A Palo seco: neobarroco e musicalidade nas obras de Joao Cabral de Melo Neto e Belchior
João Cabral de Melo Neto; Belchior; poetry; song; musicality.
As suggested by the title, in our thesis we seek to investigate musicality in the work of the
poet Joao Cabral de Melo Neto and the composer and singer Antonio Carlos Belchior, both
Brazilians born in the northeast region of the country. Joao Cabral states in an interview that
his poetry is to be read, not sung or recited. For some critics, this statement reveals an
anti-musical poetic side, a position reiterated by the poet himself in interviews in which he
claims to have no ears for music. Belchior, in turn, elaborates his compositional system based
on the poetic content of his lyrics. In several interviews, the composer from Ceara states that
the lyrics of his songs are above the musical content. Thus, our analysis starts from the source
of these complex poetic-musical rivers and analyzes both the traditional complex of verse
meter, rhyme, stanzas, as well as the dialogical complexes that each work, poetry and song,
have with social, aesthetic structures and cultural. In preparing our discussion, some
theoretical pillars were raised, such as the perception of literature and music as
transdisciplinary, interdependent knowledge, Comparative Literature as a set of tools that
help in dealing with a hybrid object, between literature and music and , the baroque and
neo-baroque as a structure for understanding the art of Joao Cabral and Belchior. Aided by
Wisnik (1999), we propose a change in the interpretation of Cabralina antimusicality as a
path from tonality to atonality based on a reflective, critical and theoretical walk on his work.
Belchior's musicality follows similar critical paths. With a rational art proposal, the songbook
Belchior (robot Goliardo) guides his musicality through a critical dialogue between tradition
and artistic rupture (musical and poetic). To approach Belchior's musicality, we follow the
paths of his rational work in dialogue with neo-baroque to understand the “terrestrial” bodies
that orbit his musical universe, they are painters, poets and composers who appear in constant
dialogue in Belchior's work.