Bumba meu boi from Maranhão: description of two creative contemporary processes
The Bumba Meu Boi festival is characterized as a festival of great relevance, both within and outside the national territory, being predominantly played, celebrated and/or known in different locations in the state of Maranhão. Its importance is even more significant because it is a primarily black culture manifestation and has been recorded since the colonial period. According to Barros (2018), the legend of Bumba Meu Boi dates back to the colonial period and it is due to the expansion of the territory and the importance of cattle for the socioeconomic development of the north and northeast that the legend inhabits. (Barros, 2018, p. 221). The legend in question remains around the context of enslaved blacks, indigenous people and colonial movements. In Maranhão, the festival presents accents or different characteristic stylistic elements that create different variations of the festival (matraca accent, zabumba, costa de mão, orchestra and baixada). In this work we focus on the matraca and baixada accents. Thus, this research aims to extol, from a contemporary perspective, the memory and elements that are part of the manifestation through the exhibition of two pieces, one acousmatic and the other with fixed electronic support. As a methodological element, we use the questions of autoethnographic research of Cano and Opazo (2014) to discuss the questions of self-reflection of the interpretative process. As a way of demonstrating, in some way, respect and reverence to this manifestation, we hope that through the compositions we can bring, with musical elements, aspects that enhance this rich and important Brazilian cultural symbol. In the first piece. In the first work, an acousmatic work, the creative process involved developing different tracks from recordings of the Bumba meu boi cultural event, which were recorded in 2024 in the state of Maranhão. The work used recordings from voices and percussion instruments from the groups Santa Fé, Maioba and Boi de Maracanã. In addition, the work features recordings of traditional instruments that were electronically transformed. In the second work, the creative elements are based on different uses of percussion instruments, electronically modified, dialoguing with free improvisation with a Boi Pandeirão, a traditional instrument of the manifestation.
Keywords: Bumba meu boi, creative process, performance
Biography
He works as a symphonic and popular percussionist and has toured several countries such as Norway, Malawi, Germany and the Netherlands. He has attended classes and masterclasses with several renowned musicians such as: Javier Calvino, Carlos Tarcha, Clarissa Severo, Ney Rosauro, Stephan Froleyks, Luiz Fernando Teixeira, Brett Jones, among others. He graduated in symphonic percussion at USP Ribeirão Preto under the guidance of professor Eliana Sulpício, holds a degree in music from Centro Universitário Claretiano, a specialization in music education from the Federal University of São Carlos, a master’s degree in music from the Federal University of Uberlândia, under the guidance of Cesar Traldi and a specialization in popular percussion from Faculdade Santa Marcelina. He is currently a music educator at the GURI project and is pursuing a doctorate in music at the State University of Campinas, under the guidance of professors Jônatas Manzolli and Danilo Rossetti.
State University of Campinas, Brazil – vlyra95@gmail.com