Pop music cannot be good by definition: any art that appeals to the masses (Popular!) has to be a boring watered down version of everything, and therefore boring shit. Just like the movies: high budget movies are shit.
This is Ciro Santilli's name for the idea that we should not have structured degrees at university that require entry exams, only tests that anybondy could take, likely for free, and then they would just have proof that they know the stuff for e.g. teachers that care about a subject while selecting students to work with them in research.
We just need control rooms where someone can watch students for cheating. Multiple different exams can be taken in the same room of course, students just have to sign up in advance. The exams should happen regularly depending on demand. E.g. extremelly common subjects should happen every month, and highly specialized ones every 6 months or 1 year.
Questions should be always taken from an open question pool which also contains answers, thus allowing anyone to effectively study for it.
We then make an API available, so that students can grant access to specific results to anyone they choose, or even make the results public for anyone to see. This way the people that care about the exams can just machine learn what exams correlate with their desired performance.
Bibliography:
Bibliography:
- www.slipcue.com/music/brazil/brazillist.html cute site from the 90s
The Portuguese term for it is "música popular brasileira". The widely recognized Brazilian acronym is "MPB".
"Brazilian pop" and "Br-pop" are inventions by Ciro Santilli, which are how Ciro thinks Brazil should market it to the world.
Unfortunately "B-pop" is too ambiguous with British pop music, and should be avoided.
YouTube playlist by Ciro Santilli containing all the songs in this section: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcZOZrP1P_V4_SBDnegcLTcP-5YhNmWBB
Bibliography:
- www.slipcue.com/music/brazil/aa_styles/mpb.html has many good album reviews
Self promoted at:Not self-promoted at:
- www.reddit.com/r/Brazil/comments/1fimjtu/comment/m9fivya/
- www.reddit.com/r/musicsuggestions/comments/12cm5xt/comment/m9fkvd6/
- www.reddit.com/r/fantanoforever/comments/123zr1z/comment/m9fnieh/ asks for bets albums, which is much harder to answer
- locked threads that I've missed:
- Spotify-only
- www.reddit.com/r/LetsTalkMusic/comments/lxopm2/beyond_tropic%C3%A1lia_mpb_musica_popular_brasileira/ asks for newer songs only
It is such a huge shame that you have to understand Portuguese to appreciate those songs... this is yet another great evil outcome of having more than one natural language is bad for the world.
The good songs stopped before of just after Ciro Santilli was born, they were originally heard by his parent's generation. Those young new kids are boring.
The place to start is definitely the Holy Trinity of popular Brazilian music:
- Caetano Veloso is arguably Ciro Santilli's favorite MPB artist, he has just too many amazing songs, best ones at: Section "The best Caetano Veloso songs"
- Chico Buarque. Ciro's second favorite.
