BRAZILIAN MUSIC AND SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS: - Elisabeth Blin

etween racial and musical issues played an important role in Tropicalia’s social
statements and hybrid music of the 1960s.
The First Samba Schools
Noel Rosa co-founded the first samba school, Deixa Falar (Let us speak), with
Ismael Silva in 1929, inaugurating the most important social phenomenon of modern
Brazilian society. Today, hundreds of samba schools gather thousands of members,
getting ready all year round for the next Carnival in different cities of Brazil. 122
The original music played in the first samba schools is called samba de morro. It is
said that the samba de morro came straight from Angola and Congo. The afoxes, or
procession groups, became part of the Carnival, reviving the African identity of Brazil in
the early twentieth century. They became a powerful tool of social expression in the
nineteen-seventies, and have remained active to this day. The oldest afoxe still in
existence was created in 1949 in Bahia. It is known as Filhos de Gandhi (Sons of
Gandhi), and perpetuates the message of non-violence and race equality of the Hindu
philosopher. 123 Gil became a member of the group in the 1960s and 70s, and has
remained a strong supporter of Filhos de Gandhi since then, which illustrates well the
syncretic and multicolor characteristics of Brazilian society and its music. 124
122 Delfino, 78-79
123 Browning, 128
124 Gil wrote a song called “Filhos de Gandhi,” recorded in 1975 with Jorge Ben on the Gil e Jorge
album (Verve 314 512 167-2)
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