Friday, August 17, 2012

Article About Sertanejo in "Poder" Magazine

The business magazine "Poder" has an article about "música sertaneja" (aka sertanejo) in its current issue. 

It's the first reference to this extremely popular genre of Brazilian music that I've seen in the North American media. In spite of a string of number one hits, both in Brazil and Europe, as well as millions of views of YouTube videos by Michel Teló, Gusttavo Lima, Luan Santana, and others, sertanejo seems largely unknown in the US.  

While iTunes and Amazon offer a good selection of sertanejo and other Brazilian music, Pandora doesn't even have Gusttavo Lima or Luan Santana in their database (Michel Teló has made it there, probably because "Ai, Se Eu Te Pego" was such a huge hit). 

Sertanejo universitario, the pop-influenced offspring of the more traditional sertanejo, is the more accurate name for the music that is making it big right now.  The songs tend to be upbeat and energetic, with lyrics that are fairly basic and usually repetitive. For me, it's great music for working out at the gym.

The article focuses on the connection between some famous soccer players and several recent sertanejo hits. I discovered that Neymar is a good friend of Gusttavo Lima, something I didn't know. For proof, you can check out this video, where Neymar appears to be chewing gum and looking a lot less comfortable on stage than on the soccer field:



"Poder" is published in an English-language US version, as well as in several Spanish-language versions, and is aimed at Latino entrepreneurs both in the US and Latin America.  

It's good to see this magazine covering Brazilian music of any sort.

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