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{{Short description|Music genre from the northeast region of Brazil}}
[[File:Bloco de maracatu - olinda.jpg|right|300px|thumb|''Maracatu nação'' dancers]]
The term '''maracatu''' denotes any of several performance genres found in [[Pernambuco]], Northeastern [[Brazil]]. Main types of maracatu include ''[[Maracatu Nação|maracatu nação]]'' (nation-style maracatu) and ''maracatu rural'' (rural-style maracatu).

==Maracatu Nação==
{{Main|Maracatu Nação}}
'''Maracatu nação''' (also known as ''maracatu de baque virado'': "maracatu of the turned-around beat"), the most well-known of the maracatu genres, is an Afro-Brazilian performance genre practiced in the state of [[Pernambuco]], mainly in the cities of [[Recife]] and [[Olinda]]. The term, often shortened simply to ''nação'' ("nation", pl. ''nações''), refers not only to the performance but to the performing groups themselves.

''Maracatu nação''’s origins lie in the investiture ceremonies of the ''Reis do Congo'' (Kings of Congo), who were [[slavery|enslaved people]] who were granted leadership roles within the enslaved community by the Portuguese administration. When [[Afro-Brazilian#Abolition of Slavery|slavery was abolished in Brazil]] in 1888, the institution of the Kings of Congo ceased to exist. Nonetheless, ''nações'' continued to choose symbolic leaders and evoke coronation ceremonies for those leaders. Although a ''maracatu'' performance is secular, traditional ''nações'' are grouped around [[Candomblé]] or Jurema (Afro-Brazilian religions) ''terreiros'' (bases), and the principles of Candomblé infuse their activities.

Traditional ''nações'' perform by parading with a drumming group of 80–100, a singer and chorus, and a coterie of dancers and [[stock character]]s including a king and a queen. Dancers and stock characters dress and behave to imitate the [[Portugal|Portuguese]] royal court of the [[Baroque]] period.

The performance also enacts pre-colonial [[Africa]]n traditions, like parading the ''calunga'', a doll representing tribal deities that is kept throughout the year in a special place in the nação's headquarters. The ''calungas'', usually female, are traditionally made of either wax and wood or of cloth. They may have clothing made for them in a similar Baroque style to the costumes worn by the other members of the royal court. The ''calunga'' is sacred, and carrying this spiritual figurehead of the group is a great responsibility for the female ''Dama de Paço'' (Lady-in-Waiting) of the cortège.

The musical ensemble consists of ''[[alfaia]]'' (a large wooden rope-tuned [[drum]]), ''gonguê'' (a metal [[Cowbell (instrument)|cowbell]]), ''tarol'' (a shallow [[snare drum]]), ''caixa-de-guerra'' (or "war-snare"), ''[[Shekere|abê]]'' (a gourd shaker enveloped in a net of beads), and ''mineiro'' (a metal cylindrical [[Shaker (percussion)|shaker]] filled with metal shot or small dried seeds). The song form is [[call and response (music)|call and response]] between a [[solo (music)|solo]] singer and (usually) a female [[choir|chorus]].

Today there are around 20 ''nações'' operating in the cities of [[Recife]] and [[Olinda]]. Although several have an unbroken line of activity going back to the 19th century, most have been set up in recent decades. Well-known ''nações'' include Estrela Brilhante, Leão Coroado, and Porto Rico. Each year they perform during the [[Carnival]] period in Recife and Olinda. Maracatu Nação Pernambuco, while not a traditional ''maracatu'', was primarily responsible for introducing the genre to overseas audiences in the 1990s.

The genre has inspired the establishment of performing groups in a number of cities outside [[Brazil]], including [[Lisbon]], [[Toronto]], [[Quebec City]], [[New York City]], [[Austin, Texas|Austin]], [[Washington, D.C.]], [[Cologne]], [[Berlin]], [[Hamburg]], [[Vienna]], [[Lyon]], [[Stockholm]], [[London]], [[Edinburgh]], [[Brighton]], [[Madison, Wisconsin|Madison]], [[Oakland]], [[San Diego]], [[Seattle]], [[Portland, Oregon|Portland]], [[Manchester]], [[Bristol]], [[Oxford]], [[Melbourne]], [[Brisbane]], and [[Madrid]].

==Maracatu Rural==
[[File:20º Encontro Estadual dos Maracatus de Baque Solto - Carnaval 2010.jpg|thumb|''Maracatu rural'' performers]]
'''Maracatu Rural''', rooted in the Pernambucan interior, is also known as ''maracatu de baque solto'', ''maracatu de orquesta'', and ''maracatu de trombone''. Although it shares its name with the ''maracatu nação'' found in that state's cities, it is substantially different in terms of narrative, practice, and instrumentation. It evolved in the early 20th century as a fusion of pre-existing forms of Carnival revelry. It is considered to be Afro-indigenous in origin. Its members, typically sugarcane workers, are involved in the native-influenced ''[[Catimbó]]'' religion. ''Maracatu rural'' has a high participation rate with dozens of groups in operation.

