Our example is Veloso’s 1968 song “Tropicália. Leaving behind the Brazilian song tradition that started with Noel Rosa, Veloso avoids the sentimentalism of samba canção and bossa nova. Instead, his lyrics superimpose images of airplanes, carnival, the Brazilian landscape (Chapadões are the high plains of central Brazil), with traditional instruments such as tamborim, musical styles such as Bossa Nova, and popular musicians such as Carmen Miranda, and adds loudspeakers and other contemporary imagery of his contemporary modernity. The declamatory introduction includes excerpts from Pero Vaz de Caminha’s letter to the King of Portugal in 1500, reporting on Brazil’s beautiful landscape and commercial potential. In the song, there is no sequential narrative, but elements that overlap, resulting is a collage of Brazil’s varied landscape, history, culture, and music.

Form: strophic with two parts, A and B, in which A is the verse and B, where B functions as a chorus with the text changing each time it is presented

Time Signature: 2/4

Instrumentation: percussion (several Brazilian instruments), guitar, drums set, electric guitar, bass, and keyboard