Annotated Bibliography 

Appleby, David P..  The Music of Brazil.  Austin: University of Texas Press, 1983.

The Music of Brazil touches on many aspects of Brazilian Music.  The author discusses artists, genres, specific songs, and even goes into detail of time frames and effects of the music.  The overall book is in-depth with many details and examples, almost to the point that an amateur could get lost in the heaviness, but for someone with background in Brazil, this book could be very helpful.  A background in music could also be beneficial.

This book is set up in six chapters with each chapter broken down in to smaller, more specific parts.  The organization of each chapter makes it easy to read for a particular topic because of the clearly defined headings and subheadings.  Overall, this book would not stand up to most general music books, unless the reader has previous knowledge of Brazilian music.  It is, however, very helpful for those educated on such topics. The special features include chapter notes, a bibliography, an index, as well as a glossary.

de Azevedo, Fernando.  Brazilian Culture.  New York: The Macmillan Company, 1950.

Not only does this book cover the cultural aspects of Brazilian culture, is describes the “how’s” and “why’s” of Brazil.  Covering topics like “The Psychology of the Brazilian People” and “The Work of Man,” de Azevedo shows a more complex view of Brazilian life.  This book helps with the understanding of where events and ideas originated, not just that those ideas exist.  “…and the Indians and Negroes stood on the margin of two cultures-that of their own origin, which they forgot and that of which they lost the characteristics, and that of the dominant culture in which they never completely integrated (117).”  Through unique ways, this book brings the reader back to the beginning and works form there up.  It is incredibly helpful in expanding the knowledge of Brazilian culture, as well as answering the questions “why” and “how.”

The structure of this book is very simple.  The three major parts are divided into chapters with each chapter focusing on a small aspect of the whole.  It is in somewhat untraditional in its reading ease, but not so difficult that it cannot be followed.  This book would be a great resource to get both a general and in-depth idea of Brazil’s culture.  Most average, as well as professional, readers could conquer this book with little difficulty.  The pictures are a special feature that nicely accent the topics and give more of a visual aid.  The introduction is especially helpful at summarizing the future chapters and offers a great starting point.  This book also includes bibliographies, and two indexes.

Drewal, Henry J. and David c. Driskell, eds.  Introspectives: Contemporary Art by Americans and Brazilians of African Decent.  Los Angeles: California Afro-American Museum Foundation, 1989.

Introspectives is a collection of articles written about Brazilian art and its artists.  A broad spectrum of information is given starting from topics like "racial democracy” and "contemporary art by Brazilians of African Decent" moving to small spills about individual artists.  The topics discussed are somewhat heavy, but are well presented.  A background in Brazilian art would be helpful to understanding the text, as well as fully benefiting from its information.

The section of Brazilian artists was very interesting and extremely helpful when witnessing each artist's work.  "Octavio Araujo describes himself as an 'imperfect Brazilian'- his heritage includes African, Indian, and Portuguese but not Oriental.  He adds wryly that he compensated for this by adding yellow colors to his works (37)."  Fact such as these add color and life to the artist that is being discussed.  It gives a more hands-on effect to reading about the topic. 

Although a Brazilian art background would be helpful, it is not necessary.  The work, for the most part, explains itself to the point that it is somewhat easily understood.  Each section, or article, is clearly defined and well separated.  This is a great source for specific information on Brazilian art.

Galembo, Phyllis.  Divine Inspiration.  Albuquerque:  University of New Mexico Press, 1993.

"The most immediate contact with the other world is the spirits of the dead, the recently deceased and the collective ancestors, who meddle in human activities or give advice through dreams... [The shrines for each ancestor have] a bell to summon the spirit from the other world (30).  Divine Inspiration is packed with information about all aspects of Brazilian Art and spirituality.  It demonstrates the direct link between art and the spiritual world.  Everything from drumming patterns and songs to shrines are shown.  This book helps to promote better understanding of the world of Brazil.

This book is a great source of understanding and provides great insight into Brazilian art.  Most foreign words are defined, which helps with the reading ease, and this book goes into great depth on each topic. 

It is the perfect source to go to in search of specific details on Afro-Brazilian, Spiritual art.  It is easy for all education levels to understand.  The color pictures are excellent visuals to understand what is being said about the shrines.  Giving the actual words, as well as the English words, helps to be true to the Brazilian origin.  It helps the reader "get a piece" of Brazil.  This book is an excellent source of information.

Galinsky, Philip. "Co-option, Cultural Resistance, and Afro-Brazilian Identity: A History if the Pagoda Samba Movement in Rio de Janeiro” Latin American Music Review vxii,  1996. 

