Between Markets and Patrons: The Field of Afro-Bahian Carnival Music Christopher Dunn, Brown University

I would like to begin by referring to a song soldiers, almost all black on the record, “Tropicália 2” (1993), by Beating on the napes of black and , the two rogues most prominent figures ofBrazilian popular O f mulato thieves and other music for the last twenty five years. In a slow almost-whites rap, provocatively entitled “Haiti,” Caetano Treated like blacks describes witnessing state-sponsored vio­ Only to show the other almost- lence at the thirteenth FEMADUM, the blacks annual festival of the Grupo Cultural (Who are almost all black) Olodum in the Pelourinho district of Salva­ And the almost-whites poor like dor, :1 blacks How it is that the blacks, the poor Quando voce for convidado pra and the mulatos subir no adro And almost-whites almost-blacks Da Fundafáo Casa de Jorge from poverty are Amado treated. Pra ver do alto a fila de soldados, quase todos pretos Veloso’s privileged point of view from Dando porrada na nuca de the stage allows him to witness the brutal malandros pretos police repression of Afro-Brazilian youth De ladrdes mulatos e outros quase stigmatized as much by their blackness as by brancos their poverty. Despite the group’s consider­ Tratados como pretos able efforts to discourage aggressive behav­ Só pra mostrar aos outros quase ior, Olodum’s public rehearsals and festivals pretos in Pelourinho square have long been sites of (E sao quase todos pretos) petty crime, fist fights and violent confron­ E aos quase brancos pobres como tation with baton-wielding police who op­ pretos erate in groups often or more. But this time Como é que pretos, pobres e Veloso has drawn attention to the “eyes of mulatos the whole world watching the square,” E quase brancos quase pretos de especially when he says: táo pobres sao tratados. Nao importa nada: Nem o trafo When you are invited to ascend do sobrado the steps Nem a lente do Fantastico, nem o O f the Casa de Jorge Amado disco de Foundation Ninguem, ninguem e cidadao To see from up high the line of

47 Lucero Vol. 5, 1994

Nothing matters: Not even the power elite celebrates the symbols of Afro- outline of the sobrado Bahian culture as emblems of local identity Not even the lens of Fantâstico, in relation to the rest of and to the not even Paul Simon’s record world. The contradictions ofBrazilian, and par­ Nobody, nobody is a citizen. ticularly Bahian, society might be under­ stood in light of the paradoxes of muld- References to the majestic colonial villa culturalism in the U.S. described by Hazel housing the museum of Bahia’s most conse­ Carby in her essay, “The Multi-Cultural crated novelist, the presence of the film Wars” (1992). Carby raises questions about crew of a very popular nationally-televised the “cultural and political need” which is human interest program, and finally satisfied by raising up black women literary Olodum’s acclaimed collaboration with Paul subjects to the status of “cultural and politi­ Simon, underline the group’s relation to cal icons” in a society which has failed to persons and institutions which wield large integrate and provide equal opportunities amounts of both economic and symbolic for educational and social ascension to mi­ capital on the local, national, and interna­ nority groups, particularly African-Ameri­ tional levels. This network of media con­ cans (192). She argues that black cultural tacts, who have celebrated, sponsored, and texts and discourses on “difference” have appropriated Olodum’s work, has done very become convenient substitutes for social little to change prevailing attitudes and prac­ and political practices which might trans­ tices which degrade Afro-Brazilian youth. form apartheid-like social and economic The refrain compares Bahia, and later in structures which are sustained without re­ the song, Brazil in general, to contemporary course to segregationist legislation (192,195). Haiti which is controlled by a small elite of Discourses on “difference,” which celebrate light-skinned mulâtres who are allied with a the diversity of cultural practices with the mostly black military regime at the expense aim of challenging and reformulating the of the population: dominant literary canon, tend to emphasize individual or group identity while ignoring Se você for ver a festa do Pelô, e structures of inequality and exploitation se você nâo for (193). Carby’s discussion is particularly rel­ Pense no Haiti, reze pelo Haiti evant to this essay in that it shows how O Haiti é aqui— O Haiti nâo é subaltern groups are readily commodified aqui and symbolically appropriated by elite dis­ courses on “diversity” and “multi- And if you go to see the party in culturalism,” which often serve as corner­ Pelô, and if you don’t go stones for the construction of inclusionary Think of Haiti, pray for Haiti local and national identities. While the dis­ Haiti is here— Haiti is not here.2 cussion of American hybridity is a relatively recent phenomena—which obviously could By calling attention to Haiti, regularly cited not have begun to take place within domi­ as “the poorest nation in western hemi­ nant institutions until after the abolition of sphere,” Veloso denounces the contradic­ legal apparatuses premised on the convic­ tions ofBahian society. Over eighty percent tion that whites and blacks were radically of Salvador’s population is Afro-Brazilian, different and therefore constituted separate but the city is dominated politically and “nations”—, it has been the central feature economically by a small white elite, which of the “grand narrative” of brasilidade since relies on a mostly black police force to the 1920s.3 “maintain order.” Nevertheless, this same Particular identities based on social posi­

