Estórias Para Voz: Jocy de Oliveira’s experimental takedown of the Brazilian dictatorship
It was April 11th, 1964, when General Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco was established as the ruler of Brazil, following a CIA-backed coup that overthrew the democratically elected government of João Goulart. The following decades would see Brazilian society, culture, and politics become increasingly restrictive, yet it also saw the emergence of multiple defiant artists, Jocy De Oliveira being a key example.
Prior to the overthrow of Goulart’s government in 1964, Brazil witnessed a vibrant and ever-expanding music scene, with Rio De Janeiro being the centrepoint of the nation’s cultural output, establishing the sounds of bossa nova, and embracing styles of samba, bolero, and cumbia from surrounding regions in South America. This sonic exploration certainly continued in the post-coup landscape, but many musical artists found themselves targeted by the authoritarian military dictatorship.
Many musicians and artists fled the country during this period, while others remained in Brazil, using the traditional sounds and heritage of Brazil to subvert the attitudes and aims of the dictatorship. When thinking about the musicians who fought against the dictatorship within their work, it is easy to focus on the extensive pool of bossa nova stars or Brazilian folk artists creating subversive and politically-charged anthems of unity and resistance, but the world of experimental composition should certainly not be ignored.
Jocy De Oliveira entered the musical world as a child, devoting herself to the mastery of the piano and even performing live with the likes of Igor Stravinsky and John Cage during her younger years. Like Cage, though, the Curitiba-born artist quickly began to experiment with instrumentation and performance. It was in 1968 when the composer gained her first experience of widespread attention with her project Teatro Probabilistico III, which subverted expectations of live performance, blurring the lines between performer and audience.
Over the next few decades, while Brazil’s military dictatorship waged on, Oliveira continued to create trailblazing multi-media compositions which acted in defiance of traditional styles of composition, establishing the musician’s unique voice and enchanting piano stylings. Arguably, the composer’s defining work arrived in 1981, when she unleashed Estórias Para Voz, Instrumentos Acústicos e Eletrônicos [Stories for Voice, Acoustic and Electronic Instruments].
An eclectic and inventive record which captured the diversity and experimentation at the heart of Oliveira’s work, the album was met with controversy upon its release. Incorporating elements of traditional Brazilian music and percussion, along with Indian raga influences and even Buddhist Shōmyō chanting, the album defied borders and cultural barriers, evoking the diverse cultures present in the composer’s hometown of Curitiba in southern Brazil.
Released in 1981, only one year before the first free elections were held in Brazil since the coup of 1964, resulting from mass demonstrations and protests, the album arrived at exactly the right moment to hold a mirror up to the restrictive and authoritarian attitudes of the nation’s rulers.
The military dictatorship oversaw countless human rights abuses, the spread of ultra-nationalist rhetoric, and the stripping away of civil liberties. Estórias Para Voz, Instrumentos Acústicos e Eletrônicos acted in defiance of that, using experimental music to capture the beauty of diversity in Brazil, and a sense of resistance against the regime, which eventually paid off. As such, Oliveira’s album is arguably among the most important cultural artefacts of 20th-century Brazil, and its intense quality and inventiveness mean the music still stands up today.
