Since the 2000s, the electronic rhythm of tecnobrega has been near-omnipresent in poor neighborhoods in the Brazilian state of Pará in the country’s northern Amazonian region. Yet the aparelhagem, literally meaning “equipment” but referring to a local kind of mobile sound system business that organizes tecnobrega parties, predates the invention of the genre by half a century. This paper examines the historical role of aparelhagens and emphasizes the transformation that occurred during the 1990s, when visual elements such as pyrotechnics, lasers, TVs, and hydraulic-powered stages began to accompany live shows to create a hypermediated spectacle. By examining the discourse around “high-tech” elements of shows made by aparelhagem owners and fans alike, I illustrate how musicians and sound system owners enact a performance of technological modernity. The party can never be high-tech, since capitalism’s constant production of new gadgets that the aparelhagem can appropriate into the performance precludes a permanent high-tech being. I argue instead that the aparelhagem functions as a becoming-high-tech, always seeking an authentic but inherently elusive claim to technological modernity. This research holds relevance in the fields of ethnomusicology and Brazil studies.
Keywords: Tecnobrega, Brazil, Hypermargin, Performance, Class
About the presenterIan B Zimmermann
Ian Zimmermann is a PhD candidate in Communication, Culture & Media at Drexel University currently undertaking dissertation research on algorave, or live-coded electronic dance music.