Propped against the gallery walls--and painted gaudy shades of yellow reminiscent of the Brazilian flag--album covers of bossa nova records (a genre rooted in the
cariocan tradition) alternated with black-and-white photographs of modernist architecture and a series of detail shots of the Metropolitan Cathedral in Brasilia, whose characteristic hyperboloid form was designed by Brazil's most famous modernist, Oscar Niemeyer.
We are taken into the depths of
cariocan society as the authors survey a number of shaping forces from the late 1880s into the 20th century's middle decades: the immigration and subsequent urbanization of rural peasants, freed slaves, and their descendants; the rise of middle-class sectors; new forms of technology and communication (radio, the recording industry, television); various outside musical and cultural influences (military bands, jazz, American popular music, Carmen Miranda); and critical moments in national politics (the Vargas dictatorship).
