Politics and Musical Caricature: The African Colonial Issue in A Paródia

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Abstract

On January 17th, 1900, Rafael and Manuel Gustavo Bordalo Pinheiro (father and son) published A Paródia, a journal that put “the caricature at the service of the great public sadness,”according to its creators. Therefore, A Paródia rose up in the final phase of Portuguese Monarchy, wherein the “rotativismo,” actual political system, seemed to not resolve any of the political nor economic problems of the country, and, wherein the issue of the lost African colonies was still present in the folk memory.
There are several journals where we can find caricatures relative to these subjects, mainly musical iconography caricatures. Some examples are appropriations of operas such as L’Africaine by Giacomo Meyerbeer, or Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida, whose plots are developed in Africa and were culturally well-known by everyone who bought the journal, so it was easy for the caricaturists to include puns with these examples. On the other hand, other genres were used, such as funeral marches and cançonetas, genres that are prone to puns due to their lyrics. The Portuguese Colonial issue had already appeared in caricatures of other Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro’s journals, namely in O António Maria (1879), studied by Luzia Rocha and published in her book Ópera e Caricatura: O Teatro de S. Carlos na obra de Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro.
This paper aims to analyse the way that musical iconography caricature suits the purpose of satirisation whilst, at the same time, acknowledging the awareness of the Portuguese elite. An awareness which the caricaturists intended to be revolutionary, to put an end to the pervading political system.
Original languageEnglish
Pages47-47
Number of pages1
Publication statusPublished - 2018
Event
18th International Conference of Association Répertoire International d'Iconographie Musicale (RIdIM)
- Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, United Kingdom
Duration: 9 Jul 201812 Jul 2018

Conference

Conference
18th International Conference of Association Répertoire International d'Iconographie Musicale (RIdIM)
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityCanterbury
Period9/07/1812/07/18

Keywords

  • Caricature
  • Politics
  • African colonial issue
  • A Paródia

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