48 Between Markets and Patrons tion, race, ethnicity, and region were sub­ the symbolic production of the work. The sumed under a universalist national identity meaning of any work is not a given; it is, as a matter of official policy under the rather, a process involving both producers authoritarian-populist government of and consumers and all of the other mediat­ Getulio Vargas (1930-1945). At the same ing agents in between, such as distributors, time, the ideology of “racial democracy” critics, promoters, official tourist agencies, emerged as a point of national pride and etc. W ith this in mind, I would argue that distinction in relation to a segregated United the field of popular music in Bahia ought to States. From then on, any challenge to this be studied with an eye on carnival— an “regime of truth” was interpreted as an event that provides the single largest source attack on the very foundation of of income for most local musicians— and “Brazilianness. ”4 one which receives wide coverage by the In this paper, I will discuss the field of electronic and print medias. Afro-Bahian popular music, particularly The carnival season extends more or less those groups, like the blocos afro, which from early December until Lent, and in­ emerged in the 1970s to challenge prevail­ cludes a host of neighborhood and religious ing notions about Brazilian racial equality festivals. Most musicians and groups which and harmony. I will follow their historic participate in carnival activities are subsi­ trajectory, from renegade carnival entities dized by state and local government agen­ to cultural producers for an international cies (such as Bahiatursa, the state tourist mass market. In this process, the blocos afro organization), or are sponsored by large have gained emblematic status as authentic local businesses, or by political office-hold­ representatives of Bahia’s “pluri-cultural, ers and seekers. participative” carnival (Gomes 182). A sig­ The Bahian carnival is widely defined by nificant portion of Brazilian popular music producers and consumer-participants in is produced for, or related to, carnival. In opposition to the super-produced, interna­ Rio, composers and interpreters of­ tionally famous carnival of Rio de Janeiro. ten begin their careers as participants in Bahians distinguish their own “participative large escolas de samba and then later establish carnival” from the “show” in Rio (Gomes themselves as individual artists. Yet they 172), where spectators pay to enter the occupy a subaltern position in relation to Sarnbódromo stadium to watch the topescolas Rio-based artists producing eclectic, cos­ de samba parade down the artificial “av­ mopolitan pop (a category known as MPB— enue. ” This is not just a matter oflocal pride Musica Popular Brasileira) for the national or parochial rivalry between two historic and international markets. In Bahia, the cities. Both are vying for the lion’s share of career trajectories of carnival artists are very domestic and foreign tourism which is cru­ similar, with the difference that nearly all cial to local economies. This competition musical production relates to the field of reached new heights in 1993 when the carnival. Bahian artists are famous for pro­ mayors of each city engaged in a fair share of ducing a very distinctive regional sound that mudslinging, with racist subtexts, in the is readily associated with Afro-Bahian cul­ weeks leading up to carnival.6 The Bahian ture. promoters tend to emphasize “participa­ French sociologist, Pierre Bourdieu, ar­ tion” and “authenticity,” while those from gues that art must be understood as a “mani­ Rio tout the “sophistication,” “grandeur,” festation of the field” in which agents, and “comfort” of their carnival. institutions, critics and consumers produce I would like to briefly outline the history the meaning or value of the work (“The ofBahia’s carnival, with special attention to Field” 37).5 A sociology of art must analyze the last twenty years. Carnival was essen­ not only the material production, but also tially a celebration for middle-class and elite

