and rhythms to symphonic
compositions. Their music often incorporated many popular
musical instruments into classical orchestras.
After
a time, two principal trends in Brazilian music became
identifiable. Writer Mário de Andrade had advocated
that composers should seek inspiration in national life
with special emphasis on Brazil's musical folklore.
Composer Camargo Guarnieri, an adherent of Andrade,
heads the musical school known as Nationalist . Other
composers in this group include: Luciano Gallet (1893-1931),
Oscar Lorenzo Fernandez {1897-1948), Francisco Mignone
(1897-1986), Radamés Gnatalli (1906-), and Guerra
Peixe (1914-). In widely differing compositions, these
composers searched for a national language which would
not lose the universal character of musical language.
After 1939, another musical school began to assert itself
principally as a result of the work carried out by Hans
Joachim Koellreutter, the creator of the Live Music
Group. This group made up of Cláudio Santoro
(l9l9-1990), Eunice Catunda (1926-), Edino Krieger (1928-),
and others based their music on the universality of
musical language. They defended the use of atonalism
and dodecaphonism as composition resources.
Brazil's
popular music developed parallel to its classical music
and it also united traditional European instruments
- guitar, piano, and flute - with a whole rhythm section
of sounds produced by frying pans, small barrels with
a membrane and a stick inside (cuícas) that make
wheezing sounds, and tambourines. During the 1930's
Brazilian popular music played on the radio became a
powerful means of mass communication. Three of the best
known composers of this period are Noel Rosa, Lamartine
Babo, and Ary Barroso (1903-1963). Barroso's principal
singer, Carmen Miranda, went on to achieve an international
reputation when she appeared in a series of Hollywood
films.
In
the mid 1960's, the haunting, story-telling lyric of
The Girl From Ipanema, carried by a rich melodic line,
was the first big international hit to emerge from the
bossa nova movement of Brazilian singers and composers.
It put Brazilian popular music on the map and brought
instant fame to composer Antonio Carlos Tom Jobim (1927-1994)
and lyricist-poet Vinicius de Moraes, (1913-1979).
The
bossa nova appeared in Rio de Janeiro in the late 1950's.
At first it was played as an intimate music in the apartments
of Rio's middle and upper-middle classes. The music
mingled the Brazilian samba beat with American jazz.
Later on bossa nova became a trademark of a new concept
of music - a little sad, sometimes sung off-key, and
where the lyrics have great importance. For that reason,
in Brazil, the association of modern poets with pop
composers (Vinícius de Moraes, Chico Buarque,
Tom Jobim, Luiz Bonfá, and Baden Powell) was
an enormous success.
In
1968, in a period of dictatorship, urban guerrillas,
and anxiety about how to change the political system,
the Tropicalists appeared Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil,
and Gal Costa. Tropicalism can be described as a blending
of international music (such as Latin beats and rock'n'roll)
with national rhythms. It is very much its own creation:
lyrical, intelligent, with faster tempos and fuller
rhythms than bossa nova.
Popular
regional music in Brazil includes the forró from
the northeast where the accordion and the flute join
guitars and percussion in a foot-stomping country dance;
the frevo, also from the northeast, which has an energetic,
simple style; the chorinho (literally little tears)
from Rio which combines various types and sizes of guitars,
flutes, percussions, and an occasional clarinet or saxophone
in a tender form of instrumental music; and the internationally
successful lambada. When danced, lambada is sensual
and fast-paced; it got its name from the Portuguese
verb to whip or flog referring to the smacking of thigh
against thigh. But the most typical of Brazilian popular
music is the seductive rhythm of the samba. No one is
sure of the exact origin of the samba. Some people believe
that samba was born in the streets of Rio de Janeiro
with contributions from three different cultures - Portuguese
courtry songs, African rhythms, and native Indian fast
footwork. Others believe samba is simply African in
origin and that it evolved from the batuque, a music
based on percussion instruments and hand clapping.
