Memoria do Jongo: As Gravacoes Historicas de Stanley J. Stein: Vassouras 1949

摘要

Memoria do Jongo is perhaps best viewed as extended liner notes to the CD that accompanies the book, as, in effect, the volume aims to contextualise the recordings made by Stanley J. Stein in 1949, during his research into the daily life on a coffee plantation in the Vale do Paraiba (Rio de Janeiro state) from 1850 to 1900. While the CD contains a few examples of other musical genres, such as sambas, folk renditions of recorded popular songs, and a tune from the mummer-like ensembles known as folias de reis, the bulk of the recordings, 60 in all, are of pontos de jongo, that is, short songs to accompany the jongo, a dance that was performed as both entertainment and religious expression by the slaves on the coffee plantations of southeastern Brazil. Often no more than ten seconds in length, the recordings of the pontos involve a solo male voice, sometimes accompanied by clapping, performing a set of two or more lines to demonstrate the text and melody of each item.