Music, dance, and health in Maracatu de baque solto performances (Brazil)

The relation between music, health, and culture is currently an important subject of ethnomusicological research (for a review, see Koen et al., 2008). Communities from around the globe have developed countless local practices to heal people, prevent illness, or enhance well-being by using sounds and music. These practices are generally ritualized and involve symbolic, religious, and emotional meanings that culminate in expressive strategies for playing together that differ from those in Western culture.
Maracatu de baque solto is a Carnival performance-ritual occurring in the Zona da Mata Norte region of Pernambuco state (Brazil) and strongly associated with the afro-indigenous worship known as Umbanda-Jurema (Garrabé 2010, Teixeira 2018). While other musical expressions from Pernambuco have recently attracted the interest of musicians and ethnomusicologists, Maracatu de baque solto has remained a local and relatively understudied cultural practice.
Before and during Carnival, Maracatu performers feel exposed to various types of diseases. According to the local beliefs, illness is caused by the “envious eye” (olho grande) of their rivals, which may arouse invisible negative entities. In order to perform safely, performers need therefore to “close their body” (fechar o corpo). This expression is synonymous with a protected, powerful, and healthy body, while an “open body” (corpo aberto) refers to a vulnerable one, susceptible to the attacks of negative entities (Bonini Baraldi 2021).
Previous field research in the Zona da Mata region allowed me to advance the following hypothesis: besides the various rituals done in order to “close the body” and “close the Maracatu,” the aesthetic elements of Maracatu (music, dance, costumes, improvised poetry) are conceived of as protective devices against the dangerous effects of rivals’ envy. Specifically, the protective function of Maracatu performances is effective when musicians and dancers interact in tight coordination, or “consonance” (consonância), and thus “lock” (fechar) – acoustically and choreographically – the group. Relying on field and laboratory audio-visual recordings of Maracatu music and dance, I will describe how this fundamental concern is achieved.