Music as the fifth dimension: June Festivals in Northeastern Brazil
The Festas Juninas in the Northeast of Brazil are the June Festivals celebrating the days dedicated to Saint John (São João) and Saint Peter (São Pedro). Moving between Recife and Olinda in the state of Pernambuco gave insight into the centrality of music to cultural life. Music is what brings people together, it is how they interact and celebrate.
We started in Olinda, a small town outside the state capital of Recife. As we arrived, there was the sound of percussion and brass. We joined a procession of musicians and dancers that was making its way through the central part of Olinda, accompanied on both sides of the road by the community. Fresh legs and lungs joined the procession along its route, as it approached the performance area, where a narrative of a love story between frevo (a music style from Olinda) and forró (a style famous in the nearby city of Caruaru) was woven into a familiar set of dances culminating in a wedding scene.
In Recife, a huge party in the Old Town celebrated traditional themes with Northeastern characters – particularly Lampião and Maria Bonita -, costumes (lots of red and black checked shirts), forró bands of accordionists, drummers and triangle players, fire crackers and coloured lanterns.
Over the week there were processions, parties, and performances everywhere – from family gatherings in the street to shows sponsored by the local government. There is a constant presence of old and young – this is about maintaining community, identity and history. The Festas Juninas are particular to the region and reference a scatter of stories, heroes and events, and through the music, there is a sifting and shaping: parts are selected to be replayed, reviewed and re-remembered.
This is a lot of fun; but what else can we learn from it? First, music is a direct line into how people feel and relate to each other and the world. The tales and lyrics are not hard facts, they are reflections on, and representations of, experiences and perspectives. Understanding how people relate to reality – it’s clearly not as straightforward as the enlightenment supposed – has become one of the questions for our time. We don’t do what we know we should, and we are disoriented by infinite information and disinformation. Music provides inroads into analysing the complexity of the relationship between us and the world around us.
Secondly, the celebration that is played out through music also contributes to two struggles: it values what is unquestionably true (identity may be more real than ‘facts’), and it changes things. At its base it can change the economic and social standing of musicians contracted to play in public performances. By representing perspectives and experiences, it can also contribute to changes in social and relational conditions such as prejudice: it provides power and perspective to the struggle.
Thirdly, music takes place in time – the spacing of the notes, beats and rests takes place through time, and the vibrations disturb space. That is fundamental, but at a more abstract level, music is what binds the place of the Northeast of Brazil to time – the near and distant past, the present and – in other ways – the future, which is shaped by what music people choose to play. It is the fifth dimension.