Today
in Brazil, popular music continues toexplore new rhythms
and new melodies. Its interpreters and composers make
use of all music's resources to compete for and please
the world's many music audiences. Some of the well-known
performers are: Maria Bethania, Alcione, Roberto Carlos,
Cazuza, Ney Matogrosso, Rita Lee, Milton Nascimento,
Hermeto Pascoal, Fafá de Belém, Chitãozinho
and Chororó, Elba Ramalho, Alceu Valença,
Luiz Gonzaga, Luiz Gonzaga Jr., João Bosco, Djavan,
Ivan Lins, Marisa Monte, and Elis Regina.
[Top]
Cinema
Within
a year of the Lumière brothers' first experiment
in Paris in 1896, the cinematograph machine appeared
in Rio de Janeiro. Ten years later, the capital boasted
22 cinema houses and the first Brazilian feature film,
The Stranglers by Antônio Leal, had been screened.
From then on Brazil's film industry made steady progress
and, although it has never been large, its output over
the years has attracted international attention.
In
1930, still the era of the silent movie in Brazil, Mario
Peixoto's film Limit (Limite) was made. Limite is a
surrealistic work dealing with the conflicts raised
by the human condition and how life conspires to prevent
total fulfillment. It is considered a landmark film
in Brazilian cinema history. In 1933 Cinédia
produced The Voice of Carnaval, the first film with
Carmen Miranda. This film ushered in the chanchada which
dominated Brazilian cinema for many years. Chanchadas
are slapstick comedies, generally filled with musical
numbers, and thoroughly appreciated by the public.
By
the end of the 1940's Brazilian film making was becoming
an industry. The Vera Cruz Film Company was created
in São Paulo with the goal of producing films
of international quality. It hired technicians from
abroad and brought back from Europe Alberto Cavalcanti,
a Brazilian filmmaker with an international reputation,
to head the company. Vera Cruz produced some important
films before it closed in 1954, among them the epic
The Brigand (O Cangaceiro) which won the Best Adventure
Film award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1953.
In
the 1950's, Brazilian cinema radically changed the way
it made films. In his 1955 film, Rio 40 Degrees (Rio
40 Graus), director Nelson Pereira dos Santos employed
the filmmaking techniques of Italian neorealism by using
ordinary people as his actors and by going to the streets
to shoot his low budget film. Nelson Pereira dos Santos
would become one of the most important Brazilian filmmakers
of all time, and it is he who set the stage for the
Brazilian cinema novo movement. Other directors went
outdoors to shoot, and production of films increased.
In 1962, The Payer of Vows (O Pagador de Promessas)
by Anselmo Duarte won the Golden Palm at the Cannes
Film Festival. By this time cinema novo had established
a new concept in Brazilian filmmaking - an idea in mind
and a camera in the hands. The cinema novo films dealt
with themes related to acute national problems, from
conflicts in rural areas to human problems in the large
cities, as well as film versions of important Brazilian
novels. Barren Lives (Vidas Secas), directed by Pereira
dos Santos, is based on a novel by Graciliano Ramos.
It tells the story of a northeastern family chased from
their home by drought. God and The Devil in the Land
of the Sun (Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol) by director
Glauber Rocha deals in an allegorical way with religious
and political fanaticism in Brazil's northeast. Empty
Night (Noite Vazia), goes back to urban, intimate themes
depicting the anguish of lonely people living in industrial
São Paulo.
At
the end of the 1960's, the Tropicalist movement had
taken hold of the music, theatre, and art scenes in
Brazil. It emphasized the need to transform all foreign
influences into a national product. Cinema also came
under its spell; allegory was its means of expression.
The most representative film of the Tropicalist movement
is Macunaíma, by Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, a
metaphorical analysis of the Brazilian character as
expressed in the tale of a native Indian who leaves
the Amazon jungle and goes to the big city. The film
is based on Mario de Andrade's 1922 novel of the same
name.
Working
at the same time as the Tropicalists, another group
of directors emerged in São Paulo and Rio de
Janeiro who also made low cost films. This movement
- cinema marginal - produced films with themes that
refer to a marginal society. Their films were considered
difficult. Noteworthy among these films are Rio Babylon
(Rio Babilônia) by Neville d'Almeida, He Killed
the Family and Went to the Movies (Matou a Família
e foi ao Cimema) by Júlio Bressane, and The Red
Light Bandit (O Bandido da Luz Vermelha) by Rogério
Sganzerla.
