Kelsey Cook
Kelli Peterman
LAS 204
February 28, 2014
Music Functions and Racial Prejudices of African-Brazilians and Nordestinos of São Paulo
The film Saudade do Futuro and chapter one of Rhythms of Resistance, which focuses on the music of African-derived religions in Brazil, have many connections regarding functions of music and racial prejudices. The film is centered on the Nordestinos of São Paulo, Brazil, who migrated from the northeast due to the drought in hopes of finding work and creating a better future. The title of the film juxtaposes a yearning for the past, "saudade," with "futuro," the future: the Nordestinos continually hope that the prejudice and unemployment they face will improve as time goes on, though they still yearn for their homelands. The first chapter in Rhythms of Resistance focuses on the candomblé, its origins, its regional variants, and their functions. Candomblé is considered “the classical African-Brazilian religion,” (Fryer 14). We build a case for the music in both the film and chapter to have resistance functions, particularly against the racial prejudices and situations of the African-Brazilians and the Nordestinos of São Paulo.
Both the African-Brazilians and Nordestinos have faced similar forms of oppression, as demonstrated by the enslavement of the Africans and the social inequality of the Nordestinos. When the Portuguese brought the Africans to Brazil, they began the practice of enslaving them, not only through their bodies in the fields, but also through religion. The Portuguese forced the African slaves to assimilate into the Catholic religion because the religion of the slaves was considered to be a form of resistance and was therefore forbidden. If the slaves resisted, they could face persecution by Roman Catholic priests and the police, or be punished through “excommunication, refusal of communion, [and] arrest and imprisonment” (Fryer 13). In the case of the Nordestinos, their lives in São Paulo demonstrate another form of oppression. The Nordestinos left their homeland to escape a drought and then migrated to São Paulo, hoping to find employment. However, the Nordestinos living in São Paulo are generally unemployed or are not making enough money to earn a living, according to the film. For example, the Nordestinos helped to build the villas, mansions, and other expensive buildings in Brazil. Once this work was done, as shown by Saudade do Futuro, the São Paulo natives “slam the door in our face,” forcing the majority of Nordestinos to live in favelas, or the slums, of São Paulo. However, the Nordestinos feel as though they cannot leave São Paulo because they see it as a land of opportunity. Through the eyes of the Nordestinos, the city is a place of possibility, of unexpected intimacy, and especially of music and poetry.
Racial prejudice is another form of oppression experienced by the African-Brazilians and Nordestinos. In chapter one of Rhythms of Resistance, Fryer states “I refuse belittle them [African-derived Brazilian religions] with the disparaging term ‘cults’” (Fryer 13). Due to Fryer refusing to call the religion a cult, his statement implies that the African-Brazilian religion has, in fact, been considered as a cult by some. This religion has been regarded as “mere witchcraft,” and has such been prohibited by the Roman Catholic priests (Fryer 13). The natives of São Paulo greet the Nordestinos with prejudice as well. The natives consider them to be “a lesser, inferior race,” as stated in the film. Additionally, Nordestinos are called “Paraibas” or “Baianos” by the São Paulo natives. Their accent and their status as recent arrivals make the Nordestinos feel like outsiders. One Nordestino says, “I felt I was in a foreign milieu, as if I were an invader, and I was treated as such.” In the film, the mayor of São Paulo, a Nordestino herself, states that “you are also rejected for that, because of your accent, and the way you drag out your words.” Thus, these preconceived notions about the religion of African-Brazilians and the Nordestinos themselves are based on judgment and not reason, and therefore can be perceived as forms of prejudice.
In the face of oppression, both the Nordestinos and the African-Brazilians use their own musical styles to resist and withstand their situations. The major style of music sung by Nordestinos is called repente, and is entirely based on a singer’s ability to improvise. It is mostly sung in the streets, and many of its singers use it as a form of employment. In the film, one repente singer sings, “I’m gonna sing to kill this suffering and earn my living,” while another singer states, “That’s how we make our living, singing is our way of life.” The themes sung about in repente include defending Nordestino culture, longing for the homeland, unemployment, poverty, and politics. By using repente as a form of social commentary, the Nordestino singers demonstrate their resistance to their current situations and their desire for change. In regards to the music of the African-Brazilians, they were forced to camouflage their form of worship, the candomblé, behind Roman Catholicism. As Roger Bastide states, “Originally the saints were merely white masks placed over the black faces of the ancestral deities… The whites had to be given the impression that the members of the ‘nations’ were good Catholics” (Freyer 13). In other words, the African deities, or orixás, were each camouflaged behind a Catholic saint so that the African-Brazilians could avoid persecution by Catholic priests. By still practicing their religion in the form of candomblé, the African-Brazilians could more easily withstand with their enslavement. In summary, both candomblé and repente serve as forms of resistance.
In conclusion, the bottom line of our investigation is to show that although the Nordestinos and African-Brazilians are different in terms of their history, musical styles, and lifestyle, both groups have used music to resist oppression and racial prejudice. However, one issue with analyzing Saudade do Futuro is that we, the audience, are only able to view what the director, Cesar Paes, is choosing to film of the lives of the Nordestinos. Thus, our opinions written here could have potentially been swayed or biased without us even realizing it. Nevertheless, from what we have been shown, the Nordestinos use the repente to make social commentary that allows them to withstand economic oppression and racial prejudice. Similarly, the African-Brazilians used the candomblé as a way to protect their religion and to deal with their resentment of enslavement in the face of the Catholic Portuguese. As a result of this investigation, we find that prejudice can prevent us from seeing the good that lies beyond appearances and can also prevent us from appreciating Brazilian music.
Bibliography:
Fryer, Peter. "The Heritage of Nigeria and Benin: Music for Worship." Rhythms of Resistance:
African Musical Heritage in Brazil. Hanover: UP of New England, 2000. 13-23. Print.
Paes, Cesar, dir. Saudade do Futuro. Laterit Productions, 2001. Film.
