The Berimbau: Soul of Brazilian Music

5. Creation Myths

116 ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ Chapter 5 Creation Myths An exploration of the berimbau’s presence in Brazilian art music reveals connections that have affected elements of capoeira scholarship. For the purposes of this chapter, I define Brazilian art music as a genre in which music is produced specifically for performances in concert halls. An analysis of the berimbau’s use in Brazilian art music highlights interpretations of Brazilian nationalism that reinforces nation-building ideologies promoted by the Vargas regime beginning in the 1930s. This chapter begins with an overview of Brazilian art music and discusses how Africanderived thematic material has been used in the genre since the late 1800s. Two major trends of Brazilian art music from the 1920s to the present include various phases of Brazilian nationalism and recent contemporary vanguarda (avant garde) music. Central to this chapter is a discussion of Ganguzama, the first symphonic work that incorporated the berimbau. Issues surrounding the composition of Ganguzama began a process that eventually led to the development of a comprehensive musical notation scheme by percussionist and composer Luiz D’Anunciação.1 By using D’Anunciação’s concepts, capoeira scholars have been able to pursue detailed studies, graphically depicting comparative performance methods among capoeira practitioners. Following a discussion of Ganguzama and its use of the berimbau, I focus on D’Anunciação’s development of berimbau notation and the emergence of percussion-based art music in Brazil. I also discuss a contemporary vanguarda composition for berimbau and prerecorded tape by Luiz Augusto (Tim) Rescala. Vanguarda composers such as Rescala pioneered juxtapositions of the natural acoustic timbres of the berimbau against electronically produced sounds that were prepared and recorded ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ 117 Creation Myths on magnetic tape. This work was a collaborative effort by Rescala and D’Anunciação, and in some aspects, serves as a technological blueprint for some of the berimbau and electronic dance music compositional processes that were discussed in previous chapters. Brazilian Art Music Sacred music developed more slowly in Brazil than in New World colonies under Spanish control, partly because of the minimal organization of a formalized church structure in Brazil. The Jesuits had implemented formal musical instruction in Bahia by the 1550s, where they encountered indigenous musical traditions that employed flutes, rattles, and other musical instruments constructed from human bones. Through a process of cultural reorientation, indigenous people were instructed how to sing in Latin and Portuguese. They also learned how to play small organs , harpsichords, and European woodwind instruments.2 Besides vocal and instrumental instruction, Jesuit schools featured musical instrument craftsmanship. Consequently, the influence of the viola (ten- or twelvestring guitar) and rabeca (string instrument between a violin and viola in size) continues to be strong in northeastern musical traditions and is a direct result of the important Bahian and Pernambucan cultural centers during this early phase.3 Art music began to flourish in Brazil with the arrival of the Portuguese monarchy that fled from Napoleon’s army in 1808. They eventually established Rio de Janeiro as the head of the Portuguese empire. Rio instantly became the center of Brazil’s musical activity and flourished until 1831, when Emperor Dom Pedro I abdicated his throne. Subsequent political instability resulted in reduced musical activities between 1831 and 1840, when an interim regency of political rulers served as the administration for the child emperor, Dom Pedro II. Prior to the 1860s, Europeans composed almost all of the operas presented within Brazil’s borders. One of the first Brazilian operas to obtain international success was Carlos Gomes’s Il Guarany, which premiered in Milan, Italy, in 1870. Although this work was set in mid-1500s Brazil, its text was in Italian, and it followed the nineteenth-century operatic tradition.4 Between the 1880s and the 1920s, Brazilian composers closely ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ ▶ 118 Creation Myths followed composers of European romanticism. Also during this period, they began incorporating aspects of Brazilian popular music including the lundu (central African song and dance form that is related to many urban Brazilian song styles), modinha (sentimental song style that incorporates the lundu and Portuguese influences), and choro (Rio de Janiero –based urban instrumental music) into their compositions. Brazil has continually struggled to climb out of the shadow of European art music. Works of many Latin American composers have been dismissed as mere imitations of European styles. One of the defining moments in Brazilian cultural nationalism was launched in February 1922 at the São Paulo Semana...