The University of California-Riverside hosted scholars from Brazil and the U.S. to focus on Brazilian music and its place in Brazilian society in an upcoming conference.

The one-day conference, “Rethinking Race and Ethnicity in Brazilian Music: 1600-Present,” took place on Feb. 4 and focused on “the role of race and ethnicity in Brazilian music from colonial times to the 21st century, both classical and popular.”

Conference coordinator Rogerio Budasz, associate professor of music, said musicologists, ethnomusicologists, historians and anthropologists were invited to discuss how race and ethnicity play a crucial role in the history and development of Brazilian music, culture, society and identity. Among the presenters are Budasz and Clark, founder of the Center for Iberian and Latin American Music, which organizes the annual Encuentros/Encounters celebrations of Iberian or Latin American music and academic research.

The event also featured a showing of That Night in Rio, which features Don Ameche and Carmen Miranda. Brazilian music is a constant throughout this class complete with Miranda singing two of her standards “I, Yi, Yi, Yi, Yi (I Like You Very Much),” and “Chica Chica Boom Chic.”

Where you able to attend? If so, what were your impressions of the panal and the conference?