The
Government film agency, EMBRAFILME, created in 1969,
was responsible for the co-production, financing, and
distribution of a large percentage of films in the 1970's
and 1980's. (EMBRAFILME ceased operations in 1990.)
EMBRAFILME added a commercial dimension to the film
industry and made it possible for it to move on to more
ambitious projects. Among the acclaimed films of the
mid 1970's were Pereira do Santos's Ogum's Amulet (Amuleto
de Ogum) about candomblé and Joaquim Pedro de
Andrade's Connubial War (Guerra Conjugal). In a series
of sketches, Connubial War, based on a short story by
Dalton Trevisan, relates the humor and travails of married
life. Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands (Dona Flor e seus
Dois Maridos), directed by Bruno Barreto, was an international
success. Based on the novel by Jorge Amado, Dona Flor
and Her Two Husbands is a delightful story about a widow
living a triangular affair with her second husband and
her deceased husband's spirit.
In
the 1980's movies were not well attended. This was due
in part to the popularity of television. Many theatres
closed their doors, especially in the interior of the
country. Nevertheless, some important films were made.
Many were concerned with political questions: They Don't
Wear Black-Tie (Eles não Usam Black-Tie), 1981,
directed by Leon Hirzman, tells the story of a strike
in the industrial area of São Paulo; Memories
of Prison (Memórias do Cárcere), 1984,
by Nelson Pereira dos Santos and based on a book by
Graciliano Ramos, portrays the life of political prisoners.
One of the most outstanding films of the 1980's was
The Hour of the Star (A Hora da Estrela), 1985, directed
by Susana Amaral and based on a novel by Clarice Lispector.
It relates the poignant story of an immigrant girl from
the northeast in a big metropolis. The other outstanding
films of the 1980's were Bye Bye Brasil about a circus
caravan dealing with the inescapable fact that its audience
is declining, directed by Carlos Diegues and Pixote,
the realistic and disturbing tale of juvenile delinquents
in São Paulo, performed by non-professionals,
directed by Hector Babenco.
As
a result of a 1993 law giving financial incentives to
Brazilian film production, the number of films currently
being produced in Brazil has increased dramatically
and many Brazilian films are being shown in movie theaters
all over the world. O Quatrilho, a tale of two married
immigrant couples set in Rio Grande do Sul, where the
husbands are partners and end up exchanging wives, directed
by Fábio Barreto (1996) and Four Days in September
(1998), the true story of the 1969 kidnaping of the
American Ambassador to Brazil, directed by Bruno Barreto
were both Oscar nominees for Best Film in a Foreign
Language. Central do Brasil (Central Station), directed
by Walter Salles, won the Golden Bear Grand Prix at
the Berlin International Film Festival in 1998, and
in January 1999 captured the Hollywood Foreign Press
Association's Golden Globe award for foreign language
film.
[Top]
Fine
Arts
From
the 16th century, Roman Catholic churches and convents
in Brazil were decorated in the European style, often
by Brazilian craftsmen who had been trained in European
methods. During the 17th and 18th centuries, baroque
and rococo patterns imported from Portugal dominated
Brazil's religious architecture and its interior decor.
Many of these churches can be seen today.
The
most impressive artist of the whole colonial period
was the architect and sculptor Antônio Francisco
Lisboa (1738-1814), better known as Aleijadinho (the
Little Cripple). The self-taught son of a Portuguese
settler and a slave mother, he was a master of sophisticated
rococo decoration and his painted wood sculpture and
stone statuary have a timeless grandeur of feeling.
In mid-life Aleijadinho contracted a crippling disease,
but he continued to work for another 30 years with chisel
and mallet strapped to his wrists. His artistry is seen
in many of the baroque churches in his home state of
Minas Gerais, especially in the town of Ouro Preto and
the surrounding area. In the neighbouring town of Congonhas
do Campo, at the Church of Bom Jesus de Matosinhos,
Aleijadinho sculpted 12 life-sized soapstone statues
of the Prophets and placed them on the terrace and staircase
outside the entrance. In front of the church's terraced
stairs, in six small devotional chapels, he created
the Stations of the Cross with 66 poignant statues in
cedar wood.
