Monday 16 November 2009

The Power of Song II: Scenes from Portugal and Brazil

More Portuguese music today: The first is "Fado Tropical," by Chico Buarque de Holanda. It's sung and played against the background of newsreels from the Portuguese Carnation Revolution in 1974 where that country peacefully overthrew a dictatorship nearly 60 years old. At the time, Brazil was also under a military control, and the song caused great waves there, since it was seen as a protest against what was going on there.

The second clip is from a multi-part BBC documentary on Brazilian music. Its history is far more than "The Girl from Ipanema", and, like Pete Seeger, it demonstrates the Power of Song.

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