49 Lucero Vol. 5, 1994 families until the 1950s. The working-class formed from highly participatory, “demo­ and poor blacks participated in loosely orga­ cratic” groups to privatized associations nized , which were later consti­ which charged participants substantial fees. tuted as afoxes and escolas de samba (modeled Most trios were informally restricted to after the famous escolas of Rio). The most whites, while employing black youths to famous afoxe, the Filhos de Gandhi, ‘The secure a cordoned-off area around the truck. Sons of Gandhi’ was founded in 1949 by The “free zone” of the trios eletricos had striking black dock workers sympathetic to become a “safe area” for the middle and the Indian anti-colonialist movement against upper classes. the British Raj. The white middle class and The 1970s saw the development of what elite minority participated incorddes, featur­ Antonio Riserio has called the ing full marching bands and satiric allegori­ “reafricanization” of the Bahian carnival cal floats, or celebrated in private clubs. (17). This transformation was heralded by These domains were separated and con­ new type of carnival entity, the bloco afro. fined to distinct geographical spaces in the Many of the organizers and participants of city. Bahian carnival was transformed in the the first blocos afro had come from the blocos 1950s largely due to the emergence of the de indio, which were going out of style by trios eletricos, flatbed trucks with battery- the late 1970s. The first bloco afro, lie Aiye (in powered speakers, which have since evolved Yoruba, the “House of Life”), was founded into sophisticated, loud, and mobile sound in 1974. The North American soul and stages. Observers have noted how the trios black power movements, along with the served to “democratize” the Bahian carni­ independence ofLusophone Africa are cited val since they created open “free zones” by the group’s president, Antonio Carlos behind the truck where rich and poor, black dos Santos, as crucial influences on the and white mixed together (Riserio 113). In group. lie Aiye comes from Liberdade, the the late 1960s, a new carnival entity, the most populous neighborhood in Salvador, bloc os de indio was created by working class with a predominantly black, relatively stable black youth. The blocos de indio were more and prosperous working-class population. loosely organized, required less discipline Unlike the afoxes, lie Aiye utilized sym­ and offered revelers more mobility in com­ bols of africanity as a form of “cultural parison with the afoxes and the escolas (Godi resistance” to dominant norms in the Bahian 55). The costumes were modeled after carnival. Their first appearance in 1975 met Hollywood representations of North Ameri­ with widespread criticism in the mainstream can Indians from westerns which were con­ Bahian press on the grounds that it “intro­ stantly aired on TV and shown at local duced” racial politics into carnival. The movie theaters.7 Observers have suggested participants carried signs referring to black that black youth identified with these ste­ power and proudly affirmed their black reotypical representations based on com­ identities (Gomes 179). The leadership of mon marginality in relation to white society the organization, which quickly grew into (Riserio 67; Godi 56-57). The blocos de indio one of the largest carnival entities, main­ subverted Romantic notions of the “noble tained an exclusionary policy which paral­ savage” (as portrayed in nineteenth century leled some of the whites-only trios eletrico, Indianist novels) by presenting an aggres­ such Os Internacionais. It barred entry to sive, rebellious version of the Indian.8 By whites in order to underscore a resolutely the 1970s, elite critics were openly calling Afrocentric aesthetic. They developed a for rigorous police control of theblocos de hybrid beat which mixed samba with ijexa, indio, which were perceived to be a threat to a rhythm from the Afro-Brazilian religion, public safety (Godi 64; Gomes 178). candomble. If, on one hand, lie Aiye’s black In the meantime, the trios had been trans­ aesthetic situated the group in opposition to

50 Between Markets and Patrons dominant white-controlled groups, it also another in order to conserve it, increase its set the limits for political intervention. Their yield, and better the position of those who strategy, which went so far as to exclude practice it” (32). Olodum also resists the Afro-Brazilians who weren’t “black kind of narrow identity politics postures enough,” ultimately proved to be ineffec­ associated with lie Aiye. Olodum’s leader­ tive in terms of protest and actually hastened ship perceives race as one variable in addi­ the group’s assimilation into the official tion to social position, gender, and region as discourse on Bahia’s “pluri-cultural” carni­ determinants of power relations in Bahia val (Gomes 180). Their Afrocentric sym­ and in Brazil. O f all the blocos afro, Olodum bolic gestures were pushed into the realm of is most involved with community organiza­ the aesthetic and ceased to have much tion and education, and most active in political or social impact (Gomes 180). By protest movements against police violence, the 1980s, Ile Aiyê was celebrated by the poverty, and