On November 10, 2023, the Brazil LAB hosted the first event of the Literary Café series “Chico & Caetano: Visões do Brasil e do Mundo” (Chico & Caetano: Visions of Brazil and the World), featuring award-winning literary scholar Luís Augusto Fischer, Professor at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and currently a Princeton Visiting Professor with the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and the Brazil LAB.  In a spirited session, Fischer took the audience on a journey through the musical landscapes crafted by Chico Buarque and Caetano Veloso, two of the most prominent artistic and intellectual figures in Brazil for the last fifty years.

The audience of Princeton researchers and students, along with community members, had the opportunity to engage with a commented audition of selected songs, spanning Chico and Caetano's extensive repertoire, tracing their creative and political journeys to the present day. The session sparked a lively discussion as attendees navigated the intricate web of Brazilian cultural history and the arts.

According to Fischer, “as major artists of our time, Chico Buarque and Caetano Veloso have accompanied the Brazilian experience since the mid-1960s, commenting, analyzing, symbolizing and debating the meaning of life and dreams.” He emphasized that analyzing their work is crucial, as it encompasses not only an impressive number of songs, but also holds significant sentimental and cognitive value for multiple publics.

The second session of “Chico & Caetano: Visões do Brasil e do Mundo” will take place December 1, 2023, at 3pm, in the 161 Louis A. Simpson Building (open to the public). In addition, we are delighted to partnering with McCarter Theater and bringing Caetano Veloso to Princeton on April 11, 2024, to perform the “Meu Coco Tour.”