XVII Congress of the Brazilian Studies Association

The Possibilities and Pitfalls of Podcasting about Brazilian Rhythms

• In Event: Drumming communities and the Popularization of Brazilian musical traditions

Abstract

The massive proliferation of music through streaming services and other platforms has served to both increase access to previously minoritized or underrepresented musical traditions and further divorce these sounds from their contexts and cultural meaning. This process is familiar to listeners of Brazilian music, who have seen Bossa Nova transform from a niche genre to the soundtrack of supermarkets and elevators. In addition to algorithm-generated playlists, these distribution networks also carry educational programs in the form of podcasts, which allow listeners to learn about the musics that fill their ears. Massa: Brazilian Music & Culture seeks to offer an entry point into both the contextual and technical aspects of Brazilian musical traditions, alternating discussions with cultural insiders with explanations and demonstrations of the sounds themselves. In this paper, the co-hosts of Massa dissect the processes they undertake to explain and demonstrate rhythms in Brazilian music. We examine how audio media can facilitate a kind of technical learning that is not possible in written forms, explaining our practices and procedures. In addition, we discuss our own positionality vis-a-vis the communities whose music we are discussing, recognizing both the value of offering our microphones to practitioners who are underrepresented in these spaces as well as the challenges that such exposure presents. These issues are particularly relevant in the case of Brazilian rhythms, which often require nuanced interpretation to account for the power dynamics inherent in music making across cultural divides, whether related to issues of race, religion, industry, class, or some other concern.

Authors

• Schuyler Whelden, College of the Holy Cross

• Juliana Cantarelli Vita, University of Hartford