“It was an underdeveloped country” – Carlos Lyra and Francisco de Assis, “Canção do subdesenvolvido,” 1962

As a nationalistic response to the Alliance for Progress, young artists satirized the alliance with the song “Canção do subdesenvolvido” as a retinue of Brazil-U.S. relations. It became the unofficial anthem of Centro Popular de Cultura, one of the left-leaning student movement’s initiatives to link the university to the poor and dispossessed. The tune parodies Washington’s economic model for Brazil, criticizes U.S. cultural influences, and ridicules the paternalistic inferiority embedded in the notion of the Alliance for Progress’ plan for Brazil.

Martinha Arruda, sister of Marcos Arruda and daughter of Lina Penna Sattimini, grew up listening to bossa nova and ran in the bohemian circles of Rio de Janeiro, where she witnessed the transformation of Brazilian sound.