Theatre of the Oppressed

In 1964, President João Goulart of Brazil was pushed out in a coup d’état, and the event ignited a military rebellion that would last for 21 years. Senior commanders of the Brazilian Army acted with the support of the Catholic Church to remove Goulart and establish a new militant regime. The period was marked by human rights violations and dictatorship-style control. As often occurs during periods of repression and unrest, artists emerged as political rebels, finding unique ways to bypass censorship laws and express dissent. During the 1960s and 1970s, Brazil’s artists challenged the status quo by questioning the social and political norms of their time, deconstructing them, and creating lasting and meaningful discourse with the shards. By subverting the norms of art, music, education, and literature, individuals like Augusto Boal and Lygia Pape decentered authority during a time when those with power wielded it with impunity.

One of these expressions of rebellion came in the form of music. The Tropicália movement merged popular and avant-garde styles of music to celebrate Brazilian culture while subtly critiquing Brazilian politics. The movement drew from the concept of “antropofagia,” an idea developed by Brazilian poet Oswald de Andrade, who asserted that Brazil’s greatest strength was its ability to draw from many cultures.