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Not Even Past

Episode 109: The Tango and Samba

The first notes of the samba and the tango instantly capture ones attention, transporting the listener to Bahia and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and the River Plate in Argentina. Seen as national symbols for their respective countries, the samba and the tango are more than just popular musical and dance genres. A deeper dive into the development of these musical genres reveals a conflict between African slaves, indigenous people, and European migrants over musical identity and Latin American state formation.

Andreia Menezes, a linguistics and literature professor at the Federal University of São Paulo in Brazil, joins us to explain how the samba and the tango transformed from the music of the socially marginalized to an important issue for national intellectuals.

Related posts:

Episode 31: Who are the Turks? Default ThumbnailEpisode 105: Slavery and Abolition Default ThumbnailEpisode 98: Brazil’s Teatro Negro and Afro-Brazilian Identity Default ThumbnailEpisode 33: The American Revolution in Global Context, Part 2

Posted September 24, 2018 More 15 Minute History, Watch & Listen

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