Regional musicians fought back, determined to promote a more down-to-earth image of Brazil. And in the '50s, bossa nova gave Brazil a new, sophisticated international identity. But in the '60s, everything changed. In an era of repression, music was to become a battleground in the new struggle to determine the identity of Brazil.

 

  1964 was a strange year for Brazilian music. Abroad, the country's image was defined by bossa nova and Astrud Gilberto’s international hit, Girl from Ipanema, with its promise of an exotic, romantic land, populated by beautiful women. 

 

In Brazil itself, the mood was very, very different. On March the 31st ,1964, the military seized power. 

 

The man they overthrew, President Joao Goulart, had polarised the country by legalising the Communist Party and visiting Cuba's new revolutionary leader, Fidel Castro. Goulart delighted the Brazilian left, but horrified many middle-class Brazilians and the Americans, who feared that Brazil might follow the same path as Cuba. 

 

So there was relief in Washington when the soldiers took over, arguing they were saving Brazil from Communism. Brazil would remain under military rule for the next 21 years.