Ciranda

One of the most enjoyable evenings I've ever spent in the city of Recife in northeastern Brazil was when we learned to dance the ciranda in front of the little white church in Boa Viagem beach. It was Sunday after the evening mass, and the weather couldn't have been better. There was a small band made up of brass and drums, and a male singer. People of all ages held hands and formed a large circle. The steps were very simple, and the rhythm was slow and sort of hypnotic, going round and round. The music clip on this page is a ciranda from northern Brazil, where the rhythm changes periodically (that's the cue for the circle to change direction).

In a ciranda you can come in or leave as you please, and the dancing can go on all night long. So people eat and drink potent "batidas" made with cachaça and tropical fruit juices, and children fall asleep on their parents' or grandparents' laps. I bought a ciranda record that year, and recently found a CD by Ney Matogrosso - the fabulous pop artist - with a great recording of Pernambuco cirandas he did with the group Aquarela Carioca (As Aparências Enganam, Polygram CD 514 688-2).

Batidas

(Tropical Fruits Cocktails)

Here is one of the best reasons to visit Brazil, and you teetotalers out there just don't know what you're missing! Batidas are heavenly mixes of fresh fruit juice and cachaça - the potent sugarcane liquor from Brazil. Sometimes the recipe will also call for "leite condensado" (sweetened condensed milk) and/or other liquor. They are usually prepared in a blender and served in tiny glasses, with crushed ice added.

The most common batidas are made with passion fruit (batida de maracujá), cashew juice (batida de caju) and coconut milk (batida de coco). Fortunately for us, residents of these northern latitudes, these juices and the coconut milk can be found in Latin and Oriental grocers. If you can find the small bottles of Brazilian coconut milk, grab them. It's great stuff. Batidas frequently have humorous names like angels' piss, virgin's sweat, monkey's milk, etc. Enough intro, here are some great recipes I've tried over the years, courtesy of my good friends in Rio and Salvador da Bahia. Oh, and keep checking back with us, we will be adding new recipes from time to time. For pictures of Brazilian fruits, try our Sherbets and Juices Pages.

 

Lambada

The word lambada refers both to the rhythm - a fusion of carimbó and merengue - and to the dance, which incorporates elements of forró, samba, merengue and maxixe (the 19th century Brazilian dance which was a tremendous success in Europe). The dance is sexy, yes, but it is danced by all kinds of people, of all ages and sexes, without the "dirty" connotations given to it by very bad Hollywood movies. It's very graceful, fast-paced, and believe me, when you have to move your feet and body that fast on the dance floor without tripping all over yourself and falling on the dance floor, the LAST thing on your mind is sex...Anyway, the rhythm originated in the Amazon, was later adopted by Bahians, who proceeded to create the steps...and the rest is history!

 

Dança do Maçarico

The maçarico dance from the state of Pará takes its name from an Amazonian bird. It's a graceful circle dance in which women mimic the bird's movements.

Carimbó

Carimbó drum

The carimbó is a large drum of African origin. It is made of a hollow tree-trunk section - about 1 meter tall and 30 cm wide - covered on one end by a deer skin. The carimbó gives its name to a folkloric dance of the state of Pará in the Brazilian Amazon, in the area of the Marajó Island and the capital city of Belém. It is a circle dance accompanied by heavy percussion and occasionally by string instruments. At a certain moment in the dance, the woman throws a handkerchief on the floor and her partner has to pick it up using only his mouth! It's beautiful, captivating and fun!

Lundu

  

The lundu or lundum was brought to Brazil by Bantu slaves from Angola and surrounding areas. Still danced in the island of Marajó in the Amazon delta, the lundu(m) is a very sensual, voluptuous - rather lascivious really - couple's dance. It was highly popular all over Brazil in the seventeenth and early-eighteenth century. It was later replaced by the maxixe (which was also considered scandalous...) and the samba.

 

Siriá

The siriá is a graceful folkloric dance from the state of Pará in the Amazon. It's danced by couples to the sounds of a flute, guitar, etc. and the strong percussion of large drums made of hollow tree trunks with both ends covered with leather. Men and women dance together and alternate on the dance floor. The siriá originated in the fishing communities along the river, as a sort of "courtship" dance. These populations, called "caboclos," are the biological and cultural result of mixed European, Indian and African origins.

Maracatu

Maracatu woodcut from Pernambuco showing the queen, king and a woman holding the calunga doll.

The maracatu is a carnaval group from Pernambuco, in northeastern Brazil. The groups call themselves nação (nation), for example, Nação do Leão Coroado, (Nation of the Crowned Lion), meaning a large homogeneous group.

The maracatu is composed of a small percussion orchestra with several types of drums, agogô, rattles; women dancers and a male singer. They parade to the rhythm of the drums, wearing beautifully decorated costumes. The soloist sings a song and the chorus of women answers with the refrain. The standard bearer is followed by the king and queen of the maracatu, and the man who carries a large colorful umbrella adorned with fringes symbolizing the sun. The woman in front of the group of dancers carries a doll called the calunga. This doll is supposedly a fetish.

In the maracatus of the countryside, called maracatu rural, there is also the figure of an Indian with a feathered headdress who carries large rattles tied to his back.

Maracatu. Miniature clay figurines by Marliete, Pernambuco, 1984.

A few years ago this centuries-old tradition - it originated with groups of slaves and ex-slaves more than 300 years ago - seemed to be dying out, slowly disappearing from the carnaval celebrations. But recently, thanks to the efforts of a group called Maracatu Nação Pernambuco, it has made a come back. Their rehearsals in full costume are attended by large crowds who also follow their parades in the cities of Olinda and Recife during the carnaval celebrations.

Cd cover, Maracatu Nação Pernambuco: dancers and lead singer.

pesquisa

http://www.aultimaarcadenoe.com/folcloreingles.htm

http://www.maria-brazil.org/cordel.htm