“Co-option, Cultural Resistance, and Afro-Brazilian Identity” discusses the division of Samba into separate genres.  It offers an in-depth description of how Samba branched into the different genres yet still hold qualities of the original Samba.  A deep understanding of music--of the beats, notes and melodies--is required to get the full affects of this article.

This article is organized in a chronological fashion relating to the evolution of Samba.  After the order is presented, the author discusses the musical aspects that define that genre in relation to Samba.  Overall, this article is helpful in illustrating the history of Samba and the branching thereafter.  Special features include scores of music, notes, and references.

Graham, Laura.  Performing Dreams. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995.

This book focuses on the art of dream performing, a more sacred art of Brazil. It was very interesting to see how dreams and more sanctified aspects of Brazilian culture relate to the music of Brazil.  Using an easy to understand, story-like structure, this book carefully draws out the steps of dream performing.  It discusses the cultural importance, the heritage and the people who participate in each aspect of this ritual.  Overall, it gives a complete view of this tradition.

The structure of this book is simple, but can be somewhat hard to navigate when looking through the details for specific points; the details do help with understanding and imagery.  Compared to other scholarly works, this book holds it’s own, discussing ideas that are covered in more other sources on Brazil.  Performing Dreams is recommended as an in-depth look into a special section of Brazilian culture, for all education levels and abilities.  Special features include and index, appendix of musical transcriptions, reference section, as well as a section of notes based on pages of the book.

Kelsey, Vera.  Seven Keys to Brazil. New York: Funk and Waghalls Company, 1994.

The general purpose of this book is to discuss seven aspects of Brazilian culture.  The aspect most focused on in this research is “Part IV, The Arts.”  The major goal of this section was to educate the reader on the creation and inspiration of Brazilian art. “…they listened to the songs of native birds and other melodies of nature for their musical themes (283).” This passage, among others, expresses the direct knowledge of Brazilian music, particularly about the aspect of nature.  It helped to get the initial idea of Brazilian music and art.

The writing style was fairly easy to follow, if one has a basic general knowledge of Brazilian culture.  At times, the author got carried away with specifics, but the overall detail was helpful.  This book would be recommended for professionals and researchers who had some pervious knowledge of Brazilian culture.  Because of specific artist names and grave details, this book could greatly help with in-depth studies of Brazilian art and music, but is not suggested for general research use. The special features of this book not only include an index and bibliography, but specific notes for each chapter.  These notes are laid out in such a way that they are very accessible and easy to use.

The book is divided into four parts, each containing 1-8 specific sections on the main topic.  Each Chapter addresses a specific element of the part as a whole.  It is laid out in a predictable manner that is easy to navigate and understand.

Lemos, Carlos, Jose Roberto Teixeria Leite, and Pedro Manuel Gismonti.  The Art of Brazil.  New York:  Harper and Row Publishers, 1983.

The Art of Brazil gives a chronological representation of Brazilian art dating from the Colonial Period to the Contemporary Period.  Provided with in-depth descriptions of both the artist and the art, beautiful two-dimensional colored views of art are presented.

It is divided into sections based on the artistic periods.  Each section discusses art that relates to that period.  Because of the amazing layout of pictures, this book provides an excellent, and incomparable, overview of Brazilian art.  It is recommended for all audiences because of the reading ease and organization.  Special features include biographies of the artists, chronology, and an index.

Levine, Robert M. and John J. Crocitti, eds. The Brazil Reader.  Durham: Duke University Press, 1999.

In comparison to other sources used, this source was more of a challenge to follow. The sections covered a wide range of topics, all of which were related in somewhat unidentifiable ways.  Although confusing at times, this book gave a great general overview on what to expect, and even what to look for, when analyzing the Brazilian culture.  It was interesting how personal stories were used to express and explain the different jobs and part of Brazilian society; that was a great personal touch as well as an affective means of helping in the understanding of the topics discussed.  This is a great source for all people to use, as a general resource of Brazil, as well as a more in-depth look into the specific aspects of Brazilian life.  It sets examples and expectations for further research. The special features include an index, suggestions for further readings and a list of acknowledgements.

This book is divided into nine separate sections, with each section discussing many smaller aspects of the overall topic.  An overview of all sections was used in this research project, focusing on individual parts of each section.

McGowan, Chris and Ricardo Pessanha.  The Brazilian Sound: Samba, Bossa Nova, and the Popular Music of Brazil.  Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1998.

The Brazilian Sound addresses many aspects of musical categorization in Brazil's world of music.  It discusses many genres of Brazilian music including Bossa Nova, Samba, Tropical Rock and Brazilian Jazz, among others.  The breakdown and organization of each genre made it easy to follow.  The lyrics in the text strongly influenced the understanding of each topic, but the massive list of artists' names was found overwhelming.  It is a great starting point to familiarizing yourself with Brazil's music; there might have been just too much information for such a general book.

