International » Brazilian Traditions » Tropicalia

In the late '60s, a new Brazilian popular music arose in direct reaction to social complacency stemming from the coup of 1964 and the musical clichés of pop music. The music that arose, Tropicalia, is bound together more by an ideology of social awareness and the drive to be musically creative than by any single set of musical characteristics. Comparing the songs of tropicalia musicians, it can be discerned that the greatest common bond is in the lyrics, which are well thought-out, keyed to musical events of the accompaniment, poetic, elegant, and above all, socially aware. But tropicalia lasted for only a few years -- the style expanded and is better known today as musica popular Brasileira (MPB) .