Taiguara Hoje (1969)
In 1964, Brazil experienced a military coup—aided by the USA. The Kennedy administration's contribution, internally referred to as Operation Brother Sam, was to supply insurgent troops with fuel by sea, to transport war supplies by air and to leave a squadron near Brazil. In case of an “extreme case scenario,” 100,000 US soldiers were ready to be deployed.
By “extreme case scenario” the US government meant the interference of outside communist forces, such as the Soviet Union, which had stationed nuclear missiles in Cuba just two years earlier. Under no circumstances did the Americans want to tolerate Leninist-Marxist-oriented and especially Soviet-friendly governments in the region.
However, the outcome of this coup was one of the most severe military dictatorships in Latin America, which quashed all opposition, initially through censorship and ultimately through ruthless violence. Many dissidents fled abroad to escape torture or even the threat of murder—one of them was Taiguara.
With over 200 banned songs, Taiguara is the most censored artist of the Fifth Brazilian Republic—and one of the most successful musicians of 20th-century Brazil. Until his emigration in the mid-1970s, he was one of the country’s best-selling artists. One of his most beautiful hits is the maudlin “Hoje” (Today), which oscillates somewhere between Ennio Morricone aesthetics and 60s bossa nova pop. Hit the link below.
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