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7 Cosmopolitans at Home The theme of contradictions permeates anthropological studies of Brazil. Scholars seek to account for a democratic nation that so clearly excludes a majority of its citizens from the full rights of citizenship (i.e., Holston 2008). Some wonder at the continual clash of traditional and modern institutional forms (Hess and DaMatta 1995). Others try to make sense of the continued embrace of the ideal of racial democracy in a nation with such obvious and extreme racial inequality (i.e., Sheriff 2001). Still others seek to explain how humor and unbridled joy can coexist alongside brutal violence (Goldstein 2003). Brazilians themselves simply shrug and say, “This is Brazil,” elevating the fact of contradiction as if it were a national characteristic. Perhaps this is simply the modern condition, one in which the process of becoming is exposed. It is certainly a process for Jewish Brazilians, who, according to some views, seem to contradict some core notion of what it means to be Brazilian. If accepting contradictions is another element of national culture, alongside racial ideologies, then perhaps being Brazilian gives Jews an edge; rather than expecting the contradictions to dissolve, they become integrated into core beliefs and 192 ◆ Kosher Feijoada practices, part of being and becoming Brazilian, even as their condition as Jews and transnationals places limits on their belonging. Porgy and Bess Although ethnographies typically begin with an “arrival scene” (Pratt 1986), I began this exploration with a departure scene, since departures so often crystallize what months of fieldwork have not made clear. Similarly, reflections at the end of a project make sense out of seemingly opaque occurrences at the outset, so here I return to the opening scenes of my introduction to the people who would become my community for those dense months of fieldwork. The beginning of my fieldwork and integration into the Jewish community in São Paulo and “the city called Hebraica” corresponded to the intensification of the rehearsals for a production of George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. The Jerusalém chorus had performed a few songs from the opera in the past, but this time it was joining with the theater and dance sections of the club’s Youth Department to put on a full production, a formidable project. The chorus was already familiar with the maestro’s ambitious undertakings . He had sealed his reputation for being able to squeeze blood from stones (the stones being an amateur chorus and the blood being beautiful music) with a prize won at a choral competition in Israel. Even more impressive was the gala event the previous year celebrating Israel’s fiftieth anniversary when the chorus performed Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with a full orchestra. The selection had been the maestro’s choice, since the symphony is associated with peace. When several chorus members protested that they were unwilling to celebrate Israel’s anniversary by singing in German, a compromise solution was found: a group of chorus members translated the entire choral arrangement into Yiddish, which they believed was unprecedented. After these experiences, the chorus members trusted the maestro’s ability to pull off an opera in English, even one as musically complex as Gershwin’s opus. The maestro had simplified and reduced the score so that it could be played by six musicians, and only the key pieces were to be performed by the chorus and a group of six professional singers, five of whom were black, something that especially pleased the maestro. In order for the audience to follow the sung English, the maestro pulled strings and arranged Cosmopolitans at Home ◆ 193 for the use of the municipal opera company’s overhead translation board. The remainder of the storyline was condensed and told in Portuguese through a combination of theatrical presentation and narration. At the point when I began to participate in the chorus, the maestro and the theater director (an established actor whom everyone delighted in seeing in humorous television commercials for household products) were considering having the chorus put on blackface, or at least dark makeup in order to represent the black people whose lives are represented in the opera. Since we would be performing an abridged version of the piece, we would not be violating Gershwin’s stipulation that the complete threehour opera be performed by an all-black cast. Nevertheless, performing in blackface certainly seemed to be a violation of the spirit of Gershwin’s intent. Somehow I got involved in the conversation, perhaps because I had already...

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