Walking and Singing and Following the Song

Walking and Singing examines the ways in which music has embodied, voiced, and shaped the identities of German Brazilians since the early 19th century. Their musical practices provide unique insights into the cultural, religious and social order of this group and does not just memorialize the "Old World", but rather constructs and expresses their history in the "New World." This music is a powerful symbol of a contemporary world that reveals the way in which this ethnic group articulates, and represents itsidentity in multicultural modern Brazil. The research has focused on the material culture of song texts themselves, particularly the publishing endeavors of German Brazilian musical presses. It contrasts oral and written musical traditions and pays particular attention to the dialectical relation between repertoires in German and Portuguese. It addresses contemporary musical practices among German Brazilians, including genres ranging from Polka to Música Caipira to Pagode. It also traces the interaction of religious and secular music and theways it undergirds historical and modern German Brazilian identity through a unique musical practice.