From Fusion to Funk

Abstract

This chapter investigates how Brazilian musicians adjusted their approach to appealing to audiences in the United States and the United Kingdom once the Brazilian military dictatorship descended into the “Leaden Years.” Many Brazilian musicians sought to affiliate themselves with sounds that more directly linked them to the African diaspora and the Otherness of Brazilian indigeneity. Drawing on the coverage of this music in major music periodicals of the era, it shows the ways that attention to Brazilian music changed after the height of bossa nova. It features close discussions of the penetration of Brazilian musicians into the jazz fusion and funk scenes, including analyses of landmark recordings by Milton Nascimento, Sérgio Mendes, Airto Moreira, Flora Purim, and Deodato.