RIO DE JANEIRO – A month after an offhand remark about Anitta’s butt tattoo triggered nationwide investigations into publicly funded music reveals in Brazil, the variety of cities below scrutiny has greater than doubled and now includes a who’s who of Brazilian nation music stars.
As of Tuesday, state prosecutors have been actively analyzing contracts for gigs in 70 cities throughout 5 states the place public officers are suspected of agreeing to pay inflated charges to lure music artists to their cities this 12 months.
The overwhelming majority of the reveals contain artists from the sertanejo scene — Brazil’s model of nation music — together with Gusttavo Lima, Zezé de Camargo & Luciano, Wesley Safadão, Bruno & Marrone, Simone & Simaria, and Zé Neto.
The investigations kicked off after Zé Neto, from duo Zé Neto & Cristiano, insulted Anitta’s butt tattoo and criticized a federal Brazilian tax incentive legislation referred to as Rouanet, which is aimed toward fostering cultural actions within the nation.
Reactions on social media, initially from Anitta supporters, turned the tables on the difficulty, exposing the connection between native public cash and the earnings supply of many sertanejo artists — Zé Neto included. Thus far, the variety of cities the place officers have been investigated — or had reveals both quickly suspended or cancelled by metropolis officers — totals 81. The record now consists of 41 extra cities in Mato Grosso, a state within the inside that borders the Amazon rainforest.
In Rio Grande do Sul, prosecutors ended up shelving an investigation right into a present in Bom Jesus metropolis, claiming to have discovered no irregularities within the hiring of Simone & Simaria for 380,000 reais ($73,000).
In Iguatu, a metropolis in Ceará, the district lawyer there says the mayor embezzled funds associated to reveals this month with Gusttavo Lima and Zezé di Camargo & Luciano. The mayor faces fees for diverting greater than 1 million reais ($193,000) earmarked for the development of a port and a non secular temple to pay for the music occasions, based on Fábio Ottoni, the district lawyer.
The investigations have created a cloud over sertanejo, Brazil’s most-popular style of music, whose enchantment has grown lately past the nation’s heartland to incorporate its largest cities.
Lima, one of many highest-paid music stars in Brazil in any style, has broadly decried the usage of public monies — whereas not denying he has accepted excessive charges from small cities — and stated he was being unfairly focused by the investigations. “All the things he does respects the legislation,” a spokesperson for Lima tells Billboard. “His payment is x, so he fees x. He pays his taxes and points his invoices.”
Wesley Safadão, the second most-cited artist in contracts below scrutiny, will adjust to no matter is determined by native authorities associated to contracting, a spokesperson says. “Safadão and his crew are employed to play their position, and they’re going to do every part in accordance with the legislation,” the consultant says.
Scrutiny over the outsized charges utilizing public funds come as Brazil prepares for a contentious election in October pitting incumbent far-right President Jair Bolsonaro – whom lots of the sertanejo artists help – towards former leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who’s main within the polls.
Whereas public officers inform Billboard that it’s too early to convey formal fees towards any sertanejo artist concerned with the suspected contracts, massive artists like Lima — the most-cited for extravagantly excessive per-show charges — could possibly be required to refund as much as 20% of the income earned from a current present or be quickly barred from performing once more, says Renato Toledo, an administrative legislation researcher on the College of São Paulo.
Separate from Rouanet legislation, the publicly funded music reveals could also be linked to a controversial congressional funding mannequin referred to as Emenda Pix created by Bolsonaro’s authorities, which permits elected representatives to request cash from the federal authorities and donate it to cities with little to no accountability.
This lack of transparency, Toledo explains, allows cities to make liberal use of the federal cash within the hiring of influential musicians – who may assist help Bolsonaro’s reelection in change for top per-show charges.
‘Political Campaigns In Disguise’
With public stress mounting, prosecutors in Mato Grosso has boosted the variety of cities below investigation from 24 to 65, after Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo revealed that the state spent over 16 million reais ($3 million) on taxpayer-funded reveals in 2022. The best-spending metropolis is Coalinho, having earmarked 1.2 million reais ($230,000) for 15 gigs — largely sertanejo, together with one that includes Maiara & Maraisa, but additionally gospel live shows — whereas 40% of its residents reside on a minimal wage of 1,212 reais per 30 days ($234).
Whereas prosecutors have probed publicly funded reveals earlier than, Mato Grosso’s State Lawyer Common, José Antonio Pereira, says that such probes demand particular consideration in election years.
“We’re in a polarized election 12 months, so these reveals can simply be political campaigns in disguise,” Pereira tells Billboard. Whereas artist charges “naturally are in keeping with their fame, you must have a look at the monetary capability of town and what’s in its finest curiosity…if I’ve a daycare drawback, ought to I do a 500,000 reais ($96,000) live performance?”
The mayors of the small cities face potential penalties, Pereira says, together with having to return the cash used for the present or being pressured to go away workplace if the present is discovered to be politically motivated. (In instances the place prosecutors uncover alleged corruption, akin to kickbacks, they will arrest mayors.)
The wave of investigations is already having an impact. Maranhão is now requiring its municipalities to declare the standards used to outline a contract’s worth earlier than reserving reveals with out public bidding. And on June 13, a Mato Grosso congressman filed a federal invoice that might require mayors to tell the Public Prosecutor’s Workplace about reveals not less than 15 days earlier than the occasion, so attorneys may evaluate them for attainable improprieties.
“If this one way or the other makes authorities assume twice earlier than they determine how one can allocate public funds,” Toledo says, then the sexist assault on Anitta’s butt tattoo can have impressed concrete actions that assist strengthen Brazil’s democratic establishments.
