Papers by Daniel Da Silva

Journal of Lusophone Studies, 2018
António Variações's first single, Povo que lavas no rio/Estou além (1982), offers a radical versi... more António Variações's first single, Povo que lavas no rio/Estou além (1982), offers a radical version of Amália Rodrigues's fado "Povo que lavas no rio" (1962). This article considers Variações as fadista in order to think fado as queer praxis. Though Variações's debut release was a commercial success, his turn as fadista provoked critical derision for what, I argue, is a trans formation of the genre's gendered codes and practices. Variações's queer masculinity gives body and voice to the transgressive sexuality enmeshed within gendered and fetishized repertoires of fado that are most recognizable in the myths and voices of the genre's divas. This article locates Variações within a fado genealogy, from Maria Severa to Amália Rodrigues, of performers who have similarly been unbearable in body and voice. The purpose of this is to draw attention to fado's affective dispersions of sex and reveal how the genre has coalesced in relation to queer tactics and people throughout its history.

Journal of Lusophone Studies, 2019
As part of his 1975 solo debut album, Água do céu-pássaro, Ney Matogrosso recorded a cover of &qu... more As part of his 1975 solo debut album, Água do céu-pássaro, Ney Matogrosso recorded a cover of "Barco negro," a Portuguese fado made famous by Amália Rodrigues and based on an earlier Brazilian song, "Mãe-preta," written by Caco Velho and Piratini and recorded by Os Tocantins in 1943. Matogrosso conflates the two versions, titling the track, "Mãe preta (Barco negro)." This article marks Matogrosso’s recording as an iteration of transgender voice and locates—in his performance and album artwork—queer, indigenous, and Afro-Brazilian intersections that rework the mãe preta figure central to Brazil’s foundational narrative. Making use of Hortense Spiller’s theorization of the trans-Atlantic slave trade as "body-theft," I argue that Matogrosso’s referents and trans voice reembody the Luso-Afro-Brazilian black mother in ways that unsettle Lusotropicalism and haunt Portuguese nationalist tropes.

Trans Tessituras Confounding, Unbearable, and Black Transgender Voices in Luso-Afro-Brazilian Pop... more Trans Tessituras Confounding, Unbearable, and Black Transgender Voices in Luso-Afro-Brazilian Popular Music Daniel da Silva This dissertation shows how gay, trans and queer performers in Brazil, Portugal, and Angola, working in traditionally misogynistic, homoand transphobic popular music genres, have successfully claimed and refigured those genres and repertoires through iterations of transgender voices and bodies. I show how Pabllo Vittar, Fado Bicha and Titica refigure normative gendered conventions of sex and song through trans formations of popular music genres. I locate them within a genealogy of queer Luso-Afro-Brazilian popular music practices and performances that deploy trans formations of voice, body, and repertoire. I trace a genealogy of transgender voice in Brazilian popular music to Ney Matogrosso’s 1975 debut release, through which I reveal a cacophony of queer, indigenous and Afro-Brazilian intersections; and in Portuguese popular music to António Variações 1982 deb...

Journal of Lusophone Studies, 2016
Nina Schneider offers a history of official propaganda produced in Brazil under the military dict... more Nina Schneider offers a history of official propaganda produced in Brazil under the military dictatorship that provocatively unsettles the genre even as it provides a useful accounting of its different organs, agencies, content and production. Under military rule from 1964-1985, Brazil experienced economic growth, modernization, censorship, violence and political oppression. Throughout its rule, the regime struggled to maintain a democratic facade to legitimize their coup as a "defense of democracy" (14). Though militant and aggressive, Schneider argues, "the military regime did not maintain power by force alone but employed subtler mechanisms for manufacturing consent" (16). Exploring the work of two official organs of propaganda, the Special Public Relations Consultancy (AERP, 1968-1974) led by Octávio Costa and its eventual successor, the Public Relations Consultancy (ARP, 1976-1979) led by Toledo Camargo, Schneider reveals a crisis of legitimacy that entangled public, private and government actors while provoking an aesthetic approach to propaganda that eschewed heavy-handed slogans and violent imagery for the utopian, optimistic and affective representations of the people. Through an archive of small films and other ad campaigns, as well as interviews and a look at reception, Schneider traces how the preoccupation with appearances filtered down to the organs of propaganda, from their structure, "deliberately small and employing an indirect production procedure," to content that rejected the aggressive and jingoist tactics favored by newsreels and government agencies and organizations (16). Proposing an analytical framework to contend with the "complex category" of propaganda, Schneider marks three primary types: subliminal propaganda attempts to win "general support" for the regime indirectly, while refusing to "intimidate, threaten, construct enemies, or justify violence;" blunt propaganda offers more direct support and praise for the regime; and aggressive propaganda "glorifies the regime by promoting violence,

