Title: Almirante, "a mais alta patente do rádio", e a construção da história da música popular brasileira (1938-1958)
Abstract: This research has as its main goal to argue particularities of the historiography on Brazilian popular music in the first half of the XX century, by analyzing the trajectory of one of its precursors: "Almirante" (Foreis Domingues, Rio de Janeiro, 1908-1980).Besides being known as the highest rank in the radio in the late 30's, due to his roles in the professionalization and diversification of radio broadcasts, Almirante also had a central role in the development of studies on the history of Brazilian popular music, being part of what we can call as the "first generation of historians" on the subject.His broadcasts were known by their organization, as well as for their concern in treating the subjects presented in a scientific manner -subjects ranging from folklore to the more urban music, diffused by the mass media.These broadcasts were based on researches whose results helped forming a vast archive on popular music, which would be the basis for the formation of the Museu da Imagem e do Som (Museum of Image and Sound -MIS-RJ), in 1965.Almirante, together with other personalities of his generation, was responsible for the process of selecting, organizing, compiling, and archiving the records, establishing priorities, determining the research approaches and questions and, thus, defining a founding discourse on the history of Brazilian popular music.This "historiography" is unique in the sense that it was developed and disseminated within and by the mass-media.It is also innovative, in a certain way, in its effort to understand the importance of popular music in the forming of urban cultural identities, creating paradigms and preceding the academic researches in this field.This is due to the fact that these researches worked with new subjects, sources and objects long before 'professional' historians worked with them.Thus, this work aims to study the works of Almirante from the point of view of their contribution to the historiography of popular music, through his performance in the radio, from 1938 to 1958.