- Gilberto Gil. Perhaps Ciro likes him third because he is the most lighthearted one, although not always: Section "The best Gilberto Gil songs"
Video 1. Preciso Me Encontrar by Cartola. Source. Present in the 1976 eponymous album though it is likely from much earlier.Video 2. Asa Branca by Luiz Gonzaga. Source. Translation: "White wing". Written in 1947Video 3. O vento by Dorival Caymmi (1949)Source. Translation: "The wind".Video 4. Panis et Circenses from the Tropicália: ou Panis et Circencis (). Source. Translation: "Bread and circuses", a famous Latin phrase. Composed by Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso and performed by Os MutantesVideo 5. Mistério do Planeta from the Acabou Chorare album by Novos Baianos (1972)Source. Translation: "The mystery of the planet".Video 6. "Senhor Cidadão" from the Se O Caso É Chorar album by Tom Zé (1972)Source. Translation: "Mr. Citizen". This is likely reference to Military dictatorship in Brazil-lingo. This is an anti-Military dictatorship in Brazil song, appears to reuse terms used by the dictatorship propaganda in the song.Video 7. Marimbondo from the "Pirão de Peixe com Pimenta (1977)" album by Sá & Guarabyra (1977)Source.Video 8. Romaria by Renato Teixeira. Source."Romaria" is the name of a type of Catholic peregrination.Video 9. Metamorfose ambulante by Raul Seixas (1973)Source. Translation: "Itinerant metamorphosis". From the album Krig-ha, Bandolo!Video 10. Ouro de tolo by Raul Seixas (1973)Source. Translation: "Fool's gold". This dude should be a scientist. But well, he went for mystic/artist. Close enough.Video 11. Gita by Raul Seixas (1974)Source. "Gita" must be a reference to the Bhagavad Gita. From the album: Gita.Video 12. Maluco beleza by Raul Seixas (1977)Source. From the album O Dia em que a Terra ParouVideo 13. A telicidade by Tom Jobim (1958)Source. Translation: "Happiness". Composed for the Black Orpheus (1958) film. "Tristeza não tem fim, felicidade sim" (Sadness never ends, but happiness does). The movie itself is OK. Appeals to Ciro's Buddhist sensibilities.Video 14. Chega de saudade by Tom Jobim. Source. Translation: "Enough longing".Video 15. Jorge da Capadócia by Jorge Ben Jor (1975)Source. From the Solta o Pavão (1975) album. The Caetano interpretation is better however, poor Jorge.- Jair Rodrigues
Video 16. Disparada by Jair Rodrigues (1968)Source. This song is simply amazing. Not exactly MPB, a bit more towards country, but close enough. This was as the track of some soap opera.Video 17. Deixa Isso Pra Lá by Jair Rodrigues (1964)Source. Fantastic early example of early rap music!!! This is regocnized example at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfnDEuuPq4Q which builds upon the 1964 song. Amazing. An amazing live performance at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3E1uHdrJws, only not using that as the default link as it is not from the official channel. - Vinicius de Moraes. Many of his lyrics are poetry. Notably, he has some "children" songs that you think about as an adult and go "oh fuck". For some reason, Ciro can't help but think that he looks like a pedophile, but he doesn't have any scandals apparently, poor dude. He was a drunkard for sure though.
Video 20. Aquarela by Toquinho (1983)Source. This is a mega childhood hit, and it never gets old. Amazing. One of the most brutal memento moris ever?Video 21. Xô Saudade by Alceu Valença. Source. From the 1980 album "Coração Bobo"Video 22. Carcará by João Do Vale (1981)Source.From the eponymous album.Video 23. Carcará by Maria Bethânia (1981)Source. This very good interpretation likely did much to popularize the song.Video 25. Na Rua, Na Chuva, Na Fazenda by Hyldon (1974)Source. Translation: "On the Street, In the Rain, On the Farm".Video 26. Source. Translation: "All that you could be".Video 27. Caçador De Mim from the eponymous album by Milton Nascimento (1981)Source.
In Ciro Santilli's view, the following three artists form a Holy Trinity of popular Brazilian music:
Elis Regina is not far though.
Ciro remembers quite clearly when he was riding the car with his parents when he pre teen, and he could not understand why they seemed so obsessed with The Trinity et al. Ciro in particular remembers listening to Video "Refazenda by Gilberto Gil (1975)". They had picked it up of course from the 70's and 80's when they were younger.
Young Ciro would also always confuse who was whom from the three of them.
Then Ciro got older, and he understood, they are mind blowing. You do have to look back in time a bit though, lots of lukewarm stuff on later periods. The military dictatorship in Brazil was good for music.
Video 1. Alegria, Alegria by Caetano Veloso (1968)Source. Critique of Military dictatorship in Brazil.
- 1972
- Transa (1972) album. Literally: "The Fuck", good old seventies. Caetano himself later mentions that this is one of his own favorite albums.[ref] The album was composed when he was living in London.
