Rafael José de Menezes Bastos, Les Batutas, 1922

Abstract

In 1922, Os Batutas spent six months in Paris, playing in night clubs and parties. The group was under the direction of Pixinguinha and included Donga, composer of Pelo Telefone’s music. The trip is a little-known episode in the history of Brazilian popular music, with important consequences for Pixinguinha’s career and the future of Brazilian popular music. The article approaches it as the departure phase toward Pixinguinha’s consecration, pointing to the necessity to understand popular music as a crucial language of the system of relationships of modern nation-states, with articulated local, regional, national and global nexuses. Here art, folk and popular music are considered as universes in communication and phonography a constitutive process. The reconstruction of the journey is made through the reading of French newspapers and other texts of the time.

Resumo

Em 1922, Os Batutas passaram seis meses em Paris, tocando em casas noturnas e festas. O grupo era dirigido por Pixinguinha e incluía Donga, autor da música de Pelo Telefone. A viagem é um episódio pouco conhecido da história da música popular brasileira, com fortes conseqüências para a carreira de Pixinguinha e o futuro dessa música. O artigo a vê como etapa fundante no sentido da consagração de Pixinguinha, apontando para a necessidade de compreender a música popular como linguagem estratégica do sistema de relações dos Estados-nações modernos, com nexos locais, regionais, nacionais e globais. Aí, as músicas erudita, folclórica e popular são vistas como universos em comunicação e a fonografia como processo constitutivo de todas. A reconstituição da viagem é feita com base na leitura de jornais franceses e outros textos da época.

Résumé

In 1922, Os Batutas spent six months in Paris, playing in night clubs and parties. The group was under the direction of Pixinguinha and included Donga, composer of Pelo Telefone’s music. The trip is a little-known episode in the history of Brazilian popular music, with important consequences for Pixinguinha’s career and the future of Brazilian popular music. The article approaches it as the departure phase toward Pixinguinha’s consecration, pointing to the necessity to understand popular music as a crucial language of the system of relationships of modern nation-states, with articulated local, regional, national and global nexuses. Here art, folk and popular music are considered as universes in communication and phonography a constitutive process. The reconstruction of the journey is made through the reading of French newspapers and other texts of the time.