During
the last four decades of the 18th century, new art appeared
(especially in Rio de Janeiro) in which religious themes
were no longer predominant. Works with temporal themes,
such as portraits of exalted personages, became part
of Rio's artistic production.
At
the beginning of the 19th century there was a process
of Europeanization with the coming of the Portuguese
Court to Brazil as the result of the invasion of Portugal
by Napoleon Bonaparte's troops. Dom João VI,
the refugee Portuguese monarch, encouraged Rio de Janeiro's
intellectual activity, founding cultural institutions
such as the Royal Press and the National Library. In
addition, he brought a group of French masters to Brazil
to establish an Academy of Arts and Crafts after the
style of European art academies and to implement the
neoclassic style in the modernization plan for the royal
capital of Rio de Janeiro. Artists such as the Taunay
brothers, architect Auguste Grandjean de Montigny (1776-1850),
and painter Jean-Baptiste Debret (1768-1848) were part
of the group. Debret, the most important of the French
artists, systematically documented landscapes, people,
and rural and urban customs. The tradition established
by Debret and his colleagues was so strong that neoclassicism
and participation in academies ruled Brazilian visual
arts well into the Republican era.
At
the Week of Modern Art held in São Paulo in 1922,
artists discussed their dissatisfactions with the academic
world in all fields of the Brazilian arts. The modernists
wished to shock the academicians. It is not clear if
the 1922 movement caused or coincided with some changes
in outlook. It certainly opened broad new avenues such
as the critical pursuit of quality, the search for new
values, and the rejection of the old European stereotypes.
There was no precursor of genius in Brazilian painting:
in the 1920's painting simply emerged out of the shadows
of the academy and joined the wave of innovation then
sweeping Europe. The techniques were imported, but the
moods and themes were clearly Brazilian. Lasar Segall
(1891-1957), in 1913, was the first artist to exhibit
modern art. One of the most important participants in
the Week of Modern Art was Emiliano Di Cavalcanti (1897-1976),
a true Bohemian from a family of poets and generals
who liked to carouse in the underworld of Rio and paint
seductive, mulatto women.
Cândido
Portinari (1903-1962) was one of the first Brazilian
artists to paint his way to international fame. Coming
from a small coffee plantation in the interior of São
Paulo, he experimented with Brazilian themes and colors.
Once he sent for 60 pounds of earth from different areas
and mixed the black, purple, reddish, and yellow dirt
with his paints. Portinari captured in his canvases
the way of life of ordinary people, conveying their
joys and sufferings in a dramatic way. The universality
of his work led to invitations and commissions from
many sources, among them the monumental murals at the
Library of Congress in Washington, DC and murals on
the theme of war and peace at the United Nations in
New York.
World
War II brought about an interruption in the contact
of Brazilian artists with the international art world,
even though many foreign artists lived in Brazil. With
the end of the War, financial sponsorship began to stimulate
artistic production. In the late 1940's the Modern Art
Museum was founded in Rio de Janeiro and São
Paulo got two museums - the Art Museum of São
Paulo founded by Assis Chateaubriand and the Museum
of Modern Art. With the numerous courses given in these
museums, art exhibitions and other museum activities
were stimulated throughout Brazil. The São Paulo
Biennial, founded in 1951 by Francisco Matarazzo Sobrinho,
helped to call Brazilian artists to the attention of
an international audience, and to introduce foreign
artistic innovations to Brazil. During the 1950s. the
Biennials were the most important artistic events in
Latin America making São Paulo the centre of
great exhibitions of contemporary art and of flashbacks
of international movements.
Today,
the art scene in Brazil is self-assured. Brazil's painters,
sculptors, engravers and lithographers show their works
both within Brazil and in museums and galleries throughout
the world. Current artists include: Lygia Pape, Amélia
Toledo, Cildo Meireles, Jac Leirner, Regina Silveira,
José Rezende, Waltércio Caldas Jr., Anna
Bella Geiger, Rubem Valentim, Glauco Rodrigues, and
Itélio Oiticica.
