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Afro-Bahian History and Culture Reading Resource List

Resources in English

Journal Articles

Books

  • African-Brazilian Culture and Regional Identity in Bahia, Brazil, by Scott Ickes
  • Slave Rebellion in Brazil: The Muslim Uprising of 1835 in Bahia, by João José Reis
  • Axé Bahia: The Power of Art in an Afro-Brazilian Metropolis, by Patrick A. Polk, Roberto Conduru, Sabrina Gledhill, Randal Johnson
  • Brazil’s New Racial Politics, edited by Bernd Reiter and Gladys L. Mitchell
  • Capoeira: The History of an Afro-Brazilian Martial Art, by Matthias Röhrig Assunção
  • Brazilian Popular Music and Globalisation, by Charles A. Perrone & Christopher Dunn
  • Brazil, Mixture or Massacre?: Essays of a Genocide of a Black People, by Abdias do Nascimento
  • Afro-Politics and Civil Society in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, by Kwame Dixon
  • The Masters and the Slaves: A study in the development of Brazilian civilization, by Gilberto Freyre

Fiction Novels

  • Cacao, by Jorge Amado
  • The War of the Saints, by Jorge Amado
  • Tent of Miracles, by Jorge Amado

Blogs

Website articles

Films

Radio Podcasts 

Recursos em Português

Artigos de Jornal

Livros

  • Genocídio do negro brasileiro: Processo de um Racismo Mascarado, por Abdias do Nascimento
  • A Trama dos Tambores: a musica afro-pop de Salvador, por Goli Guerreiro
  • Casa Grande & Senzala, por Gilberto Freyre

Romances de Ficção

  • Cacau, por Jorge Amado
  • O Sumiço da Santa, por Jorge Amado
  • Tenda dos Milagres, por Jorge Amado

Blogues

Artigos do site

Filmes

Music / Música

Afro-Bloco / Bloco-Afro Videos

Names to Know of Afro-Bahian Samba-Reggae Movement / 

Nomes para Saber do Movimento Samba-Reggae Afro-Baiano 

 

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Founding of Ilê Aiyê

Ilê Aiyê, the first afro-bloco of Brazil, was started in Curuzu, Liberdade, which with about 600,000 inhabitants is one of the most populous black neighborhoods in the country. The group was founded on November 1, 1974 to preserve, enhance, and expand exposure of the African-Brazilian culture in Brazil and has pursued this goal in different ways.

Throughout its history, Ilê Aiyê has been honoring African countries and Afro-Brazilian uprisings which has contributed strongly to the process of ethnic identity and the cultural self-esteem of black people. With its 3,000 members, Ilê Aiyê today is the heritage of Bahian culture, a milestone in the process of re-Africanization of the Bahia Carnival.

The musical rhythmic movement, invented in the 70s by Ilê Aiyê, was responsible for the revolution of the Bahian carnival which continues to develop and represent new rhythms derived from African traditions.

To promote political and educational consciousness, Ilê Aiyê does so through thematic selection of dance, gestures, language codes that transmits the African ancestry of the past with the historical and social context of blacks enslaved in Brazil, and then with the everyday Afro-Bahian of today, in addition to working in the pan-African universality of the Afro-descendant.

Ilê Aiyê also expresses the evolution of black/African renaissance and African American movements (adapted to the Bahian reality) focusing on the relationship and identification between black people from anywhere in the world, always emphasizing their common ancestral origin.

Source: http://www.ileaiyeoficial.com/

The video below brings together 40 years of carnival images of Queens of Ilê who represent the celebration of black beauty.

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Founding of Cortejo Afro

Cortejo Afro was formed and made its Carnival debut on July 2, 1998 in the streets of Pirajá, a community in Salvador. The Bloco is rooted in the spiritual guidance and principles of an established Candomblé house in Salvador, Ilê Axé Oyá, and Cortejo Afro’s artistic design and Afrocentric creative expression was founded by artist Alberto Pitta. Concerned about the predominance of Axé music, Cortejo Afro was formed in an attempt to reestablish the African identity of Carnival. The Bloco-Afro was one of many to reinstate pride of African heritage, culture, and standards of beauty in the local celebration of Carnival which reaffirmed the values and aspects of black culture in Bahia as a means to elevate the community.

Batala Mundo members enjoy joining and playing in Cortejo Afro‘s bloco during Carnival every year. Batala was founded by former Cortejo Afro member, Giba Gonçalves. How many Batala Mundo members can you peep in this video? (Hint: look at the drum heads)

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Samba-Reggae

Samba-Reggae is a music genre that was created in Salvador, Bahia by Afro-Brazilians during the 1970s and 80s as an extension of the Black Pride movement. Through a mixture of Jamaican reggae and Brazilian samba, samba-reggae was born. The first bloco-afro to showcase samba-reggae was Ilê Aiyê, which was created in 1974 and was significant in returning samba to its African roots and identity while establishing a carnival parade in Salvador that Afro-Brazilians could call their own since Black Brazilians were not allowed to participate in many of the Rio samba schools for carnival in Rio de Janeiro.

In 1979, the second bloco, Olodum, was led by Mestre Neguinho do Samba. Mestre Neguinho do Samba was also a former drum leader of Ilê Aiyê and he he eliminated the old-style hand and stick style of playing the repinique drum which now plays fast beats with two sticks like the style played in the Afro-Brazilian religion of Candomblé. Following Olodum was Timbalada, which is a bloco-afro-that was directed by Carlinhos Brown who brought back the playing of the timbal drum, which was nearly extinct.

Because of these three groups, samba reggae bands such as Didá, Cortejo Afro, of course Batalá, and many others came into existence and created their own samba-reggae rhythms. Through samba-reggae (also known as Afro-Reggae), music genres such as Axé came along and until this very day samba-reggae inspires many people to create, live, and love.

Listen to the sounds and watch the images in this documentary about the birth of samba-reggae. There are no English subtitles, but the music speaks for itself.