political corruption. In the late media and local authorities as a symbol of 1980s, Olodum emerged as the preeminent Bahia’s connection to a mythic Africa.9 bloco afro in Salvador, and has since become In 1983, core members of Ile Aiyê broke a well-known and powerful cultural institu­ away and revived the Grupo Cultural tion which regularly tours Brazil, Europe, Olodum (founded in 1979) based in and the United States.11 Pelourinho, the historic center of Salvador. I will briefly analyze key developments in The Pelourinho community is much poorer the present field ofBahian carnival begin­ and less stable in terms of social structure ning with Pierre Bourdieu’s premise that compared with Liberdade. Until quite re­ “no cultural product exists by itself, i.e. cently, it was a site of drug dealing, prosti­ outside the relations of interdependence tution and petty theft. Pelourinho is also the which link it to other products” (32). The most popular site for tourists who come to various carnival entities and the genres they see the largest complex of colonial buildings represent compete for legitimacy and con­ in Latin America.10 secration, both in the market for popular Olodum has also celebrated and dissemi­ music and in officially-sponsored competi­ nated Bahia’s historic connections with Af­ tions during carnival. No group or genre rica, but it has constructed a counter-cul­ monopolizes the field—which would be tural discourse rooted more in the diasporic nearly impossible given class, race, and geo­ experience and local struggles against vio­ graphic distinctions—indeed, they depend lence, poverty and racial discrimination. In on each other to the degree that they define the 1980s the group developed a new themselves in relation to (if not in opposi­ rhythm, samba-, which was heavily tion to) each other. Bourdieu reveals the influenced by the arrival of reggae music in artistic field to be rife with struggle over Bahia in the late 1970s. If Uê Aiyê repre­ legitimacy, consecration, and/or market sented the “reafricanization” ofBahian car­ success. In recent years, the most visible nival, we might say that Olodum repre­ opposition and antagonism has been be­ sented a moment of pan-diasporic hybridiza­ tween the blocos afro and the trios eletrico, the tion. Olodum’s hybridity refers not only to two most dominant genres in the field of its syncretic rhythmic innovations, but also Bahian popular music. Within the context to its use of modern technologies, market­ of carnival, the blocos and the trios compete ing strategies, and transnational media net­ for both physical space and “audio space” in works to promote its music and its message. an extremely haphazard and contentious It has followed a trajectory of what Nestor parade through the downtown area. The Garcia Canclini has called “cultural recon­ trios enjoy a clear advantage due to the sheer version,” a process by which symbolic pat­ volume of their amplified moving stages rimony is transferred “from one site to which transport full bands. Outside of car­

51 Lucero Vol. 5, Í9 9 4 nival, they compete for the domination of and cultural preservation. Both of these the recording market, where again the trios groups are connected tooficinas (workshops have an advantage with their slick, highly for building instruments and for teaching produced, “FM-friendly” songs. Many of percussion, quite often to foreign students the trios have achieved market success by and researchers) which occupy relatively producing orchestrated covers ofbloco hits, autonomous positions. Bourdieu argues that often paying little or nothing for authorial intellectuals (for our purposes, we may sub­ rights. The blocos are disadvantaged since stitute the broader category of “cultural their harmonic range is somewhat limited producers”) are “more responsive to the by the genre itself which is based solely on seduction of the powers that be, the less well a drum corps and a solo voice. In recent endowed they are with specific capital” years, Olodum has attempted to strategi­ (“The Field” 39). At this point we might cally preempttrio appropriations by record­ examine more closely the group designated ing their local, street-consecrated hits with as the “powers that be.” This category highly orchestrated and stylized arrange­ includes a very diverse range of agents and ments for a mass market.12 Olodum’s recent institutions with varying amounts of eco­ successful incursions into the the local and nomic capital and different kinds of sym­ national pop markets notwithstanding, the bolic capital. W ithin the context of Bahian blocos afro continue to occupy a subaltern musical production the “powers that be” position in relation to the trios. On the other might include local political office holders hand, the blocos afro— especially the conse­ or seekers, owners of local radio and TV crated ones like lie Aiye, Olodum, Muzenza stations, local and trans-national recording and Araketu which have all produced executives and producers, consecrated na­ records13—enjoy more “symbolic capital” tional and foreign artists, etc.