[Top]
Folks
Arts
The
Portuguese who first landed on Brazilian soil in the
16th century began the transplantation of European culture
to Brazil. While the Portuguese were still forming small,
cautious groups to explore the unknown beaches, native
Indian potters were at work. Indigenous craftsmen were
polishing ceremonial axes of flint. Musicians and dancers
decked out in fibre masks, plaited straw, and fantastic,
feather helmets were retelling the legends of the flood
and the creation. Brazilian culture is more than the
simple result of specific contributions by European
whites, African blacks, and aboriginal Indians. Miscegenation
among them has been taking place ever since their very
first contacts. These three cultures have insinuated
themselves into the way Brazilians feel and act. Today
it is difficult to trace their dividing lines. Brazilian
folk arts are among the richest and most varied in the
hemisphere.
[Top]
Folk
Dance
Brazilian
folk dance and folk drama are rich forms of popular
artistic expression. Subject, rhythm, costume, and choreography
reveal the three principal components of the nation's
culture in a complex interaction.
There
are dozens of Brazilian folk dances - everything from
dramatizations of the early wars between the Portuguese
and the Indians (Caboclinhos and Caiapós performed
in the states of Pernambuco and Alagoas), to the Cavalhada
of Pirenópolis in the state of Goiás,
a theatrical pageant, lasting three days, which depicts
the fight between the Christians and the Moors on the
Iberian Peninsula. The Cavalhada survives from the tradition
of medieval tournaments.
[Top]
Folk
Drama
In
addition to the folk dances, there are many dance dramas
(really theatrical productions) popular in Brazil that
trace their histories directly to the Middle Ages. Portuguese
in origin, these dance dramas have been modified considerably
by centuries of exposure to Brazil's diverse cultures.
Mario de Andrade, the great authority on national folklore,
has classified these dance dramas into four principal
groups: reisados, cheganças, pastoris, and ranchos.
Reisados:
The Reisados consist of a series of 24 folk plays of
which the most popular is the Bumba-Meu-Boi.The plot
of the Boi drama centers around the misfortunes of the
prize bull which a wealthy cattle rancher has arduously
searched for to improve his herd.
Cheganças:
Cheganças (arrival) is a folk play performed
during the Christmas season. It tells of the arrival
by sea of the Moors, their defeat, and their eventual
baptism by the Christians.
Pastoris:
Pastoris (shepherds) started as a performance of Christmas
carols in front of the Nativity scene in preparation
for midnight mass. Today pastoris is a secular event.
Female street revelers parade in parallel lines called
the red and blue lines. Each line has the same characters:
the teacher; Diana, the pretty angel; the gypsy; the
old man (a comedian); the Northern Star; and the Southern
Cross; among others. The girl shepherds sing and rattle
tambourines accompanied by guitars and a solo wind instrument.
Ranchos:
Among the most primitive forms of carnival, as celebrated
in Rio de Janeiro, were the ranchos, solemn and romantic
love stories acted out by dancers to the beat of a marching
rhythm. New ranchos were written every year and groups
of dancers representing various districts of Rio performed
them. They competed for recognition and prizes thus
becoming the forerunners of today's samba schools.
[Top]
Capoeira
Capoeira,
a ritualised, stylized, combat-dance, having its own
music, and practiced primarily in the city of Salvador,
Bahia, is a characteristically Brazilian expression
of both dance and martial arts. It evolved from a fighting
style that originated in Angola. In the early slave
days there were constant fights between the blacks,
and when the owner caught them at it, he had both sides
punished. The slaves considered this unfair and developed
a smoke screen of music and song to cover up actual
fighting. Over the years this was refined into a highly
athletic sport in which two contestants try to deliver
blows using only their legs, feet, heels, and heads
- hands are not allowed.
The
combatants move in a series of swift cartwheels and
whirling handstands on the floor. The musical ensemble
that accompanies capoeira includes the berimbau, a bow-shaped
piece of wood with a metal wire running from one end
to the other. A painted gourd which acts like a sounding
box is attached at the bottom of the berimbau. The player
shakes the bow. While the seeds in the gourd rattle
he strikes the taut wire with a copper coin which gives
off a unique, moaning sound.
