Authorship and co-authorship (parceria) in samba: creative articulations and social boundaries <br> doi:10.5429/2079-3871(2010)v1i2.9en

Abstract

Since the birth of the Brazilian music recording and broadcast industry, the production of popular music has involved a contradictory and ambiguous process of articulation AND cleavage between "high" and "low" culture. Collaborative creative processes and co-authorship – parceria, partnership, in Portuguese – constituted, specially in samba circles, a space of intense aesthetic and economic negotiation involving composers from different social levels and offering asymmetrical opportunities of financial reward and public recognition. These issues are discussed by focusing on the so-called “golden era” of samba, 1928-1945, with additional remarks on the period that started with the bossa nova, from the 1960’s onwards.