Music and Technology for Social Change in Northeast Brazil

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2009 in the subject Musicology - Ethnomusicology, grade: 1+, University of East London, language: English, abstract: Music brings people together, is spiritually uplifting and empowering. Among the 5000 languages that are spoken on planet earth, music is the only one that everyone understands.

Despite its very rich music culture, Brazil's inequality remains one of the highest in the world and poverty levels in the Northeast are the highest in all of Latin America. This work suggests that the overall wellbeing and social development of northeastern Brazils poor population can be forged through improving investment and infrastructure of the cultural sector. Establishing a greater network of music schools and increasing access to ICT centers can fuel social change and transform poor people's lives.

The project's main objectives will be to analyze the youth's present access to IT, which can be linked to music production skills and facilities, contact to independent labels, online networks and the creation of a fan and financial support base. This paper suggests that the Brazilian government underestimates young musicians and denies that they are a potential motor of increasing chances for socio-economic development in the Northeast of Brazil. A critical aspect of this work is the supposition that the government does not sufficiently address their services to the local needs of the poor.

The first section of this paper introduces the reader to the major facts and figures on Brazil. The second section presents Brazilian music, in particular the music scene from the Northeast. Moreover the impacts that the process of globalization has on music are examined aiming to understand the present shift cultural industries are undergoing.

The third section introduces latest trends in technology, particularly highlighting the importance of the Internet for sustainable development. A good ICT infrastructure has proven to play a crucial role for developing and emerging countries' development endeavors, thus this section places Brazil's fairly unevenly distributed national ICT network and unsatisfying access to computers into spotlight.

Finally, the fourth section presents four role models for successful implementations of social and digital inclusion projects by the means of music and technology from Recife, Caracas and Rio de Janeiro. These case studies highlight the impact music and technology can have on the livelihood of the poor, outlining the capability of transforming the lives of thousands of individuals, their families and their communities in developing/emerging countries.