[Top]
Ceramics
and Sculpture
In
the northeast of Brazil, the most popular sections of
the large markets are the displays of potters and vendors
of artistic clay objects, many of which are true sculptures.
A number of these local artisans are known not only
to Brazilian folklorists, but also to artistic circles
outside Brazil. Familiar names are Severino, whose characteristic
work is in unglazed clay, Mestre Vitalino (Master),
the most famous of the folk potters, perhaps because
he signed his creations, and Zé Caboclo, from
the town of Caruarú, the principal centre of
folk sculpture in the State of Pernambuco. The ceramics
portray complete scenes of daily activity, induding
animals (the horse, the cock, and the Zebu bull), and
religious characters (priests and saints).
Today's
potters follow traditions laid down by Indian cultures
that existed in the Amazon region well before the arrival
of the Portuguese in the 16th century. At least four
of these cultures are noteworthy for their ceramics:
on the vast island of Marajó in the mouth of
the Amazon River potters melded vases that were later
decorated with labyrinthine patterns. The last of five
archaeological periods on the island, the Marajoara,
is the most famous. In the Santarém region, Indian
potters made urns and igaçabas (funeral urns)
embellished with an amazing panoply of animals. They
transtormed the fauna of the Amazon into intricate and
baroque fantasies of men and animals. The cultures of
Cunani and Maracá (in the present-day state of
Pará) also produced remarkable pottery.
[Top]
Carnival
Carnival's
roots go back to the ancient Romans and Greeks who celebrated
the rites of Spring. In the Middle Ages, when the Catholic
Church tried to suppress all pagan ideas, it failed
when it came to this celebration. The Church incorporated
the rite into its own calendar as a period of thanksgiving.
The nations of Europe, especially France, Spain, and
Portugal, gave thanks by throwing parties, wearing masks,
and dancing in the streets. All three colonizing powers
carried the tradition with them to the New World, but
in Brazil it landed with a difference. Not only did
the Portuguese have a taste for abandoned merriment,
(they brought the entrudo, a prank where merry-makers
throw water, flour, face powder, and many other things
at each other's faces), but the Negro slaves also took
to the celebration. They would smear their faces with
flour, borrow an old wig or frayed shirt of the master,
and give themselves over to mad revelry for the three
days. Many masters even let their slaves roam freely
during the celebration. Since the slaves were grateful
for the chance to enjoy themselves, they rarely used
the occasion as a chance to run away.
Prior
to 1840, the streets of Brazilian towns ran riot during
the three-day period leading up to Ash Wednesday with
people in masks hurling stink bombs and squirting each
other with flour and strong-smelling liquids; even arson
was a form of entertainment. In 1840, the Italian wife
of a Rio de Janeiro hotel owner changed the carnival
celebration forever by sending out invitations, hiring
musicians, importing streamers and confetti, and giving
a lavish masked ball. In a few years the masked ball
became the fashion and the wild pranks played on the
streets disappeared.
Today
Rio de Janeiro has the biggest and best known pre-Lenten
carnival in the world - its most colorful event is the
Samba School Parade. The samba schools taking part in
the parade - each roughly having three to five thousand
participants - are composed overwhelmingly of poor people
from the city's sprawling suburbs. Every carnival Rio's
samba schools compete with each other and are judged
on every aspect of their presentation by a jury. Each
samba school must base its effort around a central theme.
Sometimes the theme is an historical event or personality.
Other times, it is a story or legend from Brazilian
literature. The costumes must reflect the theme's historical
time and place. The samba song must recount or develop
it, and the huge floats must detail the theme in depth.
[Top]
Architecture
Brazilian
colonial architecture was derived from Portugal, with
adaptations demanded by the tropical climate. The more
enduring examples of this very attractive style are
to be found in the churches and monasteries of the older
cities, but most spectacularly in Ouro Preto, the first
capital of the province of Minas Gerais. This city has
been meticulously restored and protected as part of
Brazil's heritage and it is now on UNESCO's World Heritage
List.
