Lais Monteiro
Universidade do Rio de Janeiro (UniRio)
E-mail: laisbm@ig.com.br

"JONGO: Afro-Brazilian performance in the city of Rio de Janeiro"

When a study is focusing on the popular performance, dancing movements, music, folklore, dancing parties are of fundamental importance. It is through them that the meaning of gregariousness is preserved, assuring the search and the maintaince of group identities and the attribution of meaning of their existences. Based on this premise, we may say that there is always a community history behind each popular dance and parties; their masters, artists, musicians translating the reality and the daily lives of its people. As a matter of fact, dancing parties have been, in most societies since their very beginnings, one of the most important factors of socialization and enhancement of gregariousness and collective identity.
In searching the intersections between the popular performance and the specific knowledge and the artistic practice and exercise of the body, this paper intends to present information one of the richest cultural heritages left in Brazil by the African legacy: JONGO. Its manifestation is infused in its historic contex, its existence/resistance in the city of Rio de Janeiro even today.

A brief review of the manifestation of Jongo

JONGO is a afro-brazilian cultural manisfestation, originated in the Banto rites and rituals, blending circle dance, musica and, some Umbanda proceedings. This manifestation has been carried out since the time of slavery in Brazil. Jongo ("amusement" in Banto, cf. Alceu Maynardi) has its origins in the rural areas, most likely in Angola. It was brought to Brazil, during the colonial time, by the slaves who came to the country to work in the plantations of coffee and sugar cane of states like Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais. In times of captivity, Jongo would be one of the rare moments of interaction amid slaves, and it was practiced during the parties, holidays or just during a moment of rest after harvesting. It could be seen as an entertaining, profane dance but yet, with a religious overtune permeating its tradition. It could be seen as a joke, but yet a serious joke. Souls were called upon, ancestry was acknowledged and honored.
With the end of slavery and the economic crises in some regions of the country, the-then slaves managed to migrate from the plantations of Paraiba river valley to the hills of Rio de Janeiro, setting off a new historic start: the beginning of the first associations clustered at specific locations of Rio de Janeiro, the ongoing urban re-settlement, the onset of slums (favelas). Some found in Madureira (North of Rio), in a slum called Serrinha, the perfect environment to settle and carry on the tradition of Jongo. It did not take long to observe the influence of the uniquenesses and the accent of the carioca infused in the Jongo tradition. The manifestation of Jongo, its characteristics and core values, strongly influenced the history of samba and the Popular Brazilian Music.
Jongo as it flourished in Rio de Janeiro, and more precisely, the one developed in Serrinha, is a dance in which the dancers touch each other at the level of the navel button and spin around. It is a dance to be danced in the backyard and wideopen terrains. It has sensual movements, tabiados, in which men and women can be part of. During Jongo, the instruments (usually two atabaques, percussions of different sounds, called "caxambú" and "candongueiro") encourage the participants to reach out for their spiritual enbodiments, connecting "earth and heaven". The music leads to the motion, to the dance, easing the integration of the movements whereas the song has an important role in getting the message ("pontos") across. The message (the "pontos") talks about the mistery of the traditions and memories of the past. It also talks about the power of lighten and point out the circumstancial facts of one's daily routine. It can emerge leisurely or at a moment of pray and it aims to gather history, plans and hopes. Despite being object of transformations and adaptations throughout the years, Jongo remains the manifestation that strengthens the traces of cultural identity and resistance.