SUMMARY
This study investigates the tensions in the alliance between popular musicians and intellectuals in relation to the politically engaged art that emerged in the 1960s at the CPC-UNE (Popular Culture Center of the National Student Union) and extending to the mass media, especially in the form known as “protest music” through works by Carlos Lyra, Nara Leão, Geraldo Vandré, Edu Lobo and other artists. The common purpose of overcoming capitalism through mass media does not epitomize the interests at stake in this alliance, and, moreover, contributes to silence the conflict between the two groups. The roles played by one and the other are revealed, decisively, comparing the relationships established during the democratic government of João Goulart and after the civil-military coup of 1964.