the black admiral (o mestre-sala dos mares): racial issues in popular music during brazilian...

Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2017216

Lucio&Oliveira,&PhD&student&5&[email protected]&&UCLA&Department&of&Political&Science&Center&for&the&Study&of&Race,&Ethnicity&and&Politics&

THE BLACK ADMIRAL (O MESTRE-SALA DOS MARES): RACIAL ISSUES IN

POPULAR MUSIC DURING BRAZILIAN DICTATORSHIP

Introduction

Brazilian military dictatorship ruled the country from 1964 to 1985. During this period,

popular music composers were targeted by the Censorship Department, and mandatorily,

every song had its lyrics reviewed. Many times the composers should modify titles,

sentences, expressions and words that were classified as critiques, protest against the

authoritarian regime.

In order to communicate their critiques, and at the same time trying to escape from the

censorship, many artists mixed elements of samba in their songs, since that music genre

was widely accepted and perceived as lacking political features; although that is not

completely true for the whole history of samba (2000). The joyful rhythms of samba

along with lyrics embedded with dubious meanings, irony and allegoric mentions of a

society living under repression, constituted a very effective strategy to resist and fight

against dictatorship.

Originally created by blacks during the slavery period, samba, first was categorized by

the Brazilian white elite as a sound aberration produced by an inferior, uncivilized part of

the population (2005). In the 1960s, Samba, was already a music genre officially

promoted as the original cultural expression of a race mixed country. Due to its

established sociocultural status, samba was a useful musical weapon to speak out and

disguise denounces against the violent repression installed in Brazil.

Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2017216

Lucio&Oliveira,&PhD&student&5&[email protected]&&UCLA&Department&of&Political&Science&Center&for&the&Study&of&Race,&Ethnicity&and&Politics&The present paper analyzes the motivations of the Censorship Department in censoring a

song composed in 1974, initially entitled “O Almirante Negro”1, later altered to “O

Mestre-Sala dos Mares”2. The lyrics contain a strong poetic narrative of an episode

characterized by racism, authoritarianism and violence, occurred in Brazilian Navy in

1910, known as “Revolta da Chibata”3. Both the title and the lyrics pay tribute to the

leader of the revolt: the black mariner João Cândido Felisberto; who led the crew of two

battleships and six vessels in fighting against racism, physical punishment and

humiliation against blacks serving in Brazilian Navy in the beginning of the twentieth

century.

I will use the method of lyrical analysis based on Perry (2004), to identify strategies used

by the composer to communicate the episode of the revolt and the role of its leader, as

inspiration for the Brazilians oppressed by the dictatorship since the coup d’état in 1964.

Perry (2004) discuss some specifics categories in hip-hop lyric style and messaging like

exhortation / proclamation, battle, realism, illustrating with pieces of lyrics, mentions to

particular artists’ status in hip-hop US scene, and she offers interesting and insightful

exploration of the possible meanings in the lyrics. While analyzing the lyrics, I will shed

lights on the implicit reasons, also exploring meanings, making interpretations to explain

an aversive and racist reaction of the Censorship Department, while censoring this song.

The Revolt of the Whip and the Black Admiral, João Cândido Felisberto

The Revolt of the Whip was a rebellion led by black mariners in Brazilian Navy in 1910

with the objective to put an end in physical punishments on them. Accordingly to Morel

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&1&The&Black&Admiral&2&Mestre5Sala&is&a&main&figure&of&Carnaval&parades&in&some&states&of&Brazil.&The&biggest&and&more&traditional&Carnaval&parades&take&place&annually&in&Rio&de&Janeiro.&3&Revolt of the Whip&

Lucio&Oliveira,&PhD&student&5&[email protected]&&UCLA&Department&of&Political&Science&Center&for&the&Study&of&Race,&Ethnicity&and&Politics&(1963), physical punishments were abolished in Brazilian Navy one day after the

Proclamation of the Republic (1889) and were restored one year after (1890) based on a

decree never officially published by the Ministry of Armed Force; nevertheless, the Navy

reestablished physical punishments in the following terms:

"For slight faults, imprisonment in solitary confinement for one to five days, on bread

and water; repeated slight faults, ditto, for six days, at least; grave misconduct, twenty-

five lashes, at least" (Nascimento, 2008, Pg. 163)

The reestablishment of such violent measures brought back practices from the slavery

period that had been recently abolished in 1888. High hierarchy officials (most of them

whites) could apply physical punishments in case of faults committed by mariners, which

at that period in Brazilian Navy were mostly blacks from low-class status.

