Examines the meanings of the marvelous in the context of the Afro-Brazilian ritual called the Reinado de Nossa Senhora do Rosário, according to the way it is applied in the song lyrics and in participants’ verbal discourses. Analyses were based on participants’ perspectives about the origin and history of their religious tradition, which is based on their enslaved ancestors’ experiences of pain. Those facts and events still highlight the sense of belonging to this tradition nowadays and make their performative acts meaningful, significant, and thus wonderful., unedited non–English abstract received by RILM] Os significados da ‘maravilha’ no contexto do Reinado de Nossa Senhora do Rosário, tal como o termo é utilizado nos cantos e nas elaborações discursivas dos congadeiros, são aqui abordados a partir da perspectiva desses participantes sobre a origem e o percurso histórico de sua tradição religiosa, calcada na experiencia da dor de seus ancestrais escravizados. Tais fatos e eventos ainda motivam o pertencimento a essa tradição no presente e preenchem de sentido, de significância e, consequentemente, de maravilha as ações performáticas atuais.
Buenos Aires: Editorial Gorla (EPC: Ediciones de Periodismo y Comunicación)
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
unedited non–English abstract received by RILM] The following contributions are cited separately in RILM: Héctor FERNÁNDEZ L'HOESTE, De música y colombianidades: En torno a una historia de la cumbia, la parrandera On music and Colombianicity: Around a history of cumbia—The parrandera] (RILM ref]2012-13010/ref]), and Todas las cumbias, la cumbia: La latinoamericanización de un género tropical All cumbias, the cumbia: The Latin Americanization of a tropical genre] (RILM ref]2012-13011/ref]); Eloís MARTÍN, La cumbia villera y el fin de la cultura del trabajo en la Argentina de los '90 The cumbia villera and the end of the work culture in 1990s Argentina] (RILM ref]2012-13012/ref]); Pablo SEMÁN, Pablo VILA, Cumbia villera: Una narrativa de mujeres activadas Cumbia villera: A narrative of activated women] (RILM ref]2012-13008/ref]); Malvina SILBA, La cumbia en Argentina: Origen social, públicos populares y difusión masiva The cumbia in Argentina: Social origin, popular publics, and mass diffusion] (RILM ref]2012-13013/ref]); Peter WADE, Construcciones de lo negro y de África en Colombia: Política y cultura en la música costeña y el rap Constructions of black and of Africa in Colombia: Politics and culture in coastal music and rap] (RILM ref]2012-13009/ref]).
In spaces of violence, scholars and activists have typically addressed music as sites of resistance. In postcolonial Caribbean, the focus of most studies unsurprisingly has thus been placed on the work music has done for the oppressed—or conversely, on the ways the (neo)colonial regimes have used music to increase their control over the masses. Until recently, few publications have addressed the music that has been performed to fortify and gather people together in times of hardship. In this case, what is at stake is not so much a matter of 'us and them' or of resistance, but rather the ways in which the 'us' is mobilized to strengthen senses of belonging and networks of solidarity. Amidst the escalating everyday violence since the mid-1990s, party music in Trinidad continues to thrive. Instead of dismissing such music as merely a source of escapism or hedonism, I want to examine what makes it so compelling and what it does for people. This paper is based on in-depth study of soca music making and mumerous ethnographic interviews with Trinidadian soca artists and fans over the past 15 years.
Through an examination of the recording Gargalhada (pega na chaleira), a chansonnette sung by Eduardo das Neves, the origin of the expression 'pegar na chaleira' (bootlicking) is traced, while some inconsistencies in the online catalogue of the Instituto Moreira Salles are revealed. Probably recorded in 1906, six years before the establishment of the Odeon plant in Rio, the piece was labeled a lundu, a paradigmatically Afro-Brazilian genre, in the 1915–26 catalogues. The music and laughter that Neves appropriates for himself were created by George Washington Johnson, the first black star of early sound recording, and reused in other Casa Edison (Brazilian Odeon) recordings on sale from 1913 to 1919. But while the former North American slave ridicules himself in accordance with white stereotypes, the self-designated Creole stages a satire on the behavior of upperclass men in Rio de Janeiro. In this process, the coon song turns into its antithesis., unedited non–English abstract received by RILM] Um exame do fonograma Gargalhada (pega na chaleira), cançoneta por Eduardo das Neves, expõe a origem da expressão “pegar na chaleira” e revela incongruências nos critérios de catalogação online do Instituto Moreira Salles. Provavelmente datada de 1906, a gravação aparece como um “lundu” em catálogos comerciais de 1915–1926, e as mesmas ideias musicais foram reaproveitadas em outros registros sonoros da Casa Edison comercializados entre 1913 e 1919. A música e o gargalhar que Neves reaproveita foram criados por George Washington Johnson, o primeiro astro negro da gravação mecânica. Mas enquanto o ex-escravo norte-americano se auto-ridiculariza de acordo com estereótipos brancos, o autodenominado “crioulo” encena uma sátira ao comportamento masculino das classes dominantes do Rio. Neste processo, a coon song transforma-se na antítese do gênero.
