Abstract

This dissertation investigates relationships between rock music and the concept of place in Brasilia, Brazil. From Saint Dom Bosco's prophetic vision in 1883 of a land of "milk and honey" to Lucio Costa's modernist and functionalist ideal of the perfect urban plan and architect Oscar Niemeyer's communist aims, Brasília has been the focus of utopian desires. Designed as an administrative capital and inaugurated in 1960, Brasília was invested with hopes for the consolidation of the Brazilian nation. Though located in Brazil's historically undeveloped interior, it has become perhaps the most cosmopolitan of the country's cities, drawing diplomats, educators, professionals, artists, and laborers from around Brazil and the world. It has also reproduced traditional socioeconomic inequalities, and its layout represents a physical testament to exclusion and discrimination.

Brasília's inhabitants have experienced both shame and pride in living in a city without the traits of emblematically Brazilian cities like Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Salvador. Brasília's traditions are still in the process of consolidation, and its identity is being forged for the first time. Its rock music production in the 1980s gained Brasília the title "Capital of Rock," and rock has played a central role in the search for and expression of a place-based identity in Brasília. Yet just as the Brasília experience does not figure into narratives of brasilidade (Brazilian-ness), rock has not been regarded as authentically Brazilian. In a nation where music is arguably the most potent producer of culture, this invisibility has deep implications.

With the current underground rock scene in Brasília as my focus, I parse the concept of place into elements that can be analyzed to understand what gives a place its identity and then trace ways rock has been influenced by Brasília and ways rock musicians have contributed to making Brasília the place it is. Using the metaphor of dark matter, I argue that rockers are carrying out utopian work, that rock has opened a space for a subject position not traditionally celebrated in the Brazilian imaginary and that Brasília should have a place in narratives of brasilidade. The accompanying CD is available through the UCLA Music Library and at http://tinyurl.com/ywe6j2.