Where there are opinions, differences arise. Nonetheless opinions by academics, critics and music lovers generally agree on the fact that Tropicália as a musical movement marked an important change in Brazil's musical history: it clearly marks a before and an after. A lot has been said and written about the movement already, but in spite of all the information that is available, it continues to be difficult to summarize what Tropicália is without running the risk of leaving some key elements out. In my presentation I wish to introduce Tropicália through its own language: music. Different audio and visual fragments will be used to give an idea of the movement’s stylistic diversity, focusing not only on how it differs from other styles and currents in Brazilian music, but also emphasizing some important connections and continuities.

Jeffrey Pijpers

This event is also part of the Workshop Tropical, Tropicalismo, Tropicálias – Cultural (Counter)movements in Brazil at the University of Zurich.

Organized by Pauline Bachmann and André Masseno together with the Luso-Brazilian Studies department of the University of Zurich.