ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the utilization of soccer and popular Brazilian music as forums for the promotion of brasilidade during the Getulio Vargas era. It also examines the development of soccer and popular Brazilian music, while playing close attention to the relationship between popularization and nationalization. Race played an important role in the dynamics which led to the popularization of soccer as a national sport and the nationalization of soccer as a popular sport under the Vargas regime. Patriotism both explicit and implicit ensured that positive values of ‘the national’ would be tantamount to musical representation in an effort to dismiss historical conflict. Popular music was instrumental to Brazilian hagiography. The celebration of nationhood is closely connected to the celebration of history, authority, and peaceful coexistence. Popular music reinforced the celebration of ‘the national’ through three major themes: Brazil as a country of the future, Brazil as a melting pot, and Brazil as a country of enormous musical creativity.