Compared to other sources, this book clearly defines certain genres in the Brazilian music world.  The authors took time to give examples and instruct the reader in such a way that was beneficial, not redundant.  The structure consists of ten chapters, each discussing a specific genre.  This book really starts out at square one, making it open to all audiences, professionals and students.  The special features include a glossary, which was very helpful, a select bibliography, select discography, and an index.   

Perrone, Charles A., and Christopher Dunn, eds.  Brazilian Popular Music and Globalization.  Gainesville:  University Press of Florida, 2001.

Brazilian Popular Music and Globalization is a collection of articles that directly relate to the globalization of Brazilian music.  Each author takes a different genre and applies a different perspective of globalization to that specific genre.  This book requires a somewhat more knowledgeable reader to fully understand the context being discussed, though the authors of individual articles tend to provide background information for their particular subject matter.   It is personally recommended for those exploring the globalization aspects of Brazilian music.

The outline of this book is clearly divided in separate articles, all relating to the globalization of Brazil.  Compared to other books on this topic, this one can certainly stand-alone; it provides a more in-depth look into the topics of globalization.  This is why a prior education is recommended.  Special features include notes at the end of each article and a finial index.

Rodrigues, Jose Honorio.  Brazil and Africa.  Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1965.

This book focuses on the direct effects of Brazil to Africa and Africa to Brazil. The section “The Brazilian Image of Africa” strongly relates Brazil’s initial thoughts and opinions of Africans with that of Britain’s.  The Brazilian image of “deformed, horrible, cruel, ferocious… Negroes (6)” was first held by the British. These close-minded views were the reason for slave trade from Africa in Brazil.  Going on to the section of African Contribution, it is made evident that by this slave trade, the Brazilians adapted many aspects of African culture, “Both whites and Indians underwent a definite Africanization-in food, dress, language, music, religion, and folklore (45).” In return, they contribute to the African way of life, not only in terms of cultural, but in economic terms as well.

This book is defiantly for people with some education in Brazil.  The text has vocabulary that is difficult to understand because of its caliber.  The organization of the book helps in the ease of reading in that it is specifically categorized and easy to navigate. That is an exceptional plus, considering the content.  Although it is not recommended for general research, it was easier to read and gave more information on Brazilian links to Africa than most sources I have used.

This book is divided into two parts, both of which are further divided into multiple sections.  The main sections that were used were “The Brazilian Image of Africa,” “The African Contribution,” and “The Brazilian Contribution to Africa.”

Senie, Harriet.  "Public Art in Brazil" Sculpture.  17.  #2.  Feb 1998.  38-44.

“Public Art in Brazil” discusses individual cities that hold significant sculptures.  It gives specific details on why that particular sculpture holds value within that culture.  Cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, and Sao Paulo are all addressed.  The importance of this article is reflected in the examples and explanations given to support the value placed on each piece of art.  This allows that reader to sample one aspect of art in Brazil: sculpture.  A previous understanding of art, especially sculptures, would be needed to fully gain the author's insight.

Although limited in number of locations, this article provides a good overview of Brazilian sculptures.  The subject covered in this article is very specific making this article unique.  With its individuality, it cannot be

competed with.  Each city holds it's own section of the article, making it quite easy to distinguish between cities.  The special features include color photographs and an ending section of notes.

Sullivan, Edward J., ed..  Brazil: Body and Soul.   New York:  Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 2001.

Brazil: Body and Soul is based on a Brazilian art exhibition.  "Brazil: Body and Soul begins with a consideration of the view from the outside (7)."  It takes the world of Brazilian art and puts in on display for those who would otherwise never witness Brazilian art.  Many aspects of art were considered when composing the exhibition as well as the book.  It is a collection of works from all spectrums of Brazilian art: Afro-Brazilian to Modern to Contemporary, and more.  It touches on each form of art, and discusses its importance.  It is a wonderful source for all people, on the outside and inside of the art world. 

The topics are divided into distinct sections, equipped with color pictures and background information on that particular genre of art.  All education levels can benefit highly from this book.  It is scholarly and easy to read.  It holds the key to beginning to understand Brazilian art from many different angles.  This book holds its own when compared to other collections of art.  It explains ideas and concepts better than most sources I have used.  It is an amazing collaboration of ideas.

Sullivan, Edward J., ed..  Latin American Art in the Twentieth Century.  London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1996.

Latin American Art in the Twentieth Century is an overview of art in all Latin American countries.  The section most focused on in this study was that of Brazil.  This section reviewed all art periods in Brazil, giving information about that area as well as the particular art that was given.  Full colored, two-dimensional views are presented to give a better understanding of that particular type of art.