— in short, a and legitimacy as the original producers of group which represents a wide variety of Afro-Bahian music. positions within the field of power and the Bourdieu defines two principles of artistic field. Therefore the circuits of power hierarchization in the cultural Field: which distribute and exchange both sym­ heteronomy, which denotes a greater de­ bolic and economic capital in the field of pendency on the market in accordance to cultural production form a multi-layered degree of success; and autonomy, which palimpsest of relationships. These relation­ denotes degree-specific consecration— usu­ ships constitute what García Canclini refers ally by otherdisinterestedness producers in to as an “oblique organization of power” the field or by critics— and freedom from which involves a great deal of mediation, the laws of the market (“The Field” 37-38). instead of top-down imposition (34). There Artists with a greater degree of autonomy is a wide range of economic, political, and stake their claims to authenticity on their cultural motivations of the various agents material. For example, avant-garde experi­ representing the “powers that be.” Artists mentalists and producers of folklore both also occupy a variety ot positions in the regularly claim material disinterestedness, field, based on possession of both symbolic the former for the sake of originality— ’’art and economic capital. These variations de­ for art’s sake” or “make it new”—and the termine the type of relationship between latter on behalf of “tradition” and “cultural the artist and the sponsor, which in turn will preservation.” Both groups position them­ determine the artist’s degree of autonomy/ selves against “sell outs” to the market. It is heteronomy within the cultural field. important to note that groups as diverse as The case ofPaul Simon’s “collaboration” Olodum and Agbeokuta (an Afro-Bahian with Olodum in 1990 on his record jazz fusion band) emphasize a commitment “Rhythm of the Saints,” provides an inter­ to “research” both for the sake of originality esting case for demonstrating my point.

52 Between Markets and Patrons

Simon’s 1986 production of “Graceland,” savvy “feel for the game” (Bourdieu, “Field­ mostly featuring South African artists, was work” 9) which has allowed the group to very successful in the international market. transform the field of cultural production. Its impact on the internal developments of The asymmetrical relationship between Paul South African music and on the growth of Simon and Olodum, therefore, must be “world music” had contradictory effects.14 seen in relation to the Bahian field of cul­ On an artistic level, his relationship with tural production and how it changed Olodum followed a similar, unilateral pat­ Olodum’s position within the field. tern. Simon used Olodum as an exotic I will argue that Olodum’s connections background for songs which had nothing to with the multi-national recording indus­ do with his experience in Bahia and which try—which would, according to Bourdieu’s evidenced little understanding of the social model, bring it closer to a heteronomous and historical contexts of the music he was position— actually afford the group a higher appropriating. This being said, it would be degree of autonomy within the specific field of naive (and paternalistic) to argue that Bahian cultural production because it is able to Olodum was merely “exploited” by Paul depend less on local patronage. In “The Field Simon. The directors of Olodum have con­ of Cultural Production,” Bourdieu briefly siderable experience in dealing with local mentions commission bestowed by a patron patrons and with pop musicians in uneven which in addition to the autonomous market “collaborations” which involve exchanges constitute two distinct forms ofdemand giv­ of political, symbolic and economic capital. ing rise to heteronomy (45-46). Here, I am Within the fields of class relationship and of less interested in commission, a form of power Olodum occupies a subaltern posi­ patronage which usually benefits producers tion in relation to its patrons and “collabo­ of elite culture (i.e., the Symphonic Orches­ rators,” but it has considerable room for tra of Bahia), than in the more binding forms strategic maneuvering. Our task here is to of patronage which directly bear upon politi­ examine how “hegemony is allied to cal “position-taking” within the field of subalternity” (García Canclini34), or rather, power. Bourdieu, however, drops the cat­ how agents of popular culture negotiate egory of patronage altogether in order to their position in the artistic field by engag­ pursue an analysis of market forms of ing in these mutually-beneficial, albeit lop­ heteronomy. The market and patronage rep­ sided relationships. In this case, it must be resent two distinct spheres of heteronomy recognized that Olodum has been extremely whose effects on “position-taking” within successful at utilizing local and international the field of cultural production