The revolt happened from November 22nd to 27th in Rio de Janeiro, at that time the

federal capital of Brazil. The outbreak of the revolt was the punishment applied to the

black mariner Marcelino Rodriguez Menezes, in the battleship Minas Gerais (Morel,

1963). For wounding another mariner with a razor Marcelino was punished with two

hundred and fifty lashes. As if the physical punishment of twenty-five lashes regulatory

minimum would not been already absurd, the officials applied two hundred and fifty

lashes in Marcelino, with the presence of the whole crew, accompanied by the sound of

drums.

These rituals of punishments in the battleships also were a form for instilling obedience

in the crew through fear. The severity of Marcelino’s punishment was considered

unacceptable and provoked a strong indignation in the crew of two other battleships.

Lucio&Oliveira,&PhD&student&5&[email protected]&&UCLA&Department&of&Political&Science&Center&for&the&Study&of&Race,&Ethnicity&and&Politics&One week after this episode, at Baía da Guanabara in the city Rio de Janeiro, in the night

of November 22nd, the mariners of the Minas Gerais battleship started a mutiny, killing

four officers (including the commander Batista das Neves) that resisted to pass the

control of the ship to them (Granato, 2000). The revolt had started and the leader, João

Cândido Felisberto, released an ultimatum in which threatened to open fire on the city of

Rio de Janeiro, then the Federal Capital of Brazil:

"The government must stop with physical punishment in Brazilian Navy. We also require

quality improvement of the food served to us, mariners… Finally, the government must

give amnesty to all of us participating in this mutiny. Otherwise, we will bombard the

city, within 12 hours" (Morel, 1963, Pg. 54-55)

Four days later, on November 26th, the government of the president marshal Hermes da

Fonseca declared to accept the demands of the mutineers, abolishing physical punishment

and to grant amnesty. The mutineers of two battleships and of the six vessels, then,

dropped off their weapons and surrendered. However, two days later, on the 28th, a new

decree was published, discharging about 200 mariners from the Navy, under the charge

of "insubordination and indiscipline".

The Black Admiral, as the press called him later, was admitted to a mental institution in

April 1911, as crazy and homeless. He and ten colleagues would only be judged and

acquitted of the charges two years later, on December 1, 1912. He died in 1969, poor,

with no job and any kind of retirement or income, since the Navy classified João Cândido

as traitor.

João Cândido Felisberto: The Black Admiral’s Ghost

Lucio&Oliveira,&PhD&student&5&[email protected]&&UCLA&Department&of&Political&Science&Center&for&the&Study&of&Race,&Ethnicity&and&Politics&In 1958, the journalist Edmar Morel (1912-1989) published a book entitled “Revolta da

Chibata”4. Since 1910 the episode was being reported by the Brazilian Navy as “simply

an episode of indiscipline and disrespect to official hierarchy” (Martins, 1988, Pgs. 128-

129). Morel’s book brought to the public a divergent version for the first time, revealing

controversial aspects of the revolt.

Morel (1963) describes João Cândido as a hero that fought for freedom and human rights

guarantee; a black mariner commanded by white officers, but not ignorant and

undisciplined, as the Navy portrayed him officially. Although illiterate, during trips to

developed countries at the time, like England (1908) and Russia (1907), he was able to

capture precisely how he and his colleagues were submitted to a regime of brutality.

Mariners in England and Russia were respected, did have freedom of expression and

rights guaranteed in the disciplinary code. The Navy in those countries no longer adopted

physical punishment, considered degrading.

Inspired by the reading of Morel’s “Revolta da Chibata”, in 1974 Aldir Blanc wrote the

song “O Almirante Negro” to honor João Cândido. At that year the Censorship

Department still monitored all record labels – a few companies dominated music

industry, so the task was not so hard (Araújo, 2002). If any song lyrics would be

considered offensive to the authoritarian regime, potentially disturbing for the national

order, artists, musicians and composers, sometimes accompanied by lawyers hired by the

record labels, would have to present themselves personally to be interrogated. For

instance, words like “red”, “blood” in lyrics could raise suspicion about a reference to

Communism and arbitrarily a song would be censored.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&4&The Revolt of the Whip&

Lucio&Oliveira,&PhD&student&5&[email protected]&&UCLA&Department&of&Political&Science&Center&for&the&Study&of&Race,&Ethnicity&and&Politics&Aldir Blanc had several songs censored during the dictatorship, but “O Almirante Negro”

came to be a peculiar situation, since the Censorship Department continued to censor the

music, even after several modifications were made. In an interview from 2007 he narrates

the last and scared (sic) visit to the Censorship Department as it follows:

“My last trip to the Censorship Department…touched me deeply. One guy, playing the

tough... hands on his waist… I was sat down in a chair and he stood very close to me...

the gun in the holster was about three inches from my nose. Then another guy, playing

the ‘nice one’, roughly said:

- You do not understand, then ... you keep changing words like ’revolt’, ’blood’, etc.’…

there is nothing going wrong with such terms...

