Brazilian Rock-Pop
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The mainstream Brazilian rock ('BRock') of the 1980s and its pop-rock descendants: guitar-band arrangements running from new-wave and post-punk to anthemic pop-rock and pop-reggae, all sung in Portuguese with hook-driven choruses and generation-defining lyrics. Tempos and textures vary widely — jangly new wave, driving arena rock, breezy pop-reggae — but the constant is memorable songwriting aimed at radio and stadium singalongs. The mood is youthful, romantic and often socially or existentially charged.
History
Brazilian rock-pop exploded after 1982, when Brasília and Rio bands — Legião Urbana, Titãs, Os Paralamas do Sucesso, Barão Vermelho and Capital Inicial — brought post-punk and new wave into Portuguese-language mass culture, aided by the 1985 Rock in Rio festival. Solo pop-rockers Lulu Santos and Cazuza, the pop-reggae of Cidade Negra and the 1990s Minas band Skank broadened the sound, while Legião Urbana's Renato Russo became the era's poet laureate. BRock's catalog remains a canon of Brazilian popular music, endlessly covered and revived.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Chris McGowan & Ricardo Pessanha, 'The Brazilian Sound'
- Rock in Rio and BRock histories in Folha de S.Paulo
- Britannica, entries on Brazilian rock