This dissertation shows how gay, trans and queer performers in Brazil, Portugal, and Angola, work... more This dissertation shows how gay, trans and queer performers in Brazil, Portugal, and Angola, working in traditionally misogynistic, homo- and transphobic popular music genres, have successfully claimed and refigured those genres and repertoires through iterations of transgender voices and bodies. I show how Pabllo Vittar, Fado Bicha and Titica refigure normative gendered conventions of sex and song through trans formations of popular music genres. I locate them within a genealogy of queer Luso-Afro-Brazilian popular music practices and performances that deploy trans formations of voice, body, and repertoire. I trace a genealogy of transgender voice in Brazilian popular music to Ney Matogrosso’s 1975 debut release, through which I reveal a cacophony of queer, indigenous and Afro-Brazilian intersections; and in Portuguese popular music to António Variações 1982 debut, through whom I trace a fado genealogy of Afro-diasporic cultural practices, gender transgression and sexual deviance. Finally, I locate Titica’s music in practices of the black queer diaspora as a refiguring of Angolan postcolonial aesthetics. Together, these artists and their music offer a queer Luso-Afro-Brazilian diaspora in spectacular popular music formations that transit beside and beyond the Portuguese-speaking world, unbound by it, and refiguring hegemonic Luso-Afro-Brazilian discourses of gender, sexuality, race and nation.

Journal of Lusophone Studies, 2019
As part of his 1975 solo debut album, Água do céu-pássaro, Ney Matogrosso recorded a cover of "Ba... more As part of his 1975 solo debut album, Água do céu-pássaro, Ney Matogrosso recorded a cover of "Barco negro," a Portuguese fado made famous by Amália Rodrigues and based on an earlier Brazilian song, "Mãe-preta," written by Caco Velho and Piratini and recorded by Os Tocantins in 1943. Matogrosso conflates the two versions, titling the track, "Mãe preta (Barco negro)." This article marks Matogrosso's recording as an iteration of transgender voice and locates-in his performance and album artwork-queer, indigenous, and Afro-Brazilian intersections that rework the mãe preta figure central to Brazil's foundational narrative. Making use of Hortense Spiller's theorization of the transAtlantic slave trade as "body-theft," I argue that Matogrosso's referents and trans voice reembody the Luso-Afro-Brazilian black mother in ways that unsettle Lusotropicalism and haunt Portuguese nationalist tropes.

António Variações's first single, Povo que lavas no rio/Estou além (1982), offers a radical versi... more António Variações's first single, Povo que lavas no rio/Estou além (1982), offers a radical version of Amália Rodrigues's fado " Povo que lavas no rio " (1962). This article considers Variações as fadista in order to think fado as queer praxis. Though Variações's debut release was a commercial success, his turn as fadista provoked critical derision for what, I argue, is a trans formation of the genre's gendered codes and practices. Variações's queer masculinity gives body and voice to the transgressive sexuality enmeshed within gendered and fetishized repertoires of fado that are most recognizable in the myths and voices of the genre's divas. This article locates Variações within a fado genealogy, from Maria Severa to Amália Rodrigues, of performers who have similarly been unbearable in body and voice. The purpose of this is to draw attention to fado's affective dispersions of sex and reveal how the genre has coalesced in relation to queer tactics and people throughout its history.
Conference Presentations by Daniel Da Silva

The Portuguese Revolution began with a song, broadcast on April 25th, 1974, at twenty past midnig... more The Portuguese Revolution began with a song, broadcast on April 25th, 1974, at twenty past midnight, by members of the military resistance who took over a radio station in Lisbon and played "Grandola, Vila Morena," written and recorded by José Afonso. "Grandola" marked the end of a dictatorship called the Estado Novo, which had been in power since the late 1920s under Antonio Salazar and successor Marcelo Caetano. It also marked the beginning of the end of over a decade of war in the African struggle for decolonization. Afonso is remembered for his pop and folk music protest songs, such as "Os Vampiros," a not-so-subtle metaphor for the Estado Novo. He also mined Portuguese folklore traditions, however, and rather than a more contemporary genre, "Grandola" is in the style of a choral folklore called cante alentejano. A few weeks before the revolution, Afonso was allowed to perform only two songs at a sold-out concert in Lisbon. Both were folkloric compositions, one of which was "Grandola" where was joined on stage by others, recreating the choral mode of the cante. Eventually, thousands in attendance also joined in chorus, becoming part of the performance. In the crowd were members of the military resistance who, less than a month later, chose "Grandola" as their signal for change. Recently, austerity measures imposed in response to the European economic crisis have provoked new performances of "Grandola." Portuguese Prime Minister Passos-Coelho was interrupted during a Parliamentary address, forced to wait 2-3 minutes as demonstrators sang.
Book Reviews by Daniel Da Silva
Journal of Lusophone Studies, 2016
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Papers by Daniel Da Silva
Conference Presentations by Daniel Da Silva
Book Reviews by Daniel Da Silva