I asked, politely, if he could clarify the situation for me … I heard, terrified to the answer,

in a lower voice, throaty, full of mystery, as if someone warns you about danger:

- The problem is that black thing, black, black...” (Blanc, 2007)5

Unintentionally, sixty-four years later, Blanc reopened a case of institutional racism

never openly discussed in Brazil.

Now I will proceed to discuss the alterations made in the song. In doing so, we will be

able to identify what exactly upset the militaries and the strategies used by the composer

to modify the lyrics, while trying to not remove the initial message of honoring “The

Black Admiral”.

The lyrics in its original and modified form after Censorship Department:

O Almirante Negro

(original lyrics)

O Mestre-Sala dos Mares

(lyrics altered and authorized for

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&5&Blanc&interview&for&www.censuramusical.com&


1) Há muito tempo nas águas da Guanabara

2) O dragão do mar reapareceu

3) Na figura de um bravo marinheiro (sailor)

4) A quem a história não esqueceu

5) Conhecido como o almirante negro (black admirer)

6) Tinha a dignidade (dignity) de um mestre-sala

7) E ao navegar pelo mar com seu bloco de fragatas (with his parade of ships)

8) Foi saudado no porto pelas mocinhas francesas

9) Jovens polacas e por batalhões de mulatas

10) Rubras cascatas jorravam das costas (red waterfalls gushed out from…)

11) dos negros pelas pontas das chibatas (…the back of the blacks, beaten by the whips)

12) Inundando o coração de toda tripulação (filling out the hearts of all the crew)

13) Que a exemplo do marinheiro (sailor) gritava então

14) Glória aos piratas, às mulatas, às sereias

15) Glória à farofa, à cachaça, às baleias

16) Glória a todas as lutas inglórias

17) Que através da nossa história

18) Não esquecemos jamais

19) Salve o almirante (admiral) negro

publishing)

1) Há muito tempo nas águas da Guanabara

2) O dragão do mar reapareceu

3) Na figura de um bravo feiticeiro (wizard)

4) A quem a história não esqueceu

5) Conhecido como o navegante negro (black navigator)

6) Tinha a dignidade de um mestre-sala

7) E ao acenar (to wave) pelo mar na alegria das regatas (enjoying the parade)

8) Foi saudado no porto pelas mocinhas francesas

9) Jovens polacas e por batalhões de mulatas

10) Rubras cascatas jorravam das costas (red waterfalls gushed out from…)

11) dos santos entre cantos e chibatas (the back of saints between chants and whips)

12) Inundando o coração do pessoal do porão (filling out the hearts of all people in the ship’s basement)

13) Que a exemplo do feiticeiro (wizard) gritava então

14) Glória aos piratas, às mulatas, às sereias

15) Glória à farofa, à cachaça, às baleias

16) Glória a todas as lutas inglórias

17) Que através da nossa história


20) Que tem por monumento

21) As pedras pisadas do cais

22) Mas faz muito tempo

18) Não esquecemos jamais

19) Salve o navegante (navigator) negro

20) Que tem por monumento

21) As pedras pisadas do cais

22) Mas faz muito tempo

The modification in the title, as we can see below, is “Mestre-Sala dos Mares”, instead of

“O Almirante Negro”. “Mestre-Sala” is a main / masculine figure that goes in front of the

Carnaval parades organized by a particular Escola de Samba6. The “Mestre-Sala” has his

feminine partner that is called “Porta-Bandeira”, and both must demonstrate high

abilities in dancing, as their performance may add or take off points from the bloc party’s

score. Changing to “Mestre-Sala” and adding “…dos Mares”7, Blanc kept the association

with blackness through the use of a Carnaval parade main figure, although he had to

substitute the military title “admirer” for an allegory associated with the sea. It is possible

to see his effort to communicate the particular importance of João Cândido, but not

directly related to the military hierarchy.

In “What The Music Said”, Michael Anthony Neal (1991) explains that in the United

States, during the mid-60 and 70’s, soul and funk lyrics constituted a particular way

through which the artists translated critical aspects of black public sphere to the audience.

