Unicamp: know Cartola’s chosen songs for the entrance exam

Cartola talks about love, social inequality, the passage of time. There are ten songs by the artist that can be uploaded in the two phases of the test

The Unicamp entrance exam (State University of Campinas) is known for tackling current issues and having a contemporary “face” that dialogues with the daily life of students and brings reflections on issues relevant to society. One of the points which demonstrates this most innovative attitude of the bank is the choice of the list of mandatory works. Going beyond the literary classics, Unicamp has explored music in its exams.

And, after asking for an album of Racionais (Surviving Hell), the entrance exam added to the list, for the next three years, songs chosen by Cartola. Are they:

• “Sunrise”
• “Roses Don’t Speak”
• “Ropes of Steel”
• “Dress Up and Cry”
• “The Winter of My Time”
• “The World is a Mill”
• “What about you?”
• “Reception”
• “The Silence of a Cypress”
• “YES”

Does the fact that they are songs interfere with the way you study? What do you need to know about these songs? How can Unicamp explore them in questions? The LEARNER’S GUIDE spoke to Francielly Baliana, Literature teacher at the Poliedro Colégio, and will help you with each of these questions. Watch:

After all, how to study a song?

According to the teacher, to study the songs one must understand that they were not produced at the same historical moment or in the same situation, as normally happens with a book. They reflect the diversity of the composer and his singularity in expressing, many times, similar sentiments, but in different ways, by different rhetorical figures and at different times.

Thus, compared to a novel, Unicamp’s choice of songs challenges applicants to view an author as a multifaceted figure.

Also, a tip for delving into the universe of songs is to go beyond reading the lyrics and actually listening to the songs. Just as reading the book summaries is not the same as reading the complete work, skipping this step takes away an important part of your experience. will stay

Understanding what Cartola’s chosen songs are about

Cartola is considered one of the greatest Brazilian artists, both for the compositions that contributed to the diffusion of samba during the 20th century and for having kept alive the popular character of this musical rhythm, which the artists of the cultural elite of Rio.

Analyzing Cartola’s passages chosen by Unicamp, it is possible to see how much the admission exam maintains its tradition of understanding literature in a broader sense, as a space of varied productions, but extremely linked to life and society, with the impacts of literature not only a cultural, but also a social phenomenon.

It is important to note that these compositions build a poetics that reflects the sensitivity of people historically marked by social injustice, racial prejudice and cultural marginalization. Samba, after all, has repeatedly been subject to criminalization.

+ How classic samba reflects social and political issues in Brazil

Cartola’s selected excerpts above all present a lyrical ego linked to love, but also to the frustrations brought by this feeling, by voices that reflect on the passage of time and on the nature of a space in transformation, above all the hills of Rio de Janeiro.

The main characteristics of the songs

Each piece presents singularities and characteristics of its context of creation. And it is important to see these productions as poems, with their rhythmic and orally-based character, to realize how much each lyrical self constructs its self-view and feelings from its experiences in a specific place and time.

However, precisely because these are songs written by a popular artist, the relevance of each acquires different proportions as they reach not only an audience closer to a historically elitist literature, but also popular groups, mainly to give voice to these marginalized subjectivities. .

The songs manifest subjective moments, widespread tenses and precise feelings, people you like, friendships and loves that come and go.

What are the songs about?

Cartola’s songs, in this sense, present the sensitive experience of a man who circulates in these spaces, translating the poetic language that is also seen in the geography of these places, as in “Alvorada”, and also the dismay and frustrations whose love, as in “The world is a mill”.

Thus, the rugged nature of the hills, both for the structural signs of historical inequality and for the aesthetic contrast with life on the asphalt, is given a new meaning in their songs.

In “Come le rose non parla”, Cartola proposes the presence of flowers as living interlocutors of a subject who complains of having been abandoned by love. In the “Sala de Recepção”, when he pays homage to the samba school that he helped found, Mangueira, the author wonders how can a place inhabited “by simple people and so poor / Which has only the sun that covers them all” sing.

Realizing how much the relationship with music is an encouragement for people in situations of social vulnerability and who have few prospects in relation to life, Cartola sees in the space for the cultural construction of samba one of the greatest hopes and possibilities for welcoming and construction of the identity of these individuals.

group songs

Some researchers of Cartola’s work tend to analyze his productions according to when they were produced and the characteristics they present in terms of melody and content.

The ten songs chosen by Unicamp have similar characteristics, but also differences, especially regarding the main theme they translate. According to the teacher of the Poliedro, a possible grouping of these songs could be based on three axes:

• The first would be his relationship with the “Hill“, especially Morro da Mangueira, where he grew up and where he drew most of his inspirations. The songs “Sala de Recepção” and “Alvorada” fit into this first group.
• In the sequence you can suggest the category “Time“, which include existentialist questions, such as an association between the songs “What is made of you?”, “Silêncio de um Cipestre”, “O Inverno do meu Tempo” and “O Mundo é um Moinho”.
• Finally, “Love“, a division in which the songs “Sim”, “Cordas de Aço”, “Disfarça e Chora” and “As Rosas Não Fala” could be included.

How can Unicamp charge for Cartola’s songs?

The inclusion of samba compositions as required reading shows Unicamp’s latent concern for popular poetry, both in terms of language and in terms of the content and context of these productions.

In this sense, the bank can upload Cartola’s songs in various ways, both through an analysis of the relationship between the text of the song and the historical context of production, and through intertextuality or even more detailed analyzes of the popular form that is established in these compositions.

It is also possible to establish an intertextuality both with romantic poets, such as Casimiro de Abreu, who reflects on the nostalgia inherent in the passage of time, and with Drummond, with poems often marked by the contrast between the harshness of social reality and the transformative and affective power from nature.

+ Analysis: Fuvest 2023 highest scoring essay cited Drummond

Source: Terra

Rose

Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.