Frederico Bezerra, collaborating researcher of INET-md, recently awarded a PhD by NOVA FCSH, authors the article “Samba, corpo e performance da coletividade: um ensaio de rua da escola de samba Unidos de Vila Isabel” (Samba, body and performance of collectivity: a street rehearsal of the Unidos de Vila Isabel samba school), published in open access bythe journal Etnográfica.
Abstract:
The samba school parade in the city of Rio de Janeiro is an expressive culture that encompasses music, dance, theater, costumes and scenographic structures. Existing literature has not explored the encounter between samba-enredo and the performance of crossing an avenue, a dynamic that the Carnival parade represents. Using an ethnographic perspective, this article investigates the relationship between body and sound in the samba school parade based on my experience as a member of a Rio de Janeiro association during the 2022 Carnival. Based on the theoretical foundations from the anthropology of performance and the African musicology, I interpret the dialectic between body and sound as a mechanic that engenders a performance of collectivity.
Keywords: samba-enredo, performance, body, Carnival, ethnography.