Gender and musical performance in Maracatus (PE) and Bumba Bois (MA)

Abstract

This article seeks to answer the following questions: What instruments are played by men and women in Maracatu (Pernambuco) and Bumba Meu Boi (Maranhão)? What are men’s and women’s participation in singing and in music composition? Which meanings and values give support to these practices, and how do they relate to the meaning and value of the music in the two cultural manifestations? The research is based on fieldwork conducted in Recife-PE and São Luís-MA in 2009/10 as well as research carried out in previous years. The conclusion reached was that musical performance, especially instruments and singing, classified as masculine and feminine, shapes and orients men’s and women’s social insertions, contributing to the organization and forms of presentation of Groups vibrant v.8 n.1 lady selma f. albernaz of Maracatu and Bumba Meu Boi. Hierarchies are produced to justify differentiated powers, which lend support to gender inequalities.