The imaginary of Brazilian popular music

During the early half of the twentieth century there was in Brazil a proliferation of songs which depicted this period’s imaginary. Songs that made up the Brazilian Popular Music (MPB, Música Popular Brasileira) - name given to the ensemble of sambas, chorinhos and Carnival marchas for this period - foregrounded three themes: work, women, and money. Work is rejected, while malandragem is praised. Women are powerful, capable of either encouraging men to accomplish deeds on the streets because they are loved at home, or immobilizing them by betrayal. Money is worth less than love, but it is nonetheless a necessary good. Since it is difficult to earn enough from work, there is, at once, an increasing awareness of the importance of money and the proposal of magical solutions for minimizing its scarcity.