vary greatly. media networks to improve their position The laws of the market are defined quite in the field of Bahian, and by extension, simply by what sells, while patronage in­ Brazilian popular music. volves binding inter-personal relationships Bourdieu’s notion of thehabitus is very based on mutual interest, despite the fact that useful here. The habitus is a system of so­ patrons and clients occupy different positions cially constituted dispositions, or “genera­ in the field of power. This dynamic, by the tive schemes” (“Structures” 54-5) which way, is one reason why horizontal political allow human agents to assess the field of mobilization based on class interests or racial social relations— which here I take to be solidarity is so difficult in patrimonial societ­ hierarchical formations based on class, ies like Brazil. ethnicity, and gender, which determine Finally, let us compare Olodum with the access to power— and to act strategically to Filhos de Gandhi, that highly consecrated transform this field according to individual afoxe established in 1949 by Afro-Bahian and collective interests. More than any other dock workers. Olodum produces music for carnival entity, Olodum has demonstrated a local, national, and international markets, in

53 Lucero Voi. 5, 1994 addition to their annual participation in local authorities and patrons as symbols of carnival. Their revenue comes primarily Bahia’s “exotic” cultural identity, and thus from these market-related sources which have been a great asset to the local tourism include record sales, performances, and industry. Olodum seems to have resisted workshops. Market success affords Olodum this pattern by generating revenue through a relative degree of artistic and political au­ record sales and performances. Further­ tonomy compared to the Filhos de Gandhi. more, its songs go beyond the narrow, The historic afoxe, which has no recent essentializing celebrations of Africa and recordings for the consumer market, is in­ blackness typical of other blocos afro. stead totally implicated in clientelistic net­ Olodum’s carnival tributes have dealt with works involving important local political a wide range of themes from the New figures, which considerably limits their World African Diaspora (i.e. ) to the “space of possibles” in terms of artistic and impoverished Brazilian Northeast. Yet, we political “position-taking.”15The Filhos de have also examined the contradictions of a Gandhi enjoys the greatest amount of sym­ society which celebrates and commodifies bolic capital in the carnival of Bahia based Afro-Bahian culture, while continuing to on its longevity, its status as a symbol of maintain black people “in their place.” Bahia’s “participatory” and “pluri-cultural” How has Olodum’s entry and ascension in carnival, as well as a symbol of “peace” and the local, national, and international pop “social/racial harmony.” The first bloco afro, markets transformed its role as an institution lie Aiye16 continues to celebrate an Afro­ of social and cultural activism? Has Olodum centric aesthetic, but has had little political forfeited its claim to “cultural resistance” on impact, partly due to its dependence on behalf of poor Afro-Bahians, or has it ex­ local political patrons. On the other hand, panded the range and efficacy of its critical Olodum, a relatively recent upstart with interventions? extensive ties to international cultural pro­ ducers and a large consumer audience for its recordings, has much more room for ma­ neuver within the cultural and political Notes spheres. Outside the patronage economy, Olodum must confront other types of re­ Salvador is the capital city of the state of straints and conform to different rules which Bahia. However, Bahia is commonly used to affect its artistic and political “position- refer to the capital. In this paper, I will use the takings.” Yet, I would argue that market two names interchangeably. For example, when dependence offers the group more choice i speak of the field of carnival production in compared to groups who depend on pa­ Bahia, I am referring only to the capital. trons. At present, Olodum stills supports 2The refrain is an ironic parody of Caetano’s black left-wing candidates from the left- own 1979 hit “Menino do Rio,” in which he wing Workers’ Party (PT), organizes rallies expresses his affectionate admiration for a young, against state-sponsored racial violence, and tattooed surfer in Rio de Janeiro. The dreamy participates in broad-based protest manifes­ refrain goes, “O Havai, seja aqui, tudo o que tations, while the Filhos de Gandhi, and to sonhares” ‘Let Hawaii be here, all that you a lesser extent lie Aiye, continue to publicly dream of.’ or privately endorse the status quo. 3In the 1920s and 1930s young Brazilian We have seen how potentially subver­ intellectuals like Gilberto Freyre and Mario de sive, counter-cultural manifestations in the Andrade called for Brazilians to acknowledge Bahian carnival have been appropriated by and take pride in their multi-ethnic heritage.

