Il est Interdit d’Interdire: The Transnational Experience of 1968 in Brazil

Abstract

The second round of the III International Popular Song Festival in Brazil witnessed a now famous confrontation between singer Caetano Veloso and the university student-dominated audience that filled the hall that September 15th, 1968. In the midst of an already chaotic performance, in which Veloso could barely be heard above the students’ boos, jeers and insults, he abruptly stopped singing and used the microphone to instead rebuke the audience, criticizing not simply their behavior, but also their politicized approach to music. Photographs from the event document the sheer quantity of paper balls and other objects lobbed onto the stage, while the live recording of the event (released soon afterward as a single) testifies to the vociferous antagonism expressed from all sides in this unprecedentedly hostile moment.