The sad game of life: snooker and marginalization in two songs of João Bosco and Aldir Blanc

Abstract

The duo João Bosco and Aldir Blanc is one of the most prolific in Brazilian popular music. Their songs, specially in the 1970s, were a creative and original picture of themes and issues related to the political, social and cultural scenario of that time, such as repression and censorship promoted by the military dictatorship and the poor living conditions of marginalized people in the big cities. In this context, in 1977 they released the album Tiro de Misericórdia, which included, among others, the songs “Jogador” and “Tabelas”, both studied in this paper. The real and metaphorical spaces of the songs are formed by snooker and suburb, whereas the malandro takes a role as character and narrator. This paper intends to explain how the compositions represent, poetically and musically, the conflicts and contradictions inherent to the marginalized’s universe, in a time that was historically marked by the “economic miracle”.