Mangueira: Sambas de Terreiro e Outros Sambas (Projeto Pela Memória do Samba, Arquivo

Musical I) by Lélia Coelho Frota; Hermínio Bello de Carvalho; Candomblé de Angola: Afro-
Brazilian Ritual Music by Xavier Vatin; Drama e Fetiche: Vodum, Bumba-Meu-Boi e Samba no
Benim by Marcos Branda Lacerda
Review by: Philip Galinsky
Ethnomusicology, Vol. 46, No. 1 (Winter, 2002), pp. 186-189
Published by: University of Illinois Press on behalf of Society for Ethnomusicology
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186 Ethnomusicology, Winter 2002

uniformly excellent; individual percussion parts are easy to pick out and
the vocal lines are never obscured by overenthusiastic drummers or poor-
ly placed microphones. Some listeners may prefer the varying audio qual-
ity of the older recordings on Rhythms of Rapture (specifically the 1947
recording by MayaDeren of master drummer Philocles Rosenbere singing
and playing drum on "LegbaPlante 'I Poto"). Still, Angels in the Mirror
performs an important ethnographic function by documenting several con-
temporaneous Haitian musical genres of the late twentieth century.
Both Rhythms of Rapture and Angels in the Mirror are important
contributions to the discography of Haitian music. They will be welcome
in the recording collections of ethnographers, teachers, and listeners inter-
ested in getting a sympathetic and well-balanced view of Haitian religion,
music and culture.

Michael Largey Michigan State University

Mangueira: Sambas de Terreiro e Outros Sambas (Projeto Pela

Mem6ria do Samba, Arquivo Musical I). N/d. Project coordination
and research led by Lelia Coelho Frota. Criato [www.criato.com.br].
Arquivo Geral da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro, CRILSM99CD.Two com-
pact discs. Booklet (56 pp.) including photos, notes in Portuguese by
Lelia Coelho Frota and Herminio Bello de Carvalho, and selected biog-
raphies of composers and artists.
Candomble de Angola: Afro-Brazilian Ritual Music. 1999. Maison des
Cultures du Monde, Inedit W 260091. One compact disc. Booklet (27
pp.) including photos, notes in French and English by Xavier Vatin, and
bibliographic references.
Drama e Fetiche: Vodum, Bumba-Meu-Boi e Samba no Benim. 1998.
Research, photos, recording and text by Marcos Branda Lacerda.Cen-
tro Nacional de Folclore e Cultura Popular (Ministerio da Cultura/
FUNARTE),DSFB48.One compact disc. Booklet (21 pp.) including pho-
tos, notes in Portuguese and English, and bibliographic references.
A blend of African and European characteristics, the modern urban
samba emerged out of the poor black and mulatto communities of Rio de
Janeiro in the early twentieth century to become Brazil's most famous na-
tional music and dance genre. Based in these communities in Rio and oth-
er cities, escolas de samba ("samba schools") are social clubs that present
elaborate Carnivalparades with music, dance, floats, and costumes, serv-
ing as an emblem for the samba the world over. Over the years, Rio's sam-
ba schools have helped nourish the genre, yielding many of its best com-

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 Recording Reviews 187

posers, who create their sambas for the annual Carnival as well as year-
round.
Produced by the General Archive of the City of Rio de Janeiro, the re-
cently released two-CD-book package Mangueira: Sambas de Terreiro e
Outros Sambas [Mangueira:Sambas of the Terreiro and Other Sambas] is
the first installment of a project labeled "Forthe Memory of the Samba,"
whose primary aim is to "contribute to the recuperation of the history of
one of the most extraordinary cultural patrimonies of Rio de Janeiro: the
samba and its schools" (translated from the liner notes, p. 9). The focus of
this first release is a group of historically important composers from the
oldest surviving-and perceived as the most traditional-of Rio's samba
schools, Estagio Primeirade Mangueira(founded in 1929). The CDs feature
samba styles, such as the samba de terreiro and samba do partido alto,
that used to have an important place in the samba schools outside the con-
text of Carnivalbut that, since the 1970s, have ceased to be cultivated there.
Most of the first CD presents compositions (some famous, others more
obscure) recorded in the 1960s by Herminio Bello de Carvalho of such il-
lustrious samba artists as Cartola,Carlos Cachaga, Nelson Cavaquinho, Nel-
son Sargento, and Ze Keti. Singing and accompanying themselves on vio-
lao (nylon-string guitar), and joined by occasional light percussion, the
composers reveal the softer, more intimate and poetic side of the samba
in unpolished, impromptu performances that capture a period of great
creativity for the genre. The recordings are homemade, but given their
obvious historical value, the less-than-perfectrecording quality is forgivable.
More information-including specific dates of recording for the selections-
would have been useful, however.
The second portion of this package (the last seven tracks of CD 1 and
the entire CD 2) comprises renditions recorded in 1999 of other sambas
from Mangueira composers, arranged by the seven-string violdo player,
Paulo Roberto Pereira de Araujo(known simply as "Pauldo").These recent
studio tracks privilege songs from lesser-known composers (among them,
founders of Mangueira),performed by a team of top samba studio musicians
and distinguished Mangueiraartists. The repertory represents sambas com-
posed from the 1930s to the beginning of the 1960s that are mostly un-
known in Brazil, including some songs that were recuperated by older
members of the samba school for this project. For this reason alone, these
sessions are historically important. But they also provide one of the most
brilliant recorded examples of roots samba in recent years, with a beauti-
ful repertory interpreted by the poignant voices of Nelson Sargento, Xang6
da Mangueira,Jurandir,Comprido, Tantinho, and others. The studio tracks
are of good quality, featuring ample percussion and stringed instruments,
though in certain sections the percussion is arguably a bit low in the mix.

