From Nationalist Rescue to Internationalist Cannibalism

Abstract

Abstract In Rio de Janeiro, the emergent street carnival revival of the past twenty years has come to rival in importance the city’s “traditional” carnival of the samba school parades. This article explores the diverse repertoire choices of Rio’s alternative brass band movement, which originated in the street carnival revival. I show how the movement, drawing on what I call the alternative carnivalesque, has transformed from a dominant preoccupation with cultural nationalism to embracing a belief that carnival should be a spontaneous space “to play anything,” including a wide diversity of international genres. I explore how musicians have drawn on Brazilian tropes and ideologies from the past century regarding international engagements, such as “rescue” and “cannibalism.” With this example, I argue for local and historicized theorizing of musical circulation rather than relying on generic theories that miss what is important to musicians in their local context.

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