Reconversion and acclaim: paths of art musicians and appreciation of popular Brazilian music
The comparative analysis of paths here represents a basis for questioning the very notion of acclaim, its mutations and mediations, through the lens of nationalist mass culture, promoted starting in the 1930s in Brazil. While the almost canonical path of Villa-Lobos, the “Brazilian genius, ” seems obvious, it is surprising to note that the “reconversion from the ground up” of Radamés Gnattali in popular Brazilian music would also end up bearing its fruits a few decades later. He would achieve national recognition as the “civilizer” of popular music on the radio, reaching national and international acclaim in the field of art music, all this in the context of a reconfiguration of the relations between popular music and art music starting in the 1950s, then in the context of the military dictatorship in the 1960s.