Between death, life, silence and sound on urban quilombo Liberdade (MA): strategies of the Boi da Floresta during the COVID-19 pandemic

Author(s)

Luiza Fernandes Coelho

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Artes
• Defense date: 2023-05-29

Examining board members

Suzel Ana Reily; Eurides de Sousa dos Santos

• Advisor: Suzel Ana Reily

Abstract

This research aims to understand the strategies used by the Boi da Floresta de Mestre Apolônio, a traditional bumba meu boi group with more than fifty years of existence located in São Luís (MA), to continue musicking during the COVID-19 pandemic, between 2020 and 2022. The pandemic was a period never experienced before, where it was not possible to continue the traditional modes of performance: getting together to rehearse, play, sing, dance, pray together with a large group of people. Through these actions, these modes of musicking, relationships were developed with the saints associated with the month of June, ancestors, among revelers, with the Quilombo Urbano Liberdade community, as well as with the rest of the city of São Luís. In the pandemic, voices, drums, rattles and dance steps were silenced. But despite the scenario of restriction, the Boi da Floresta found ways to continue its musicking, updating its tradition and showing itself to be a sentinel (Shelemay, 2011) of its territory. In addition to continuing their spiritual rituals, we will understand how the group acted to ensure the survival of its players during the biggest recent health crisis, as well as the residents of Quilombo Urbano Liberdade, the territory where the group is located, in São Luís, Maranhão. I try to understand what music, sounds and locations were possible for the performers of Boi da Floresta de Mestre Apolônio and for Quilombo Urbano Liberdade during the pandemic. The research contributes with ethnography for understanding how musicians build localities; it seeks to contribute to discussions on the virtualization of traditional and popular knowledge, in this case Bumba Meu Boi, as well as in discussions about facing processes of silencing and crises in the periphery, in this case, the urban Quilombo da Liberdade (MA). Discussions are mainly structured through "up close and inside" ethnographic monitoring (Magnani, 2002), interviews (Reily and Patsiaoura, 2019, p. 22), analysis of netnographic data (Kozinets, 2014, p. 60), as well as documentary research about the group and the territory in which it is located (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 19/22648-9 - Where are bumba-meu-boi groups going and how do they perform?
• Grantee: Luiza Fernandes Coelho
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master