ladybusiness | (Reply)

From: (Anonymous)

These are very good points, all.

I have been thinking about the use of music and of Roda-Viva in particular in the book since I read it and I am still mostly unsure about it all.

Like for example the use of Roda-Viva in the context of the story - because you know, Roda-Viva is a song from a play , a play that was so important at that moment in time (1968) in the context of the militant movement against the Military Government. 1968 is an important year in the history of Brazil, and the play itself was censored, the actors were attacked so that play as well as what it means in that particular political context needs to be taken into consideration. Roda-Viva-the-song was written for that play and Chico Buarque and MPB4 sang it at the Popular Music Festival which were such an important part of the cultural and political make up of the time. All of this, I think, needs to be put in context and thought about also in terms of how Chico Buarque and MPB4 were from Rio de Janeiro and that both the play and the festival were enacted in the Southern of Brazil (Sao Paulo, Rio, and the Southern States) all as part of a cultural elite (white, middle to high class). So I don't really know if the author knew all of that when using the song and the feeling I had was that the characters felt it was a cool song to sing and dance to(!!) in a way that stripped this political, social, cultural context from it? For reals, I listen to that song and I cry every.single.time because I know what it means and it has such a powerful meaning but I don't think this was captured in the novel at all?

Ana - Book Smugglers