==Maracatu cearense==
[[File:Maracatu Blackface Queen.jpg|thumb|Cross-gendered ''maracatu cearense'' [[blackface]] queen. Pre-Carnival show in [[Caucaia]], Ceará, February 2009.]]
'''Maracatu cearense''' is Fortaleza's variant of ''maracatu nação''. Brought to Fortaleza, Ceará, in 1936, ''maracatu cearense'' has since been cultivated as the city's most distinctive Carnival performance tradition, owing in part to its use of [[blackface]] makeup to enact Afro-Brazilian characters and male-to-female [[transvestitism]] of the important female personages, particularly the queen. Its rhythms are described locally as ''cadenciado'', "cadenced," which amounts to a less [[syncopated]], steadier 2/4 meter and a slower [[tempo]] than is found in the ''maracatu nação'' of [[Pernambuco]], sometimes as slow as 45 beats per minute. In recent decades groups have tended to divide into those that retain the slow tempo (to express the misery of [[slavery]]) and those that speed up their tempos (to express the exuberance of [[Carnival]]), and there is some dispute over which style most authentically expresses the tradition in Ceará.<ref>[https://maracatucearense.blogspot.com/2009/05/nacao-iracemas-brand-rhythm.html Conner, Ronald. 2009. "Nação Iracema's Rhythm vs. Az de Ouro's Ritmo Cadenciado."]</ref> Standard instrumentation is also distinctive. Instead of ''[[alfaia]]'' drums, the ''cearense'' tradition uses ''[[surdo]]'' or ''[[Bass drum|bombo]]'' drums; like [[Pernambuco]], it uses the ''{{ill|Tarol (drum)|pt|tarol|lt=Tarol}}'', or snare drum. Instead of the ''[[gonguê]]'', large single-head bell, ''maracatu cearense'' uses the ''ferro'', a heavy iron-slab [[triangle (musical instrument)|triangle]], to keep its steady duple [[rhythm]]. Individual groups often add to or slightly modify this setup to create their own distinct sound.

Every year, different ''maracatu cearense'' nations parade in [[Fortaleza]]'s traditional municipal [[Carnival]] competition, normally taking place at Domingos Olímpio Avenue. The oldest nation, ''Az de Ouro'' (Golden Ace), founded in 1936, is still in operation. Other nations include ''Vozes d'África'' (Voices of Africa), ''Nação Fortaleza'', ''Rei de Paus'', ''Nação Iracema'', and ''Maracatu Solar''.

The use of [[blackface]] in ''maracatu cearense'' reportedly stems from Fortaleza's mostly white and ''[[caboclo]]'' demographic, and its small black population (4.4%) (IGBE 2008), which effects a situation where mostly white and brown people end up performing a traditionally black expression of Brazilian [[Carnival]]. Blackface in this context is intended to pay homage to the African slaves' contribution to Brazilian civilization and is not viewed as a [[racist]] expression (compared, for instance, to the [[blackface minstrelsy]] of the [[United States]], which parodied black speech and character). In fact, some ''maracatu cearense'' nations are actively involved in racial equality and [[Black Consciousness Movement|black consciousness]] initiatives in [[Ceará]]. Among these is Nação Iracema, founded in 2002 by Lúcia Simão and William Augusto Pereira, heads of the first black family in Fortaleza to direct a maracatu nation (current {{As of|2009|lc=y}}). Lúcia Simão also founded Ceará's first black consciousness movement in the early 1980s.<ref>Conner, Ronald. 2009. "Brazilian Blackface: Maracatu Cearense and the Politics of Participation." Master's thesis, University of California, Riverside.</ref> This consciousness of [[racial equality]] operates through ''maracatu cearense'' performance in part as the continuation of Ceará's historical identity as the first region in Brazil to abolish slavery, in May 1884 (the rest of the nation followed suit in 1888).

Contrary to the claims of most ''maracatu cearense'' participants, at least one Brazilian scholar sees the development of the tradition in Fortaleza to be intimately tied to a subtle racist [[discourse]] in Ceará that has mythologized itself as a non-black region of Brazil (thus, the justification for blackface), perpetuating Brazil's longstanding racist ideology of skin whitening.<ref>da Silva, Ana Cláudia Rodrigues. 2004. "Vamos maracatucá!!! Um estudo sobre os maracatus cearenses. Master's thesis, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco.</ref>

==Further reading==

* Conner, Ronald. 2009. "Brazilian Blackface: ''Maracatu Cearense'' and the Politics of Participation."  Master's thesis, University of California, Riverside.
* da Silva, Ana Cláudia Rodrigues.  2004.  "Vamos maracatucá!!! Um estudo sobre os maracatus cearenses.  Master's thesis, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco.
* Crook, Larry. ''Brazilian Music: Northeastern Traditions and the Heartbeat of a Modern Nation''. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2005. {{ISBN|1-57607-287-8}} (hardcover); {{ISBN|1-85109-591-8}} (ebook).

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://cas.podomatic.com/entry/2010-03-02T12_47_37-08_00 Pernambuco Trilogy – Part 3] English-language broadcast produced for the University of London's OpenAir Radio. This episode provides an in-depth report on ''maracatu rural''.


[[Category:Brazilian styles of music]]
[[Category:Afro-Brazilian culture]]