Video 2. Triste Bahia by Caetano Veloso (1972)Source. Inspired by (or more likely: actually is) capoeira music.Video 3. Mora na Filosofia by Caetano Veloso (1972)Source.
Video 4. Você Não Entende Nada by Caetano Veloso (1970)Source.Amazing performance at Coliseu dos Recreios, Lisbon. 1981. Discogs says original album is Legal (1970), but wiki page and photos of back disagree...This song talks about a man's mixed desires to remain with his partner and also escape to adventure. It contains one of the most amazing sexual innuendo ever recorded: the man describes foods that his partner will serve him, and the he endlessly eats and eats and eats:translation:eu como, eu como, eu como, você [... huge intentional pause ...] não está entendendo quase nada do que eu digo.
which makes it unclear "you" is part of "I eat you" (to eat (comer) is a slang for fucking), or if "you" is part of the next sentence.I eat, I eat, I eat, you [... huge intentional pause ...] don't understand anything that I'm saying.
Video 5. Partido Alto by Caetano Veloso (1972)Source. Atheism song (theodicy)! Lyrics by Chico Buarque, but Ciro Santilli prefers this interpretation. From the 1972 "Caetano E Chico Juntos E Ao Vivo" joint album with Chico Buarque.
- 1975 Qualquer coisa album
Video 6. Qualquer Coisa by Caetano Veloso (1975)Source.Video 7. Samba e Amor by Caetano Veloso (1975)Source. Cover from original song by Chico Buarque, original album Chico Buarque de Hollanda - Nº4. Desperately reminds Ciro of his University day weekend nights. Except that there was no Samba. And little Amor. Mostly a silent and wholesome loneliness and emulation.Video 8. Georde de Capadócia by Caetano Veloso (1975)Source.Composed by Jorge Ben, but this interpretation is remarkable. corpo fechado (closed body) style song. This idea is much linked to Capoeira/African religion idea. E.g. a more traditional capoeira corpo fechado song: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfd9j6XFmSgVideo 9. Coricos' prayer scene from Black God, White Devil (1964)Source. This shows an Amazing corpo fechado scene from an amazing old black an white Brazilian film.
- 1976 Doces Bárbaros (1976) album
Video 10. Um Índio by Caetano Veloso (1976)Source. Recording from 1992. Also appeared in the Bicho (1977) album. - 1977 Bicho (1977)
- 1978 album Muito (Dentro da Estrela Azulada)
Video 12. Sampa by Caetano Veloso (1978)Source."Sampa" is an affectionate slang for São Paulo City. The song perfectly captures the city, and reminds Ciro so badly of his University days there.Video 13. Terra by Caetano Veloso (1978)Source.Ciro used to watch a television nature show called "Planeta Terra" in the legendary TV Cultura with his parents in the couch when he was young, and under a duvet when it was a bit cold. Those days were the best. The narrator's lady voice was particularly soothing, and would easily put you in a kind of sleepy trance, her name is Valéria GrilloTODO what was the original show exactly? Here is a sample: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNwfYEMdrRU Very likely just a translation of some British nature show with a custom Brazilian intro and presenter. Credits at end mention English narrator: "Eugene Fraser", and "Thirteen WNET Nature" production, which produced Nature (1982) that ran since 1982, making that a likely candidate. - 1980
Video 14. Menino do Rio by Caetano Veloso (1980)Source. Apparently served as inspiration for the Menino do Rio (1980) movie, which is silly, but a worthwhile record of the times. - 1984 Velô (1984)
Video 15. O Quereres by Caetano Veloso (1984)Source. Notable quote from the chorus that is often in Ciro's mind:translation:Ah, bruta flor, do querer
Oh, brute flower of the wanting
Within the The Holy Trinity of popular Brazilian music, Chico tends to approach the more down to Earth and heavy topics.
