Walter Wanderley – memória e esquecimento na indústria cultural e na história da Música Popular Brasileira

Abstract

This research is characterized as a historical ethnomusicology of the musician Walter Wanderley (1932-1986) , born in Recife, Northeast Brazil, known as representative of Bossa Nova. He was an organist, pianist, arranger and once in a while a composer. Walter Wanderley has released dozens of albums by recording companies such as Odeon, Philips, the NorthAmerican Verve and many others. There are albums where he plays as instrumentist and arranger for singers, and others where he plays instrumental solos. From this prolific recording production one can say that this industry worked for Walter Wanderley, something that did not happen concerning the data found in the history of Brazilian popular music. Therefore, it is important to comprehend why his career launched only outside Brazil, and why his name is outside the main historical written references of Brazilian Popular Music or Bossa Nova music. The goal of this work is to understand the activities and the intricate relations of Walter Wanderley in Brazilian and North American Popular Music, within the context of the phonographic industry, in an attempt to highlight the strategies used by this industry in different markets, the reasons for these occurrences and their consequences. It is necessary to understand how memory and oblivion was built on his career and how he was excluded by much of our historiography. It is important to trace his performance in other genres such as Samba, Bolero, Sambalanço and Sambajazz, who are much more present in his work than the Bossa Nova itself, a genre by which the artist came to be labeled as a representative, especially after his death. This work contributes to the building of knowledge in Brazilian Ethnomusicology, Musicology, Music History and other areas of study of Brazilian Popular Music and its relations within the cultural industry.