Chico Buarque’s singing to conquer

Abstract

In the period before the 1964 coup, with the resignation of Jânio Quadros and the rise of João Goulart, Brazil was floored by the events that brought it into conflict with its own roots. TV festivals rediscovered national popular music, giving the country a new team of composers and singers, such as Chico Buarque. The poet of a wounded generation, with his songs, his writings and his political attitude Chico helped developing a poetic rich scene in Brazilian popular music. Chico Buarque redefined poetic prose, blending sophisticated musical elements and popular culture, fine literature, with a high degree of significance, and trivial words. Thus, Chico Buarque introduced in his refined poetics harsh aspects of Brazilian daily life. Maybe that is why Chico’s peculiar language is not flat, but full of ups and downs. The poetics of Chico carries the germ of a seemingly impossible communication: although it flirts with simplicity, it touches erudition, placing itself in a complex intermediate spot. By creating his own standards of popular music, Chico was able to portray in his songs in the multiple speeches present in Brazilian society. The poetics of his songs conquers the listener/reader because it makes him recognize himself in those words, noticing in the poet’s speech his own voice. Chico turned his art into a musical and verbal statement, making room for new poetic possibilities, reshaping popular music as a space for language experimentation.