'We Feel Something'

Music, Politics, and Emotion Under Authoritarianism

Abstract

On February 11, 1965, less than one year after the outset of the Brazilian military dictatorship, singer Maria Bethânia assumed one of the principal roles in the musical theater piece Opinião in Rio de Janeiro. Taking over for Nara Leão, who helped conceive the play, Bethânia was celebrated by fans, especially for her performance of co-star João do Vale’s song ‘Carcará.’ The song’s lyrics invoke imagery of the Brazilian northeast, home region of both Vale and Bethânia, and the performance includes a spoken statistical report on the migration of people from the northeast to the southern cities. Although the song’s composer denied that the song was an act of protest or political commentary, General Riograndino Kruel, then head of the Federal Police, identified it as one of the ‘subversive’ elements in the show that needed to be cut. This call to censorship contradicted the censor board’s 1964 approval of the show, during Nara Leão’s run as star. This article analyzes singer Maria Bethânia’s participation in Opinião to consider the potential for musical performance to engender political community by affective means. Drawing on archival materials and interviews conducted with audience members and participants, I argue that Bethânia’s performances were the catalyst for the formation of an oppositional ‘community of feeling,’ a collective predicated the expression of negative emotional energy toward the nascent authoritarian state. I show how audience members’ and critics’ affective response to Bethânia’s performance evidenced a shift in the tenor of the public for Opinião, which subsequently raised the suspicions of the military government. Additionally, I investigate how the dictatorship’s repressive response illustrates the possibilities and limits of a community formed through musical performance.

Photo caption: Maria Bethania in the show Opinião, at Teatro de Arena, São Paulo, 1965. (Public domain / Arquivo Nacional Collection)