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| Afro-Brazilian music | |
|---|---|
| Name | Afro-Brazilian music |
| Cultural origin | Brazil; African diaspora (West Africa, Central Africa) |
| Instruments | Atabaque, pandeiro, berimbau, conga, agogô, alfaia |
| Regional scene | Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, Pernambuco, Salvador |
| Local origins | Atlantic slave trade, Candomblé, Quilombo culture |
Afro-Brazilian music is a collection of musical traditions in Brazil rooted in the cultural heritage of African peoples brought to the Americas during the Atlantic slave trade, which melded with Indigenous and European practices to create distinctive regional styles. It has shaped national genres and global forms through urbanization, religious practice, resistance movements, and transatlantic exchanges involving artists, institutions, and popular media. The traditions intersect with social movements, religious orders, and cultural institutions across cities and rural communities in Brazil.
The origins trace to the transatlantic slave trade connecting ports such as Luanda, Gorée Island, Dakar, Bissau, Ouidah, Elmina and Brazilian ports like Salvador, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, Recife, and São Luís, Maranhão; enslaved peoples from ethnic groups including the Yoruba people, Bantu peoples, Ewe people, Fon people, Akan people and Igbo people transmitted musical forms. West and Central African practices survived through institutions such as quilombo dos Palmares and urban confraternities linked to churches and brotherhoods like the Irmandades dos Homens Pretos and influenced festivals like Festa de Iemanjá and Carnaval. Maritime networks connecting Lisbon, Seville, Liverpool and Kingston, Jamaica facilitated rhythmic and instrumental transmission, while missionaries, slaveholders, abolitionists such as José do Patrocínio and political events like the Lei Áurea shaped continuities and ruptures.
Major genres include religious and secular forms: devotional music tied to Candomblé and Umbanda; folkloric and popular genres like samba, maracatu, afoxé, samba-reggae, jongo, capoeira music, coco, ciranda, frevo and regional variants such as forró with Afro-Indigenous roots. Urban developments produced hybrid genres like bossa nova and MPB through encounters with artists associated with movements and labels in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Bahia. Carnival ensembles such as bloco afro groups, escolas de samba and cultural collectives like Olodum popularized samba-reggae and mobilized international tours, festivals, and collaborations with figures from Paul Simon to David Byrne.
Percussion is central: hand drums and tuned drums such as the atabaque, alphaia, conga drum and regional frame drums interact with idiophones like the agogô and rattles. Stringed and melodic elements include the berimbau in capoeira, the cavaquinho in samba, and the pandeiro across genres; brass and electric instrumentation arrived via urban orchestras and bands like Orquestra Imperial and studio sessions tied to labels in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Rhythmic patterns reference African paradigms such as polyrhythm and call-and-response structures found in ensembles from Bahia to Pernambuco and in performance practices linked to leaders like Mestre Bimba and Mestre Pastinha in capoeira contexts.
Music functions within liturgical and secular frameworks of institutions including Candomblé terreiros, Umbanda centers, Irmandade brotherhoods, and community organizations in Pelourinho. Ritual songs invoke orixás like Oxum, Iansã, Xangô and Iemanjá while civic celebrations tie to Carnaval parades, festa junina events, and commemorations of figures like Zumbi dos Palmares. Cultural policy debates in municipal and federal bodies, and cultural preservation efforts by museums and cultural centers such as those in Salvador, Bahia and Rio de Janeiro link musical practice to heritage designations and community empowerment initiatives.
From colonial-era resistance in quilombos and religious syncretism where Catholic and African cosmologies coexisted, Afro-Brazilian music evolved through abolitionist-era urban migration, early 20th-century radio networks in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, and mid-century recording industries with companies like Odeon Records and producers collaborating with artists from Bahia and other states. Syncretism produced hybrid forms—samba absorbed European harmonic idioms while retaining African rhythms, capoeira integrated musical chants with martial practice, and candomblé drumming adapted repertoire within legality constraints during periods of religious repression and later cultural revivalism tied to figures like Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso.
Notable performers and movements include early pioneers and icons: Cartola, Noel Rosa, Adoniran Barbosa, Carmen Miranda, Dorival Caymmi, Elis Regina, Chico Buarque, Tom Jobim, Ary Barroso, alongside Afro-Brazilian leaders such as Jorge Ben Jor, Mãe Menininha do Gantois, Mestre Bimba, Mestre Pastinha, and ensembles like Olodum, Ilê Aiyê, Filhos de Gandhy and Portela. Social movements and cultural producers—festivals, record labels, NGOs, and educational projects in Bahia and Rio de Janeiro—promoted musicians including Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Maria Bethânia, Milton Nascimento, Marisa Monte, Seu Jorge, Carlinhos Brown and contemporary artists engaging global circuits.
Afro-Brazilian rhythms and repertoires underpin national styles such as samba, bossa nova, tropicalismo and MPB, informing composers, arrangers, and producers working in recording studios in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo and in international collaborations with artists and institutions from Paris to New York City, London, Lagos and Luanda. Diasporic exchanges shaped world music circuits involving festivals, academic research at universities like Universidade Federal da Bahia, and cultural diplomacy in tours, film soundtracks, and collaborations with global figures including Paul Simon, Sting, David Byrne, and orchestras that programmed Afro-Brazilian repertoire. Contemporary debates address cultural appropriation, heritage protection, and economic inequities affecting practitioners in urban favelas and rural communities represented in archives, museums, and community-led cultural centers.
Category:Music of Brazil