River of Tears: Country Music, Memory, and Modernity in Brazil

(Duke University Press) In this ethnographic account, Dent describes the production and reception of Brazilian country music, and explains why the genre experienced tremendous growth as Brazil transitioned from an era of dictatorship to a period of neoliberal reform. He argues that rural genres reflect a widespread concern that change has been too radical and has come too quickly. Although the work of Brazil’s country musicians circulates largely in cities, the musician’s definition of their music as ‘rural’ serves to criticize an urban life characterized by suppressed emotion and inattentiveness to the past, writes Dent. The author has analyzed rural music in the state of São Paolo since 1998, spending time among listeners, musicians, songwriters, journalists, record-company owners, and radio hosts. He is an assistant professor of anthropology at George Washington University.