A Perfomance dos congos de Pombal (PB)

Abstract

The present dissertation focuses on the performance – integrated by music, dance and representation of a dramatic plot – of the group Congos, from Pombal (PB). It marks the highlight points of the Festivity of Our Lady of the Rosary, organized by the Fraternity of Nossa Senhora do Rosário, which is attracting thousands of devotees to the Pombal city each earlier October, constituting one of the most representative manifestations of popular Catholicism in the sertão (backland) of the Paraíba state. After reviewing the literature with the goal of situating the historical and sociocultural construction of the group (BENJAMIN, 1976; ARAÚJO, 2014), the research revisited the field, updating the data on initiation of the performance of the Congos, its motivations, needs and expectations, approached previously (SILVA, 2011). Through the context and these performance data, this study dialogues with theoretical and methodological foundations of ethnomusicology (BLACKING, 1973; NETTL, 2006; LUCAS, 1981), of cultural (GEERTZ, 2008; WILLIAMS, 1992), and anthropological (BRANDÃO, 1986) studies. The analysis with focus on performance concludes that the elements of permanence prevail, due its intrinsic connection to the religious universe of popular Catholicism. Therefore, the Congos presents few adaptations, re-creations or modernizations in their performance, being music one of the main instruments of oral memory of this context, that is, a factor of stability, identity and cultural resistance of the group.