How does one define a specific era or genre of music?
Given the challenges through advancement of musical technology, the issue of streaming over physical content in the form of CD or Vinyl, it is always interesting to go back to a more earlier and simpler time when the goal of a band would be to appear on a local television show or get a prestigious gig at a club that could well put them on the first step to bigger venues and income.
However, this doesn’t appear to be much of a dilemma to some of those bands that sprang up in Brazil at the start of the 1990s. As some of them admit in the brand-new documentary GUITAR DAYS – AN UNLIKELY STORY OF BRAZILIAN MUSIC, written and directed by Caio Augusto Bravo, it was never an option that you could make money from something that you love.
The documentary chronicles the attempts by a core group of local bands like The Cigarettes, Mickey Junkies and The Pin-Ups to play their songs in English as opposed to their native Portuguese, who realized that their own language would look at odds with the energy and spirit that the sound behind the vocal would provide.
Coupled with the international contributions of key musicians that have observed much of what makes music tick (which, even by their own admission, doesn’t conform to the formula that programmes like THE X-FACTOR aspire to each year on ITV UK), there is very much a universal reflection on how music crosses boundaries.
As in the form of the Blues influences of the USA that impacted on the now-classic works of the likes of the Beatles, Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones, there is a sense that the Manchester and Grunge scene of the 1990s in the UK and Seattle respectively had a proactive and profound effect on any number of Brazilian musicians, who were regarded as sacrilegious for rebelling against their own local influences when creating some pretty positive and ear-breaking sounds that wouldn’t look out of place in more international circles.
Music tends to evolve with a particular decade and recycles to appeal to a brand-new generation of individuals that have shunned the previous musical genre of choice. This documentary also brings up some interesting reflections on the number of short-lived festivals that emerged to promote some of these clearly talented bands that thrived through their own desire to stay individual and independent of the mainstream scene that kept to a more traditional context.
Fans of the American and British indie music scene will certainly be keen to check this documentary out, with a stirring soundtrack of contributions from the key players who created this very vibrant scene amidst great political and social challenges. At a taut and informative eight-five minutes, it is a worthy insight into a little-known aspect of the global musical canvas.
For more about the film, please click on the link below:
https://www.guitardays.com.br/en/
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