Daniel Alejandro Arevalo-Rivers

Music History
Term Project Paper
Danza kuduro
(Brazil influence in American culture)

1. Introduction to interviewee
a. Vanessa Andrade
2. Why immigrated
a. Immigration in the U.S
b. Process of Immigration
3. Background
a. Comparison of Brazilian life to U.S life
4. Social Issues
a. Drugs
b. Family Traditions
5. Art/Music
a. Bossa Nova
b. MPB
c. Sertanejo
d. Pagode
e. Forro
6. Song
a. Ai Se Eu Te Pego by Michel Telo
7. Pt of View
a. Influence of Brazilian Music in the U.S
8. Conclusion
9. Bibliography

Danza Kuduro
(Brazil influence in American culture)
1.

The Federative Republic of Brazil is one of the five largest countries in the world, it is

the largest in South America and Latin America, Music has been a real influence in the
Brazilian community, it has incorporated various music styles in its culture. Brazil has over
500 years of music culture in its history, it has been influenced by African, European, and
Amerindian cultures, some of the examples that have been formed in their society were:
bossa nova, pagode, sertanejo, MPB and forro, those are only some of the many that they
have.

1a.

For this paper an interview was done with someone from this country, her name is:

Vanessa Andrade, she moved to the United States from Sao Paulo, Brazil, when she was
fourteen, Vanessa was influenced by music and soccer since she was really young, she would
tell stories about how people would dance samba, and how they had this dance where they
would go around a bottle of beer, she said that it was one of her favorite memories because of
the energy and happiness people have, even though they did not have much in the part where
she was from.

2.

She and her family moved here because her parents wanted to give her a better

education, Vanessa after she moved to the United States struggled with English. At the
beginning it was hard for her to get use to the American traditions and school. But her mother
started teaching her English with country music; she said that in Brazil she was always
influenced by the music, since she lived on one of the biggest cities in brazil where music
was a big factor.

The type of music that they used to learn how to speak English with was: country and music
from the 80s and the 90s she was mainly influenced by country music. She became a big fan
as she put it; she likes the old country music not the new ones. She likes artist like for
example: Tim McGraw, Johnny Cash, Blake Shelton and her favorite song is Ill Be by Reba
McIntyre; she liked it so much that she used it for her wedding song.

2a.

It is a great example of why people immigrate to the united states, they are just trying

to get a better life and to have a better way of culture. There are over eighty one million
people, that is 26 percent of the total population of the United States that is formed by
immigrants, and their children that have been born in the United States.

Immigrants have been a big part of the United States, since it was formed and separated from
England and became its own country. The United States has had millions of immigrants come
in. Since it first started been documented in the year 1860 to the year 1920 the United States
fluctuated in population between 13 to 15 percent, mainly due to high european population at
the time.

2b.

As per Vanessa she is a naturalized citizen in the United States, in the year of 2014

there have been over 20 million people that have been naturalized, the process of
naturalization depends on the situation. You either have parent that were born in the United
States, and before you turn eighteen, you can get automatically naturalized once you enter the
United States, or you go through the process of Naturalization that is a little longer, you have
to be at least 18 years old and to be a legal resident in the united states for 5 years, and to
have a permanent address in the United States for that time period. You have to pass a
background check and pass several tests in order for you to become a citizen.

3.

Vanessa is still happily married and lives in salt lake city and works as a bank

customer service agent, she has been living in the united states for over 14 years, and she has
never been back to brazil even though she really wants to go back to visit, she has gone to
school but she did not finish after she got married, she has worked as a manager in several
call centers and jewelry stores, and she has tried to keep her family heritage with her parents
that had two more children here in the United States.

3a.

The United States has several similarities to Brazil, the United States was the first to

recognize Brazilian independence, they both have big cities by the coast where most people
reside. The United States and Brazil are two of the biggest producers of soybeans in the
world, they both have similar ethnicities and racial groups, they both have a large number of
minorities and indigenous people, they both have a big afro American population, as well as
Asian and European, they are both big on commercial and industrial production, and like for
example the city of new Orleans has a the biggest number of afro Americans in the United
States, also the biggest city for influence in Jazz; the city of Salvador in brazil has the biggest
number of afro Americans in the country, and its the biggest influence for tropicalia music
in brazil, so you can starts to notice the similarities of course they have their differences like
for example the language they also have different types of music.
4.

