By Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 18 2003 (IPS)

Music is the area of the cultural industry in which Brazil remains dominant on the domestic market, even in these times of globalisation. Three-quarters of music sales are nationally-produced albums, including those of the multifaceted but little-known José Miguel Wisnik.

Brazil is not a country closed to music imports or foreign influence. Rock-and-roll, for example, made its forceful invasion beginning in the 1950s. But it became "nationalised" by numerous Brazilian bands, singers and composers who gave it a local flavour.

The richness and diversity of Brazilian popular music are seen as the result of the foundations from which it emerged, a country of different peoples and cultures – Indians, Afro-Brazilians and Europeans – who have proved capable of appropriating and adapting new styles from abroad.

Its overall high quality is the contribution of classically trained musicians and well-known poets, such as, respectively, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, authors of the internationally famous song "Girl from Ipanema".

José Miguel Wisnik is a more recent example of the classic melding with the popular. He is not as famous, and is even considered a latecomer in Brazil.

Not only did Wisnik study piano since age seven and perform in a symphony orchestra in his youth, he has also been a professor of literature at the University of Sao Paulo for the past 30 years.

He has composed songs since he was a boy, but made a name for himself initially as an essayist, writing about literature and music.

Author of "O som e o sentido" (The sound and the sense), an essay about the history of music, he only dared record his own music a decade ago, when he was 44 and had made the decision to dedicate himself to a musical career.

He has just released his third album, "Pérolas aos poucos" (Pearls little by little). The 13 songs – all his own compositions – highlight his voice and his talent on the piano.

On some of the tracks, practically confessing his insecurity as a singer, he is accompanied by the famed singer-songwriter Caetano Veloso and other artists, such as Elza Soares and Ná Ozzetti.

Wisnik’s music is delicate, subtle, with meticulous attention to the melody and lyrics, but maintaining a feeling of simplicity. The album’s title is instructive, say critics, because it is meant to be taken in bit by bit. No one expects high sales volumes of the disc.

It is the work of a craftsman, with the polished music of a classical pianist and the lyrics – whether his own or written by others – chosen according to the criteria of a demanding literary expert.

This could be why it lacks the spontaneity that facilitates communication with broader audiences, and therefore lacks and success in sales.

One song, "Baiao de quatro toques" (Baiao in four movements), for example, alludes to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, but refers to the "baiao", a popular rhythm in the dances of the poor communities in the Brazilian Northeast.

"DNA" is a unique, autobiographical song on the album. The lyrics mention a daughter Wisnik fathered out of wedlock, who he did not meet until she was 17. He publicly confesses "the fear of feeling incapable of being her father."

The disc is a tour of musical themes and rhythms from different regions of Brazil, but especially the Northeast. The collection of ballads, waltz, samba and other local styles, allows Wisnik to escape the stereotype of being "another Sao Paulo musician".

Wisnik’s contribution to Brazilian music is not limited to his compositions and his songs, which have been recorded by a diverse array of singers.

He has also composed music for the theatre, film and dance. And as an intellectual, he is an active participant in the public debate about Brazilian culture.

His upcoming book, to be published next year, will be a mix of essays on literature, music and football, with the aim of providing a broad analysis of Brazil and its complex culture.

In addition to his life in academia – which he says he will not abandon – he is involved in a variety of activities.

Last year he served as musical director for the album "Do cócix ao pescoço" (From the coccyx to the neck), which relaunched the career of Elza Soares, a veteran singer of sambas who was otherwise in danger of being forgotten by Brazilian audiences.

He is also a consultant for a project of the state-run oil giant Petrobrás aimed at recovering "Brazilian musical memory".

Wisnik’s multifaceted vocation bloomed in the 1960s, when popular music gained incredible force in Brazil, with the emergence of composers and singers who are influential to this day, including Gilberto Gil (currently serving as minister of culture), Chico Buarque (also a noted fiction writer), and Caetano Veloso.

Since then, Brazilian music has not created icons who are capable of garnering unanimous national support or producing songs that become popular anthems, Wisnik himself has said.

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