Moreover, it was an effective way to sustain the fight for true democracy and racial

equality.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&6&Historical&bloc&parties&established&by&blacks&in&the&mid5twentieth&century&Rio&de&Janeiro.&7&Meaning&from&the&ocean&

Lucio&Oliveira,&PhD&student&5&[email protected]&&UCLA&Department&of&Political&Science&Center&for&the&Study&of&Race,&Ethnicity&and&Politics&Neal (1991) emphasizes that music carries aesthetical aspects that may be embedded with

political critiques. For instance, Marvin Gaye’s 1981 “What’s Going On” raised

questions of national concern for the whole US society and at the same time informed

how African-Americans in the 80s still had to face a context of oppression in US society.

It is important to highlight that this album was a blockbuster and still is Marvin’s most

acclaimed albums – if not the most – proving that his message probably was very

accurate to a global context.

Although Blanc was not intentionally addressing racial issues in his song, the adverse

reaction of the Censorship Department indicates that the song was perceived as

potentially causing disturbance in the Brazilian pseudo-racial democracy. An aspect that

reinforces this hypothesis is the fact that the department was expecting Blanc to realize

through implicit clues (e.g.: initially asking him to change others words, instead of the

ones related to blacks) that to make apology to blacks in Brazil would not be accepted.

Considering the space and time allowed for the present paper, and with the purpose of try

to make an accurate analysis, I will restrict the lyrical analysis discussing the modified

verses more relevant in terms of the interplay between politics and racial issues.


O Almirante Negro (original title, lyrics) 3)Na figura de um bravo marinheiro (sailor)!!5) Conhecido como o almirante negro (black admirer)!!7) Tinha a dignidade (dignity) de um mestre-sala [popular culture recognized as high art form]!!11) Rubras cascatas jorravam das costas (red waterfalls gushed out from…) dos negros pelas pontas das chibatas (…the back of the blacks, beaten by the whips)

O Mestre-Sala dos Mares (altered title, lyrics)

3) Na figura de um bravo feiticeiro (wizard) 5) Conhecido como o navegante negro (black navigator) 7)Tinha a dignidade (dignity) de um mestre-sala 11) Rubras cascatas jorravam das costas (red waterfalls gushed out from…) dos santos entre cantos e chibatas (…the back of saints between chants and whips)


Verse 3

Before: “Na figura de um bravo marinheiro” [“in the figure of a brave mariner”]

After: “Na figura de um bravo feiticeiro” [“in the figure of a brave wizard”]

Verse 5

Before: “Conhecido como o almirante negro (black admirer) [“know as the black admiral“]

After: “Conhecido como o navegante negro (black navigator) [“know as the black navigator]

In verse 3 having the word “mariner” substituted for “wizard” and in verse 5, “admiral”

for “navigator”, the purpose of the censorship was, again, to suppress any meaning of

association of João Cândido with a military hierarchy. “Wizard” also may be interpreted

as giving a status of an evil person, not reliable to be portrayed as national hero.

Additionally, considering the historical and unfortunately ongoing prejudice in Brazil

against afro-religion practices, “wizard” suggests blacks are inclined to use things like

“black magic” and deviated behaviors.

Verse 7

Before and After: Tinha a dignidade de um mestre-sala [Had the dignity of a mestre-sala]

This verse was not altered. The expression “mestre-sala” was not the initial title of the

song, so, when using the above expression – that is a main figure of the Carnaval parades

- related to the word “dignity”, we may observe the composer promoting samba popular

culture and recognizing it as a real art form. If we consider that the title was altered in

Lucio&Oliveira,&PhD&student&5&[email protected]&&UCLA&Department&of&Political&Science&Center&for&the&Study&of&Race,&Ethnicity&and&Politics&order to erase the relationship between a black man and the military hierarchy, “dignity”

is also a word that may be viewed as keeping the respectability of a black man for whom

the “admiral” was not allowed. Ultimately, if in verse 3 his humanity was put in doubt

and reduced to a “wizard”, the word “dignity” reestablishes him among the humankind

and reassures the has dignity. Like Morel (1963), Blanc wants to inform the audience tat

João Cândido really deserves respect of the whole Brazilian nation for what he did in the

past.

