The Impact of Folkloric Tourism on the Traditional Musical Style Coco in Pernambuco, Brazil

Qualitative Social Science: Participant Observation, Recorded Interviews, Archival Research, Analysis of Musical Performance Practice

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Graduate Program: Ethnomusicology

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This research project examines how the use of folklore in the state's marketing of tourism affects the performers of the customary musical style coco and their music in Pernambuco, Brazil. Within Brazil, the Northeast area has been seen as a wellspring of cultural authenticity, a living past and premodern roots. The state's efforts to attract tourists place musical traditions like coco on a symbolic pedestal as the essence of Pernambucan tradition, inviting Brazilians from the more industrialized south to return to where civilization are still intact. Yet, despite being touted as symbols of Pernambuco, giving the 'raw materials' for global pop performers, and residual essential to the tourism economy, most coco performers lack the wealth to satisfy their basic material needs. This study, bridging tourism traditional and studies music, explores the contradiction of being symbolically valorized while remaining economically marginalized.

Presently, shifts in musicians' perspectives and redoubled efforts to attract tourism through an economic downturn signal a pivotal time of rapid change for the coco. The boundary between commercial popular music and the traditional coco is required as musicians are coming to look upon their music as a commodity. Coquistas (coco performers) are increasingly engaged in battles over authorial copyright for lyrics earlier considered part of the public domain. My research analyzes these shifts and focuses on how the state's cultural promotion and policy of tourism shape the musical practices and everyday lives of coco performers. I will pay particular attention to how musicians alter their performances depending on the venue, the audience and the sponsor.