Brazilian popular music, also called MPB, is a type of music that developed in Brazil after the bossa nova style. It uses traditional Brazilian music styles like samba, samba-canção, and baião, along with other regional sounds. These styles are mixed with influences from other countries, such as jazz and rock.
Many Brazilian artists have created and performed MPB music. These include Dorival Caymmi, Jorge Ben Jor, Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa, Djavan, Novos Baianos, Tom Jobim, Chico Buarque, Belchior, and Elis Regina. Each artist has developed their own unique style within MPB. The term MPB also describes music that has Brazilian roots and uses the "voice and guitar style" that became popular in the late 1960s.
MPB includes different styles, such as the short-lived but important movement called tropicália and the music of samba rock. MPB songs are known for their complex musical patterns and detailed lyrics. These lyrics connect Brazilian popular music to poetry, a tradition that has been important in Brazil since the 1920s. MPB also uses themes from Brazilian folk music to create a style that reflects Brazil's culture.
In the 1970s, these qualities made MPB respected among educated people, leading many to listen to it as an art form rather than for dancing. However, some artists, like Jorge Ben Jor, created songs that were meant for dancing. Many albums on Rolling Stone Brazil's list of the 100 greatest Brazilian albums are part of the MPB style.
History
MPB, which is a type of music, started in the mid-1960s. The name MPB was used to describe kinds of music that were not played with electric instruments and came after bossa nova became popular. MPB musicians and fans were mostly connected to students and people who studied, which is why MPB later became known as "university music." Over time, the meaning of MPB grew to include more types of music that were popular in Brazil, such as rock music, even though rock was not originally part of MPB because it came from other countries.
Like bossa nova, MPB aimed to create a type of music that was uniquely Brazilian and used traditional styles. MPB became very popular in the 1960s, especially because of TV music festivals. The start of MPB is often linked to Elis Regina singing a song called "Arrastão" written by Vinícius de Moraes and Edu Lobo. In 1965, one month after her 20th birthday, Elis performed the song on a TV show called Festival de Música Popular Brasileira. She recorded "Arrastão" and released it as a single, which became the most popular song in Brazil at that time and made Elis famous. This helped MPB reach many people in Brazil, and since then, many artists have performed in the MPB style.
During the 1960s and 1970s, Brazil had an economic boom, which meant more people had jobs and money. This allowed more people to watch TV, which helped spread MPB. TV shows like Festival de Música Popular Brasileira were very successful. Stations like TV-Record and FIC competed for viewers, which increased the number of people who listened to Brazilian Popular Music. Shows such as O Fino da Bossa and Jovem Guarda got a lot of attention and praise. O Fino da Bossa is believed to have helped create MPB. These shows led to more music festivals being broadcast on TV. These events were like competitions, and artists had to go through a long process before performing in front of judges and a live audience. These festivals helped more people watch MPB and made artists compete more for TV time and better ratings.
In the early 1970s, Brazilian telenovelas (long TV dramas) included MPB songs by famous artists like Elis Regina, Gilberto Gil, and Caetano Veloso in their soundtracks. These telenovelas were very popular, and CDs of their soundtracks often sold a lot. As MPB changed over time, telenovela soundtracks also included other types of music, such as rock and pop, even though these were not part of MPB. Some people worried that telenovelas had too much influence on Brazilian music, but they remain one of the few places where MPB is still regularly played today. Because Brazilian telenovelas became popular worldwide, their soundtracks, which include MPB songs, also sold well in other countries.
Throughout its history, MPB artists often used their music to challenge the government. For example, in 1970, Chico Buarque released a song called "Apesar de Você." The song used a story about an abusive relationship to describe how the Brazilian government was oppressive. The lyrics avoided being censored until about a year later.
In the early 1970s, the government started controlling music more strictly, limiting what artists could create. Artists who refused to follow these rules risked being forced to leave Brazil. This led to fewer new songs and artists being broadcast, and TV ratings dropped. However, TV stations and record companies tried to continue producing music that met the standards set by the 1960s festivals. One example was the TV festival Abertura, which featured new artists. Some people believed TV had a responsibility to help Brazilian music stay creative, but others argued that the best music had already been created in the 1960s and that MPB was no longer as valuable. Despite this, TV and record companies tried to recreate the 1960s festivals through different programs in the 1980s, but these efforts were only somewhat successful. In the early 2000s, the company IBM held online music festivals where the public voted for winners instead of a jury. This was more successful than earlier TV attempts but did not match the popularity of the 1960s festivals.