Four differing styles (sotaques) in performance: Orquestra, Zabumba, Baixada, and Costa-da-Mao

Officially there are five sotaques, or rhythmic styles, recognized in Maranhao. Each has a historical connection with a different region of the state. The regional distinctions have blurred over the decades as migrants from the interior came to Sao Luis and established groups in neighborhoods that reflected their heritage celebration.

DM4A4798_DxO — India in sotaque de Orquestra. The stylized feathere costume and bow and arrow are meant to be evocative of Maranhao’s indigenous people. The introduction of indias in a few feathers radically altered the role of women performers after the 1950s, ending the hegemony of males in performance (Boi Lirio)

Groups have also sprung up in sotaques that were historically associated with another sotaque, such as Zabumba groups in areas of Costa-da-mao.

The names of the sotaques may have originated with popular usage, but this language has been adopted and codified by governmental and cultural agencies in Maranhao and the city of Sao Luis. Groups are identified as being of one rhythmic style or another, and the official city performance programs are based on that codification. So is the public funding that is given to the groups to support their public performance.

One famous scholar of the Bumba-meu-boi (Neto) has suggested that each group (there are some 400 or more in Maranhao) is its own sotaque, or accent. Certainly some of the groups show a hybridization of style that incorporates elements formerly unique to a particular sotaque.

There remains a popular and official understanding of the sotaques or “accents” in the culture of the celebration in Sao Luis:

Matraca (or Ilha)

Named for its use of the matraca as the rhythmic force, often with hundreds of participants and supports. It is historically associated with Sao Luis, which is an island capital — therefore the alternate name of Ilha. (This style is not pictured below.)

Zabumba

This sotaque is understood as the most “African” in style. It uses large standing drums (zabumbas) as its rhythmic accent.

Baixada

Originally from the interior of Maranhao, the sotaque exists in force in the area of Viana and Matinha. It also migrated to neighborhoods of Sao Luis with residents of the baixada interior coming to the city for work. In general, while the Baixada groups in the city have evolved considerably in their performative style; the groups in the interior tend to be more modest and closer to what is considered the heritage style.

Costa-da-mao

The name literally means “back of the hand,” which is the way the signature rhythmic drums are played. Originally associated with the region around Cururupu, it was celebrated by fishermen and laborers. A few Costa-da-mao roups survive, but their distinctiveness is now preserved by a diminishing number of heritage performers.

Orquestra

This style originated in the 1950s in the area around the river Munim (in such towns as Morros and Rosario). The legend is that a music school in the area provided a number of musicians skilled in “European” instruments that were not used in other sotaques (e.g., trumpets, banjos and other wind instruments). Orquestra pioneered the introduction of lightly-clad female indias/tapuias and evolved into the most performative and mediatic of the sotaques. It is a relative “newcomer” to popular culture, having its roots in the 1950s. In the memory of some younger people in Maranhao (marinhenses) it is now also a “traditional” style, but some members of the older generation, especially those in the older sotaques, are ambivalent about its heritage.

Orquestra’s instrumentation, rhythmic style, costumes, elaborate use of scantily-dressed performers and performance values have made it the fastest-growing style in the region. It is thought to account for as much as 50% of the groups in Maranhao. The use of women performers changed the celebration and performance of the Bumba-meu-boi, but also raised questions about the esthetic/performance of women (and the inevitable comparison with the Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro).

DM4A4834_DxO — India in the sotaque *Orquestra* (*Boi Lirio de Sao Joao*, June 2015)

DM4A4807_DxO — Male Orquestra performer known as a vaqueiro, or cowboy. This character evokes the importance of cattle ranching in Maranhao, as does the boi/ox itself (Boi Lirio de Sao Joao), June 2015

DM4A4831_DxO — The boi/ox in an *Orquestra* group dances with Catirina, a slave in the original BmB story, historically played by a male performer in female clothing but now increasingly by a woman (*Boi Lirio di Sao Joao*).

DM4A4804_DxO — An india dancing with the ox. This moment where an india vamps the ox (he typically ends the sequence with his head in her lap) has become a staple of Orquestra performances. It doesn’t have much to do with the original BmB slave narrative, and reflects the increased performativeness of the *sotaque*. Boi Lirio de Sao Joao, Sao Luis, June 2015

A Zabumba group: Boi Unidos Venceremos

This video shows the typical dance of the boi/ox with other characters during the performance (called a brincadeira, from brincar meaning “to play”).

The sound track shows the distinctive pulsing of the large drums (zabumbas) that give this rhythmic style its name. There are two ox figures being danced. The most prominent performers are the vaqueiros, representing cowhands in the narrative. The dancing indias toward the end are, at least in this group, young women and girls. This is one of the groups associated with an old heritage style, and its indias are dressed modestly compared to the newer Orquestra groups.

A Baixada Group: Boi da Santa Fe

DM4A4930_DxO — Ze Ohlinho, leader and singer of the group (June 2105)

DM4A4875_DxO — Leaders Ciriac, Simone, Ze Ohlinho, and Simone Ferro (UW-Milwaukee Professor and BmB researcher). We have known and interviewed these leaders for nearly a decade now.

DM4A4925_DxO — The “*caboclo real*.” or royal indian. Caboclo refers here to indigenous figures who appear in the Baixada sotaque with elaborate headdresses. This headpiece portrays Saint George against a field of ribbons and other decorations.

DM4A4943_DxO — This *cazumba* figure has multiple meanings, but is generally understood as a forest spirit. This mask is from the tradition of Abel Texeira, master maskmaker in the Baixada tradition who brought his cultural style from Viana in the interior. Now less active due to ill health, his style is being carried on by his wife.

DM4A4933_DxO — A distinctive rhythm/percussion is the Tambor *Onca*, the leopard drum. It is activated with a percussion stick inside that resonates with the skin, making a roaring or groaning sound. It is typical in the *Baixada* style, but used in others as well.

DM4A4957_DxO — *Bumba-meu-boi da Santa Fe* is known for its elaborate and fanciful Cazumba costumes. The availability of light-weight Styrofoam has made it possible for the headpieces to be built in enormous heights.

DM4A4948_DxO — *Cazumba, Boi da Santa Fe* (June 2015)

DM4A4956_DxO — *Cazumba* with butterfly headpiece

A Nearly-Vanishing Style: Costa da Mao (here: Bumba-meu-Boi de Elezio)

DM4A4900_DxO — *Costa-da-mao* is known for it elaborate and distinctive costumes (*BmB de Eliezio,* June 2015)

DM4A4916_DxO — Typical *Costa-da-mao* percussion, played with the back of the hand. The performer is dressed as a “*Caboclo da Fita*,” a ribboned figure that is generally an indigenous reference

DM4A4888_DxO — *Costa-da-mao* percussion (right). On the left is the Catirina performer, here a man in female dress

Costa-da-mao is now represented by only a few groups and one must search the schedule to find one in performance in the Sao Luis festival. Its distinctive percussion and costumes may be preserved with government support (now more likely since the Bumba-meu-boi was declared a national cultural patrimony), but the rural culture on which it was based is changing rapidly.

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