Tom Zé and the counter-speech of the anti-hero: critique and deconstruction of the MPB song in todos os olhos

Abstract

This article deals with the LP Todos os olhos of Tom Zé, considered by critics as one of the most critical and controversial albums of the artist's career. Released in 1973, within a context of intensification of repression and censorship by the Brazilian military dictatorship, and the consolidation of the cultural industry in the country, we investigate how the album carries marks of such social political and economic conjuncture in its aesthetic project. We verify in which manner the various constitutive aspects of the disc (covers, song letters, arrangements, sonorities) composes a coherent disc-object, with a thematic unity centered on the figure of the antihero, his imperfections and insufficiencies. We observe that in the set of phonograms prevails the weaknesses and the defects to the detriment of the virtues and qualities, expressing, to a certain extent, an ideological counter discourse against the cultural, aesthetic and political standards defended by the military regime.