54 Between Markets and Patrons

Discourses on the “contributions” of Africans the critical “digestion” of foreign cultural prod­ and indigenous peoples toward the creation of ucts. Obviously, the Bahian youth were coming a “national soul” emerged and slowly were from a completely different social and historical assimilated by political elites. position, but it is worth noting how they also 4”Brazilianness” is like Foucault’s temi “re­ utilized the Indian as a symbol of autonomy and gime of truth,” since it denotes a whole intellec­ resistance to white domination. tual, political and social apparatus which allows Brazilian anthropologist, Olivia Gomes, has for a concept like “racial democracy” to “make noted that the most commonly used words to sense” to the overwhelming majority. Foucault describe and praise the blocos afro are “magic,” defines a “regime of truth” in terms of those “force,” and “tradition” (182). Groups like lie discourses which society “accepts and makes Aiye are quite compatible with dehistoricized function as true.” See Foucault 131-133. and exoticizing celebrations of Bahia’s 5In his essay Bourdieu discusses the field of “africanity.” mid-nineteeth-century French literary produc­ 10During the last year Pelourinho has been tion. Obviously, the field of contemporary the site of massive state-sponsored renovation. Bahian carnival is quite different and requires To this end, a considerable segment of the other considerations. Nevertheless, I have found population was reimbursed and relocated, mosdy his theoretical formulations of the artistic field, to poor neighborhoods on the city’s periphery. its struggles over legitimacy, and its relation to Olodum no longer has a local grass-roots con­ social and political formations to be very useful. stituency, yet continues to provide alternative 6CesarMaia, the mayor of Rio, quipped that educational and social programs for the city’s “the tourist who goes to Salvador for carnival youth. has a one-hundred percent chance of getting n The Grupo Cultural Olodum is no longer mugged and a great chance of being attacked.” just a bloco afro. Its institutional apparatus in­ Given the fact that Salvador has the largest black cludes an alternative school, a children’s band, a population of any Brazilian capital, the implica­ theater group, a workshop for producing con­ tion of his statement was quite clear. Bahia’s sumer items, and a boutique for selling them. mayor, Lidice da Mata replied by affirming that 1201odum’s last two and its traveling in the previous year there were forty-two mur­ group feature bass, guitar, keyboards, trap set ders in Rio and two in Salvador during carnival. and chorus which make for a much more She concluded: “The happiness of the people is “marketable” sound. the principal attraction of Bahian carnival. Our 13 As of1994, Olodum has released six records carnival is not for the Englishman to see.” Here, in Brazil and one compilation for the interna­ Mata uses a very common Brazilian expression, tional market; lie Aiye and Muzenza have each “para ingles ver,” which connotes artifice and released two records; and Araketu released two inauthenticity. See Mayrink and Gabriel de before dissolving as a bloco and becoming a Lima 35. professional band which has recorded and mar­ 7Godi counted no less than thirteen Bahian keted two CDs. movie theaters featuring westerns during one 14Neil Lazarus has shown how Simon’s en­ week in 1968! See Godi 61. deavor actually contributed to the underdevelop­ 8 In this sense, the blocos de indio followed a ment of black South African music by setting an similar strategy of appropriation as the Brazilian anachronistic standard for South African pop Modernists of the 1920s. The “cannibalist” based on dominant international consuming group celebrated an aggressive “savage” Indian interests. See Bourdieu, “The Field” 142-43. as a symbol of national autonomy in relation to 15Of course, I am referring to Bourdieu’s Europe. Cultural cannibalism was a strategy terms here. A large portrait of the current proposed by elite intellectuals of Sao Paulo for governor and grand patriarch ofBahian politics,

