Let's make some noise : axé and the African roots of Brazilian popular music / Clarence Bernard Henry.

Author/creator Henry, Clarence Bernard
Format Book
Publication InfoJackson : University Press of Mississippi, ©2008.
Descriptionxi, 234 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Subjects

Contents Sacred/secular influences: the reinvention of West African àsé in Brazil -- From the sacred to the secular: popularizing candomblé rhythms -- Axé embodiment in Brazilian popular music: sacred themes, imagery, and symbols -- The sacred/secular popularity of drums and drummers -- Secular impulses: dancing to the beats of different drummers -- Say it loud! I'm Black and I'm proud: popular music and axé embodiment in Bahian carnival/ijexá -- Stylizing axé as Brazilian popular music.
Abstract This book is a culmination of several years of field research on sacred and secular influences of ase, the West African Yoruba concept that spread to Brazil and throughout the African Diaspora. Ase is imagined as power and creative energy bestowed upon human beings by ancestral spirits acting as guardians. In Brazil, the West African Yoruba concept of ase is known as axe and has been reinvented, transmitted, and nurtured in Candomble, an Afro-Brazilian religion that is practiced in Salvador, Bahia. The author examines how the concepts of axe and Candomble religion have been appropriated and reinvented in Brazilian popular music and culture. Featuring interviews with practitioners and local musicians, the book explains how many Brazilian popular music styles such as samba, bossa nova, samba-reggae, ijexa, and axe have musical and stylistic elements that stem from Afro-Brazilian religion. The book also discusses how young Afro-Brazilians combine Candomble religious music with African American music such as blues, jazz, gospel, soul, funk, and rap.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (pages 211-226) and index.
LCCN 2008004436
ISBN9781604730821 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN160473082X (cloth : alk. paper)