Video 1. Quem Te Viu, Quem Te Vê by Chico Buarque. Source.Performed for television for the Hebe Camargo show on TV Record in 1966.Video 2. Apesar de Você by Chico Buarque. Source.Released 1970. Portuguese wiki page for the song.It is a song against the military dictatorship in Brazil. "Você" (you) can ambiguously refer to either a loved woman, or to the dictatorship itself throughout the song.Video 3. . Source. From the 1968 Chico Buarque de Hollanda - Volume 3 (1968) album. Video 4. Construção by Chico Buarque. Source.Video 5. Cotidiano by Chico Buarque. Source.Video 6. Cálice (Cale-se) by Chico Buarque. Source. Featuring Milton Nascimento. Song against the military dictatorship in Brazil, a pun on the homonym "Cálice" (chalice) and "Cale-se" (shut up), a reference to censorship during the dictatorship.Video 8. . Source. From the Malandro (1985) album Video 9. Teresinha by Chico Buarque. Source.The version performed by Maria Bethânia is also notable: Video "Teresinha performed by Maria Bethânia".Video 10. Paratodos by Chico Buarque. Source. From the 1993 "Paratodos" album.
Gilberto is definitely the most psychedelic/tribal one of the The Holy Trinity of popular Brazilian music, though he also has a boyish quality to his soul.
He is also perhaps the one that impresses Ciro Santilli the most, at times he can't help but feel:
OMG how the hell did he come up with that?!
Gilberto Gil in the cover of his 1977 album Refavela
. Source. Pinned article: Introduction to the OurBigBook Project
Welcome to the OurBigBook Project! Our goal is to create the perfect publishing platform for STEM subjects, and get university-level students to write the best free STEM tutorials ever.
Everyone is welcome to create an account and play with the site: ourbigbook.com/go/register. We belive that students themselves can write amazing tutorials, but teachers are welcome too. You can write about anything you want, it doesn't have to be STEM or even educational. Silly test content is very welcome and you won't be penalized in any way. Just keep it legal!
Intro to OurBigBook
. Source. We have two killer features:
- topics: topics group articles by different users with the same title, e.g. here is the topic for the "Fundamental Theorem of Calculus" ourbigbook.com/go/topic/fundamental-theorem-of-calculusArticles of different users are sorted by upvote within each article page. This feature is a bit like:
- a Wikipedia where each user can have their own version of each article
- a Q&A website like Stack Overflow, where multiple people can give their views on a given topic, and the best ones are sorted by upvote. Except you don't need to wait for someone to ask first, and any topic goes, no matter how narrow or broad
This feature makes it possible for readers to find better explanations of any topic created by other writers. And it allows writers to create an explanation in a place that readers might actually find it.
Figure 1. Screenshot of the "Derivative" topic page. View it live at: ourbigbook.com/go/topic/derivativeVideo 2. OurBigBook Web topics demo. Source. - local editing: you can store all your personal knowledge base content locally in a plaintext markup format that can be edited locally and published either:This way you can be sure that even if OurBigBook.com were to go down one day (which we have no plans to do as it is quite cheap to host!), your content will still be perfectly readable as a static site.
- to OurBigBook.com to get awesome multi-user features like topics and likes
- as HTML files to a static website, which you can host yourself for free on many external providers like GitHub Pages, and remain in full control
Figure 3. Visual Studio Code extension installation.
Figure 4. Visual Studio Code extension tree navigation.
Figure 5. Web editor. You can also edit articles on the Web editor without installing anything locally.Video 3. Edit locally and publish demo. Source. This shows editing OurBigBook Markup and publishing it using the Visual Studio Code extension.Video 4. OurBigBook Visual Studio Code extension editing and navigation demo. Source. 
- Infinitely deep tables of contents:
All our software is open source and hosted at: github.com/ourbigbook/ourbigbook
Further documentation can be found at: docs.ourbigbook.com
Feel free to reach our to us for any help or suggestions: docs.ourbigbook.com/#contact