Verse 11

Before: Rubras cascatas jorravam das costas dos negros pelas pontas das chibatas [red waterfalls gushed out from the back of the blacks, beaten by the whips]

After: Rubras cascatas jorravam das costas dos santos entre cantos e chibatas [red waterfalls gushed out from the back of the saints between chants and whips]

In verse 11, “red waterfalls” refers specifically to the intensity of the violence when the

officials beaten the mariners with the whip. It is a metaphor to describe the blood running

from the back of the mariners. When charged with physical punishment, a mariner had

his hands tied to one of the ship’s mast; naked upper-body and the lashes were applied in

the back. João Cândido personally described such horrible scene during an interview in

1968 for the Museum of the Image and Sound, in Rio de Janeiro.

Apparently such metaphor did not bother the Censorship Department. Since what

changes in the modified version is in the second part – “red waterfalls gushed out from

the back of the saints between chants and whips – probably Blanc found out “saints”

as a word that would open a comparison between “blacks” and the saints of the roman

catholic church. In other words, the suffering of the black mariners could be associated

Lucio&Oliveira,&PhD&student&5&[email protected]&&UCLA&Department&of&Political&Science&Center&for&the&Study&of&Race,&Ethnicity&and&Politics&to the suffering of Jesus Christ before the crucifixion, making possible to the public to

develop sympathy by the rebels of the revolt through compassion.

My point of view about verse 11 shares some similarity with the historian Brazilian Arias

Neto (2001), when states the following:

“…is the appeal to the sensibility of the listener / reader to understand that this suffering

and humiliation suffered by the mariners, and in this sense, the revolt would completely

justified, since they are neither like Christ and nor have a divine mission to fulfill. If

Christ endured the tortures he was subjected to, is because it was part of his mission of

salvation of mankind. On the other hand, for the sailors there was no sense to face such

humiliation, then the revolt of those men against the acts of brutality by the officers is

comprehensible and justified.”

Although I agree with Arias Neto (2001) until to a certain point of this association with

Jesus Christ, I find a bit problematic going further in this direction and prefer to limit my

observation to a strategy used by the composer, which could not mention – because

censored – explicitly a suffering experienced by the black mariners.

The problem I see in investing in a comparison to Jesus Christ is exactly the risk to loose

the political elements that exists in the lyric to interpret the historical episode as both

denounce and fight against racism and violence related to it; especially because in Brazil,

historically, the Catholic Church contributed to demonize afro-Brazilian religious

practices.


Final Considerations:

In 2002 the Brazilian senator Marina da Silva8 wrote a petition to the federal government

asking amnesty and reparation – especially the amount of money retroactive to 1910 – to

the families of all mariners that participate of the revolt (2008 - UOL). The petition was

not accepted. In

2003, president Luis Inácio “Lula” da Silva granted amnesty to João Cândido and his

followers and officially declared him a national hero in fighting for democracy in Brazil.

For black Brazilians living today, the celebration of João Cândido’s figure is an annual

ritual every November. In 1974, Blanc composed the song to celebrate the Black

Admiral, using the power of the music to instill stimulus and inspiration in Brazilians

fighting against dictatorship. For the black movements, the song was always interpreted

as denounce of the living conditions of Brazilian black population in general in Brazil,

since abolition of slavery until the present day

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&8&A&senator&from&PT&(party&of&workers)&known&for&her&political&and&social&activism&to&promote&human&rights&in&Brazil.&


Bibliography:

ARIAS NETO, ARAÚJO, Paulo. Eu não sou cachorro, não: música popular cafona e ditadura militar. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Record, 2002. BLANC, Aldir. Interview for www.censuramusical.com accessed on November 18, 2011: http://www.censuramusical.com/includes/entrevistas/ALDIR_BLANC.pdf CAMPOS, Andrelino. Do quilombo à favela: a produção do "espaço criminalizado" no Rio de Janeiro. Editora Record: Rio de Janeiro, 2005 GRANATO, Fernando. O Negro da chibata (2nd edition). Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, 2000. MARTINS, Hélio. A revolta dos marinheiros, 1910. Serviço de Documentação Geral da Marinha; Rio de Janeiro, Cia. Editora Nacional: São Paulo, 1988 MOREL, Edmar. A revolta da Chibata (2nd edition, revised and expanded by the author). Editora Letras e Artes: Rio de Janeiro, 1963. NASCIMENTO, Álvaro. Cidadania, cor e disciplina na revolta dos marinheiros de 1910 Rio de Janeiro: Mauad X : FAPERJ, 2008.

NEAL, Michael A. What the music said. What the music said: Black popular music and Black public culture. NewYork: Routledge, 1999. PERRY, Imani. Prophets of the hood: politics and poetics in hip-hop. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2004. SOUZA, Jessé. A modernização seletiva: uma reinterpretação do dilema brasileiro. Brasília: Editora UnB, 2000.

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