From
the second half of the 19th century to the beginning
of this century Brazilian architects were under a pervasive
French influence. Since then, without losing contact
with innovators in other countries, such as Le Corbusier
in France and Frank Lloyd Wright in the U.S., architecture
in Brazil has evolved its own style. It now attracts
worldwide attention as one of the country's most characteristic
art forms. The volume and pace of urban expansion during
the last 30 years have provided exceptional opportunities
for combining social and functional needs with artistic
expression. The result has been not only the burgeoning
of many fine buildings, but also the birth of entire
suburbs and completely new cities.
Good
examples of modern Brazilian architecture from its early
period in the 1940's are: the passenger terminal at
Santos Dumont Airport by the Roberto brothers and the
Ministry of Education, both in Rio de Janeiro; the low-cost
apartment buildings at Pedregulho outside Rio by Affonso
Reidy; the Museum of Modern Art in São Paulo;
and the wave-shaped Church of Pampulha in Belo Horizonte
designed by Oscar Niemeyer. Later examples of modern
Brazilian architecture are much more numerous; some
of the most distinguished are: Reidy's Museum of Modern
Art in Rio de Janeiro, completed in the 1950's; Vilanova
Artigas' Faculty of Architecture in São Paulo
(1960's); Olavo Redig de Campos' Brazilian Embassy in
Washington, D.C. (1970's); Lina Bo Bardi's Pompéia
Cultural Center, São Paulo (1980's); and Luis
Filgueiras Lima's Sarah Kubitschek Hospital in Salvador,
Bahia (1990's).
Of
course, the best known example of modern Brazilian architecture
is the new capital city of Brasília, where imagination
was given full flight. The urban plan conceived by Lúcio
Costa and the design of the main public buildings by
architect Oscar Niemeyer have become landmarks in the
realm of architecture on a massive scale. Especially
noteworthy are Niemeyer's Palácio ltamaraty (home
of Brazil's Ministry of External Relations) with its
soaring concrete arches and water garden, and Brasília's
Cathedral (considered by many to be Niemeyer's finest
achievement) with its clasped fingers of concrete reaching
prayerfully to the sky. (Niemeyer was also a participant
in the group of architects who designed the United Nations
building in New York City and the headquarters building
of the Communist Party in Paris).
New
buildings alone cannot create beautiful and harmonious
urban environments. Alongside the bold new architectural
concepts, a school of landscape designers headed by
Roberto Burle Marx has arisen in Brazil to balance the
images of concrete and glass structures with the welcoming
greenery of gardens and parks. As a result of his work
in many Brazilian cities, Burle Marx has acquired an
international reputation. Examples of his work are now
to be found in public and private gardens and parks
in the Americas and in Europe.
[Top]
Sports
Brazilian
fondness for sports in general is shown by the existence
of some 8,000 sports clubs throughout the country. No
other sport in Brazil can compare in popularity to soccer,
where it is called futebol. (There is no other football
played in the country.) This passion for the sport is
reflected in the number and size of soccer stadiums
all over the country. The Maracanã Stadium, built
in Rio de Janeiro for the 1950 World Cup, is the largest
in the world with a capacity of 200,000. The Brazilian
team was the first to win the World Cup four times -
in 1958, 1962, 1970 and 1994. There are five other stadiums
in the country that can accommodate over 100,000 people
each. Even people who are not particularly keen on soccer
know the Brazilian player Pelé (Edson Arantes
do Nascimento), internationally acclaimed as the greatest
soccer player of all time. During his 18-year career
in Brazil, Pelé scored more than 1,200 goals.
Upon retiring from professional soccer in Brazil, Pelé
tried to popularize the sport in the U.S. where he played
for a few years with the Cosmos Soccer Club in New York.
Volleyball
is a very popular sport for both men and women. A women's
team won the World Cup in 1991 and a male team won the
Gold Medal at the Olympics in 1992. Brazil is regarded
as one of the major forces in basketball with the women's
team winning the 1994 World Champion in Sidney, Australia,
and the men's team turning in impressive performances
at many Olympic games as well as twice winning the world
men's championships.