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188 Ethnomusicology, Winter 2002

It is particularlytimely that these CDs register the voices of Carlos Cachaga

(from the 1960s recordings), one of the founders of Mangueira, and Dona
Neuma (from the 1999 studio sessions), one of the most important cultur-
al repositories of the school, both of whom passed away within the last two
years.
Produced by a governmental organization and with notes exclusively
in Portuguese, the Mangueira package is clearly intended primarily for a
domestic audience-and probably an audience alreadyinformed about sam-
ba. Even so, since the Archive conducted extensive research and interviews
with the oldest and most respected members of Mangueira,the notes could
have included portions of these testimonies and other useful information
about Mangueira'shistory. Instead, they contain mostly a trajectory of the
project and recount Herminio Bello de Carvalho's personal albeit influen-
tial involvement with certain Mangueirafigures. In addition, it would have
been useful to have the lyrics notated for the songs, as well as their esti-
mated dates of creation (or first recording). The selected biographies of
composers and performers, along with their photographs, however, are
indispensable. Despite some limitations in the notes, this package is an
outstanding contribution to the historical preservation of the Rio de Jan-
eiro samba and the legacies of its practitioners, many of whom are in dan-
ger of disappearing without proper recognition. Hopefully, it will lead to
other similar projects.
The samba is the most famous secular Afro-Brazilianexpression, whose
roots can be traced to the Kongo-Angolan (Bantu) culture in Central Afri-
ca. The Afro-Brazilianreligious realm, on the other hand, is marked more
prominently by the West African Yoruba and Fon cultures of present-day
Nigeria and Benin. The CD CandomblMde Angola: Afro-Brazilian Ritual
Music focuses on the little-known branch of BrazilianCandomble (the Afro-
Brazilianreligion with the strongest roots in Africa) that identifies with the
Angola "nation"("nations,"or na!6es, are groups markingAfrican cultural
lineages in Brazil). Although the field recordings are of a decent musical
and technical quality, at times there could have been a better balance among
solo voice, chorus, and percussion. But the notes are what make this pack-
age stand out. They are very clearly presented, offering valuable background
information on the various "nations" of Candomble, as well as specific
musicological discussion of the repertory (including timelines played on the
bell). In addition, the notes appropriately contextualize the selections,
explaining their function within the religious ceremony.
A more ambitious CD produced by FUNARTEin Brazil, Drama e Fet-
iche: Vodum, Bumba-Meu-Boi e Samba no Benim, provides field record-
ings of African musics from Benin that are linked in different ways to Bra-
zil. The theme of the package is fascinating, and its musical selections are

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 Recording Reviews 189

intriguing, but it suffers from a lack of continuity. The tracks are all of a
high quality, with both voices and percussion instruments clearly audible.
The first set of examples portrays rich polyrhythmic percussion (and some
solo vocals) of Fon music, which has counterparts in Afro-Brazilianreligious
traditions. This is followed by examples of Yoruba music in Benin that is
influenced by Afro-Braziliangenres-bumba-meu-boi and samba, respec-
tively-brought by Africans who returned to their motherland.
In revealing these fascinating and complex cultural connections be-
tween Africa and Brazil,Drama e Fetiche is an important asset to the field
of ethnomusicology and African and Afro-Brazilianstudies. However, de-
spite some interesting observations throughout, the notes are convoluted
and lacking in clarity. Crucially, they are missing the circumstances of the
recordings (apparently made in 1984) and other useful field data. They
could also benefit from a better explanation of the connection among the
disparate sets of recordings-I found the juxtaposition of Fon religious
music and the Yoruba music influenced by Afro-Braziliangenres to be some-
what arbitrary.If these problems were addressed, Drama e Fetiche would
be a much more successful package.
As a whole, these three releases offer highly interesting examples of
Afro-Brazilianand related African genres, though in some cases the notes
do not do justice to the rich musical material.

Philip Galinsky University of California, Davis

Nouvelle-Calkdonie / New Caledonia[:] Danses et musiques Kanak /

Kanak Dance and Music. 1997. Research and documentation by
Raymond Ammann. Archives Internationales de Musique Populaire,
AIMPXLVIII;Disques VDE-Gallo,CD-923. One compact disc. Booklet
(36 pp.) including photos by David Becker, notes in French by Ray-
mond Ammann, and song texts transliteratedand translatedinto French
by Raymond Ammann. English translation of notes and song texts by
Isabelle Schulte-Tenckhoff and Helena E. Reeve.
A French overseas territory, New Caledonia includes Grande Terre and
surrounding islands, most notably the Loyalty Islands. Its history in record-
ing parallels that of other major Oceanic polities: first the spotty haphaz-
ardness, and then the thorough documentation. The earliest local record-
ings date from 1913. Others reflect efforts by nonmusically focused scholars
(Hans Nevermann in 1933-1934 and Maurice Leenhardt)and rich amateurs
(Bruce and Sheridan Fahnestock in 1940). Except for a track on the com-
pact disc of the Oceania volume of the Garland Encyclopedia of World

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