Adieu foulard, adieu madras is a very popular tune from the French Caribbean. It is just as popular today in continental France, where it has been adapted to different musical genres. Yet, for those familiar with the simple melody and its evocative lyrics, which encourages carefree humming, not many may be aware that it is so deeply rooted in the history of French colonialism, island tropes, and ethnic relations. This essay uses Adieu foulard, adieu madras and its multiple sonic meanings as the lens to better understand the dynamics of the (post)colonial relationship of the people of the French Antilles, particularly from the island overseas departments of Martinique and Guadeloupe, many of whom have now migrated permanently to metropolitan France. For these, Adieu has now also become their song of exile.
The Afro-Uruguayan candombe exemplifies a creative processes reacting to the 'whitening' of its practice in the context of the national appropriation of music created by Afro-Uruguayans and long despised in this very eurocentric country. The group Afrogama which describes itself as traditional and militant, taking its inspiration from Africa and the African-American religions, is 'blackening' these musical features and choreographical gestures. The dynamics and the content of these games of color in the candombe should be understood in the national and transnational context of the definition of Afrodescendance in Latin America. The category 'Black music' acquires meaning if it is seen as an ethnomusicological category which articulates musical, social, and political dynamics, bearing in mind the specific nature of music and dance in the processes of identity building., unedited non–English abstract received by RILM] À partir de l’exemple du candombe afro-uruguayen, je propose d’analyser comment, dans un contexte d’appropriation nationale d’une musique créée par les Afro-Uruguayens et longtemps méprisée dans un pays très eurocentriste, on assiste à des processus de création en réaction à ce « blanchiment » de la pratique. Le groupe Afrogama, qui se définit comme traditionnel et militant, « noircit » le trait musical et le geste chorégraphique en s’inspirant de l’Afrique et des religions afro-américaines. Les dynamiques et le contenu de ces jeux de couleurs dans le candombe doivent être compris dans un contexte national et transnational de définition de l’afrodescendance en Amérique Latine. La catégorie « musique noire » prend son sens si on l’envisage comme une catégorie ethnomusicologique qui articule dynamiques musicales, sociales et politiques, tout en considérant la nature particulière de la musique et de la danse dans les processus de construction identitaire.
Disputes the idea that cultural/poetico-musical characteristics are integral to or combined with the biological criteria which define ethnicities and races. Samba was born at the turn of the 20th century in working-class, multiethnic neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro. With its syncopated rhythm characteristic of celebrations in Black Brazilian communities, it is an urban genre associated with the early days of Carnaval which was widely broadcast on the radio in the 1930s. It thus lost its local and regional character and enjoyed worldwide recognition. Controlled by the Estado Novo, samba became 'civilized' and assumed an important symbolic role in building a Brazilian identity, both real and ideal. The result of a long and complex process of hybridization, the samba transcends and expresses more than a century of racial and social affiliations and tensions ubiquitous in Brazilian society, ultimately becoming an ideological matrix and a model of cultural fusion. The role and exceptional creativity of certain artists (Sinhô, N. Rosa, Zé Keti, C. Buarque...) and the social and aesthetic processes which contributed to the recomposition of the elements of samba are examined from a sociosemiotic standpoint which draws as well on a major audiovisual source and relevant works published in Brazil., unedited non–English abstract received by RILM] Cette contribution remet en question l’idée selon laquelle aux critères biologiques définissant les ethnies et les races se trouveraient intégrées ou agrégées des caractéristiques culturelles – poético-musicales en l’occurrence. Le samba naît au tournant du xxe siècle dans les quartiers populaires de Rio de Janeiro, marqués par leur composition pluriethnique. Rythme syncopé privilégié des célébrations pratiquées dans les communautés noires brésiliennes, ce genre urbain est associé aux débuts du Carnaval et abondamment radiodiffusé dans les années 1930. Il perd alors son caractère communautaire et régional et connaît bientôt une consécration mondiale. Contrôlé par l’Estado Novo, le samba se « civilise » et joue un rôle symbolique de premier plan dans la construction, réelle et idéelle, de l’identité brésilienne. Résultat d’un long et complexe processus d’hybridation, le samba transcende et articule sur plus d’un siècle les appartenances et les tensions raciales et sociales, omniprésentes dans la société brésilienne, au point de s’ériger en matrice idéologique et modèle de fusion culturelle. L’approche sociosémiotique de ce travail, qui repose sur l’écoute et visionnage d’un important fonds audiovisuel et sur l’étude des ouvrages publiés au Brésil, met en lumière le rôle et la créativité singulière de certains artistes (Sinhô, N. Rosa, Zé Keti, C. Buarque...) et les processus sociaux et esthétiques qui ont contribué à la recomposition de ses éléments.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
Examines a variation of samba called pagode baiano in several peripheral neighborhoods of the city of Salvador. Dance parties organized around this genre provide the context for the affirmation of a racial identity discourse as well as the reterritorialization of 'easy women', 'dishonest and lazy people', jobless people, homosexuals, and blacks. Pagode reintegrates aspects of traditional African manifestations found in Brazil, such as dance, call-and-response song, and the emphasis on polyrhythm. It embraces a sub-altern gender (feminine) and sexuality (homosexual) and undermines the hegemony of the macho. It exists as a musical experience whose feelings are particular and shared amongst certain subjects. Musicians and the public share a language and a way of speaking about themselves and others that reveal an emergent, imperfect citizenship.