Brazilians
enjoy tennis. In 1959 and the early 1960's Maria Ester
Bueno won three Wimbledon championships. In 1987, a
Brazilian team was classified in the First Division
of the Davis Cup. Today, the country's major tennis
revelation is Gustavo Guga Kuerten, who won the French
Open in 1997, the first Brazilian ever to win. Guga,
as fans call him, is currently ranked one of the top
professional tennis players in the world.
Some
observers believe that Brazil is ready to rise to the
top ranks of marathoning nations. In 1998, Ronaldo da
Costa, a little known Brazilian runner, broke the world
record by a full 45 seconds at the Berlin Marathon.
His time was 2:06:05. Da Costa is the first runner from
South America to have set a marathon world record.
Ever
since the late 1960's, when Emerson Fittipaldi started
accumulating victories in Formula One car racing, the
sport has rapidly grown in popularity. A number of promising
new drivers have come along indluding Nelson Piquet
who was the World Champion in 1981, 1983, and 1987,
Ayrton Senna, who won championships on the international
racing circuits in 1988, 1990, and 1991, had a fatal
accident in a Formula One race in Italy in 1994.
Brazilians
have distinguished themselves in rowing, sailing, judo,
and swimming in international competitions, with a few
Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals to their credit. Always
anxious to take advantage of their country's extensive
coast and warm climate, Brazilians are increasingly
taking up new sports activities such as surfing, windsurfing,
and hang gliding.
[Top]
Food
and Drink
Like
the hamburger and the banana split in the United States,
Brazil's cuisine is the product of tradition and happenstance.
Each region of Brazil - depending on its indigenous
culture, which European group colonized it, nearness
to rivers or the ocean annual rain and soil conditions
- developed its own very diverse dishes.
[Top]
Food
The
cuisine from Bahia dates back to the time of slavery
when the masters saved scraps from the table or leftovers
from the previous day's meal to give to the slaves.
Some slaves were allowed to fish and look for shrimp
and clams. Remembering their cooking-pot training from
Africa, the women would put bits of ingredients together
and add the milk of coconuts or the oil from the dendê
palm. Over the years these concoctions were worked out
in recipes and were given names. Today it is called
Bahian food. Some of its delicacies are:
Vatapá:
Shrimp are either cut up or ground together with pieces
of fish, then cooked with dendê palm oil, coconut
milk and pieces or bread. The dish is served over white
rice.
Sarapatel:
The liver and heart of either a pig or a sheep are mixed
with fresh blood of either animal; tomatoes, peppers,
and onions are added and everything is cooked together.
Carurú:
Sauteed shrimp are combined with a very sharp sauce
made of red peppers and tiny okra.
In
the Amazon region a favorite dish is pato no tucupi
which is pieces or duck in a rich sauce that is loaded
with a wild green herb that tingles the stomach for
hours after eating. Another typical dish is tacacá,
a thick yellow soup that is laced with dried shrimp
and garlic.
In
Rio Grande do Sul churrasco is the big dish. It is pieces
of beefs skewered onto a metal sword, and roasted outdoors
over hot coals. There is a tomato and onion sauce to
go over it. The gaúchos of the interior barbecue
an entire steer this way.
If
there is one dish that typifies Brazilian cooking it
is feijoada. In Rio de Janeiro, where it is especially
popular, feijoada is a complicated bean dish prepared
with air-dried beef, smoked sausage, tongue, pig's ears
and tails, garlic, and chili peppers. It is customary
to fill a soup plate with white rice and spoon feijoada
on top. Over this is added pulverized manioc flour (farofa),
a starch that thickens the sauce. The whole dish is
garnished with collard greens and slices of oranges.
[Top]
Drink
Many
international travellers think Brazilian beer is one
of the best in the entire western hemisphere.
For
generations there have been expert German and Dutch
brewers overseeing the manufacturing and processing
of all major companies.
Brazil
produces a powerful, clear, raw rum (cachaça)
made from fermented sugar cane alcohol. Cachaça
combined with crushed lime, sugar, and ice becomes a
very popular drink called caipirinha. Guaraná,
a delicious soft drink unique to Brazil, is made out
of a fruit from the Amazon.
[Top]
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