The Mystery of Samba

“An important contribution not only to English-language scholarship on Latin American music, but also to today’s lively multidisciplinary discussion about race, nation, and popular culture.”—Estudios Interdisciplinarios de America Latina y El Caribe

“Despite the fact that Brazil is one of the three most prolific sources for the continuing evolution of popular music (the United States and Cuba being two others), an outsider without a decent knowledge of Portuguese must struggle to grasp the significance of the country’s music and its culture. Hermano Vianna’s new book is a valiant effort to make sense of both.”—Lingua Franca

“This very readable book provides an interpretation of an aspect of the Brazilian culture that has remained unexplored until now.”—CHOICE

“A wonderfully knowledgeable and thoughtful investigation of how Brazil and samba helped create each other.”—Alma Guillermoprieto, author of Samba

“A subtle and convincing analysis of the connection between popular culture and its manipulation by the elite. A major contribution to our understanding of the development of Brazilian national identity.”—Thomas E. Skidmore, Brown University

“The Mystery of Samba points to the Brazilian nation’s strong expression of popular culture as a long term transcultural experience between cultural elites and popular voices both inside and outside Brazil. . . . This masterful work is a very current and major contribution to the debate about culture across the social sciences and the humanities.”—Nelson H. Vieira, Brown University