Brazil has several social issues today, like for example poverty. The 10 percent of the

poorest populations only has access to 1% of the total country's population, lack of education
some of the poorest parts of brazil do not get the same level of education even though the
primary levels of educations are free in the country, some of the families prefer to have their
children work as soon as possible.

4. a

Crime even if it is always an issue in big cities, it has been particular in Brazil there

are muggings, kidnappings, robbing because of the gangs, and there is a huge issue due to
drugs in the country. A large population of it is addicted to crack cocaine, this has been a
problem since 1990 but in the past six years it has exploited. It makes borders with some of
the biggest cocaine producers in the world.
It is very similar to the problems that the United States had in the 1980s. Brazil has been
trying to treat these issues by spending millions of dollars for health treatments in the
communities to help addicts.
4b.

An issues that is not as big as the ones back in brazil is the one that was pointed out

by Vanessa that is family culture and traditions her family always tries to keep her family
together like they use to. But they have been separated for this, since they have had some
issues in their family costumes.

5.

Brazil has one of the most rich countries in culture it is very famous around the world

and it makes one of the biggest vacation locations in the world it is very reach in music,
cuisine and literature. The main culture of Brazil is the Portuguese culture, since it was
colonized by Portugal. So Brazil has several traits that they share with Portugal, with the
main religion been Roman Catholic, and that it has had a form of influence in their arts and
architecture since they have several building from the colonial times, and in the other half
there is a big influence by the indigenous.
5a.

Music is a big cultural trait that Brazil. One of the genres of music in Brazil is Bossa

Nova that is very similar to samba but it is more about the melody than the precaution. The
name bossa nova actually means new trend and this genre was introduced in the 1950s, and
1960s, and it is well known in Brazil. It is described as a combination of samba and jazz, and
in the 1960s it was very big between the youth in Brazil.

5b.

MPB or Msica popular brazileira (popular Brazilian music) this is a trend that came

after bossa nova, that consist of a combination of popular samba music, and combining it
with jazz and rock, the term is mainly used to describe any Brazilian music.
5c.

Sertanejo is a music style that originated from the countryside of Brazil, and it has

been one of the biggest genres in the country. Normally it consists of duos of a person serving
as a main singer, and another serving as a backup.
5d.

Pagode is another huge music genre in Brazil that originated in Rio de Janeiro, and

like most music from Brazil has originated from samba, and it is now and day consider the
pop music version of Brazil, since it has been used from several commercial lines.
5e.

in the northern parts of Brazil, Forro was created and it is very well known as a

dancing genre in Brazil and it consist of a various types of musical beats and it has a lot of
influence in religious music, also it is the type of music that is used for June festivals for the
Catholic Church.
6.

Ai Se Eu Te Pego by Michel Telo it is a very well know in brazil, this version was

made using another version from the original artist that wrote it: Sharon Ancioly and Antonio
Dyggs and it has been changed (remix) by several bands. But it was finally made
international with the version from Michel Telo, it is a version of Sertanejo and it was
released back in 2011.
6a.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcm55lU9knw

7.

The main point of view of this type of culture is that it is a huge country more now

that a research was done for this paper, you start to realize the similarities of this country with
our own, on how the problems that it has resembles the ones that we have. It is another
country another language but the similarities with our issues and with our music and our
culture are really big.

7a.Some of the influences that it has in the American community is not only in its music but
also in other part of subcultures, like for example: in music there have been versions of
samba released by American artist, like the music group black eye peas when they released
their version of the song mas que nada from samba singer Sergio Mendez.
Another one has been the great influence over dancing, that it has with the samba and the
capo eida that is also seen as a sport in some groups, in the United States since it was meant
to be a way of self defense.

8.

In conclusion brazil has an influence not only with its music, but also with its culture

all throughout the world, not only in the united states with their many ways of music and
dancing, and how their cultures has several ethnicities has a way to relate to different
countries just like the united states does just with a little more samba.

Bibliography

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Brazil
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil
http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/frequently-requested-statistics-immigrants-andimmigration-united-states?gclid=CJjqlv6O-c0CFQIOaQodfy4Blw
http://www.economist.com/blogs/americasview/2010/08/comparing_brazil_and_united_states

http://www.brazil.org.za/social-issues.html
http://www.npr.org/2013/01/01/168072712/brazils-drug-epidemic-welcome-to-crackland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bossa_nova
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%BAsica_popular_brasileira
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%BAsica_sertaneja
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagode
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forr%C3%B3