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Antonio Carlos Magalhaes, a civilian collabora­ 29-73. tor with the military regime, hangs prominently Carby, Hazel. “The Multi-Cultural Wars.”Black on the wall of the Filhos de Gandhi’s headquar­ Popular Culture. Ed. Gina Dent. Seattle: Bay ters in Pelourinho. The building was donated to Press, 1992. 187-200. the group by Magalhaes in 1983 during his Dunn, Christopher. “Afro-Bahian Carnival: A previous tenure as governor. Stage for Protest.” Afro-Hispanic Review 11 16The carnival themes of Olodum and lie (1992): 11-20. Aye for 1994 indicate the degree of divergence Foucault, Michel. “Truth and Power.”Power/ in their trajectories in the last decade. lie Aye Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writ­ celebrated “Uma Nayao Africana Chamada ings, 1972-1977. New York: Pantheon, Bahia”(An African Nation Called Bahia), which 1980. 51-75. seems to suggest the bracketing of black culture Garcia Canclini, Nestor. ’’Cultural Reconver­ from contemporary Bahian and Brazilian social sion.” on Edge: The Crisis of Contemporary reality. Olodum, meanwhile, paid homage to Latin American Culture. Trans. Holly Staver. Tropicalismo, a late 1960s vanguard cultural Ed. George Yúdice, Jean Franco and Juan movement led by Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Flores. Minneapolis: University ofMinne- Gil which embraced and “cannibalized” for­ sota Press, 1992. 29-43. eign pop music and technologies. One of their Godi, Antonio Jorge Victor dos Santos. ”De hits songs “Alegria Geral,” from their latest Indio a Negro, ou o Reverso.” Caderno O Movimento, proclaims: “Olodum is CRH. Suplemento. (1991): 51-92. hippie, Olodum is pop, Olodum is reggae, Gomes, Olivia Maria dos Santos. “Impressoes Olodum is rock, Olodum has freaked out.” da Festa: Blocos Afro sob o Olhar da This refrain sums up the new Olodum. As an Imprensa Baiana. “Estudos Afro-Asiáticos 16 internationally-acclaimed pop phenomenon, the (1989): 171-87. group tends to emphasize its hybridity and Lazarus, Neil. ’’Unsystematic Fingers at the universalism. For a more detailed discussion of Conditions of the Times: ‘ Afropop’ and the the lyrics and carnival of the blocos afro up Paradoxes of Imperialism.” Recasting the through 1990, see my article, “Afro Bahian World: Writing after Colonialism. Ed. Jonathan Carnival: A Stage of Protest.” White. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univer­ sity Press, 1993. 137-60. Mayrink, Geraldo and Joao Gabriel de Lima. Works Cited “Os Tambores ardem na Nayao Baiana.” Veja 24 Feb. 1993: 34-40. Bourdieu, Pierre.’’Fieldwork in Philosophy.” Risério, Antonio. Carnaval Ijexá. Salvador: In Other Words: Essays Towards a Reflexive Corrupio, 1981. Sociology. Trans. Matthew Adamson. Stanford: Stanford UP, 1990. 3-33. —.“Structures,habitus, practices.” The Logic of Discography Practice. Trans. Richard Nice. Stanford: Standford UP, 1990. 52-66. Olodum. O Movimento. Continental/Warner, —.“The Field of Cultural Production, or: The CD 107800521, 1993. Economic Field Reversed.” The Field of Simon, Paul. . Warner Cultural Production. Essays on Art and Litera­ Bros. CD 26098-2, 1990. ture. Trans. Richard Nice. Ed. Randal Veloso, Caetano and Gilberto Gil. Tropicalia 2. Johnson. New York: Columbia UP, 1993. Polygram, CD 518178-2, 1993.

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