Juliana Cantarelli Vita and Schuyler Whelden discuss the music tradition maracatu de baque solto from the zona da mata region of the northeastern state of Pernambuco. They are joined by maracatu practitioner Mestre Bi and anthropologist and historian Dr. Chris Estrada.

Transcript available at https://essefoimassa.com/.

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Chris Estrada (of Michigan State University)  has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award to Brazil.  Dr. Estrada will work with collaborators at the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE) during portions of 2022 and 2023 as part of the project “Every Day Is Carnival: Improvisation and Cultural Preservation in the Rural Maracatus of Pernambuco.” 

This Fulbright Scholar award will enable Dr. Estrada to collaborate with people in the music and anthropology departments at UFPE in creating a virtual archive and website focused on maracatu field recordings. In addition to digitizing analog cassettes of sambadas and ensaios, he also plans to make his own recordings from 2009-2012 available there, and to supplement the audio material with historical and GIS data on the places where all of this takes place, with as much specificity about the people making it as possible. 

Find more of his work at https://www.baquesolto.org/

Follow him on Twitter @DrXtrada.

Songs:

Chico Science & Nação Zumbi, “Maracatu Atômico” (YouTube) (Spotify)

Ticuqueiros, “Lá no Engenho” (YouTube) (Spotify)

Mestre Bi singing about his history in maracatu de baque solto

Ticuqueiros, “Cambinda Brasileira” (YouTube) (Spotify)

Jorge Mautner, “Maracatu Atômico” (YouTube)

Ticuqueiros, “Cantador Mestre”  (YouTube) (Spotify)

Ticuqueiros, “Samba de Maracatu” (YouTube) (Spotify)