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- Title
The Well of Samba: On Playing Percussion and Feeling Good in Toronto.
- Authors
PRAVAZ, NATASHA
- Abstract
While Brazil has been exporting music in audio, film, performance, and printed form for decades, Afro-Brazilian percussion ensembles have recently emerged as locally emplaced phenomena in many North American and European cities, from Toronto and New York to Paris and Berlin.[1] Such groups generally have a large membership of mostly amateur players, many of whom are host-country nationals, or immigrants from countries other than Brazil. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and interview materials, this article focuses on the role that participation in Afro-Brazilian percussion ensembles plays in fostering wellness among locals and newcomers to the largest city in Canada. In particular, I discuss three interrelated aspects of music making that have direct bearing on the emotional well-being of participants: the links between music and spirituality; music playing as a kind of flow; and band membership as substitute family and community building. In doing so, I move away from both positivist and structuralist understandings of the relationship between music and emotion, where universalizing tendencies prevail. Drawing on insights from performance theory, ethnomusicology, and anthropology, I advocate for recognition of the importance of Brazilian music making in Canada as a modality that enhances practitioners' welfare, an argument with potential implications for the fields of community and immigrant mental health.
- Subjects
BRAZIL; CANADA; PERCUSSION ensembles (Musical groups); MUSIC &; society; BRAZILIANS; IMMIGRANTS; MUSIC; PERFORMANCE theory; ETHNOMUSICOLOGY; AMATEURISM; MENTAL health; EMIGRATION &; immigration
- Publication
Canadian Ethnic Studies, 2010, Vol 41/42, Issue 3-1, p207
- ISSN
0008-3496
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1353/ces.2010.0038