BRAZILIAN MUSIC AND SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS: - Elisabeth Blin

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(irmandades), but they were not from pure African inspiration. 42 In the beginning of the
seventeenth century, the congadas were inspired by the old French theatrical tradition of
the chanson de geste, which can be traced back to the ninth century. The chanson de
geste, or “song in gesture,” was the first popularization of drama and music on the street.
It was based on real facts or history and meant to glorify a heroic character. The most
famous chanson de geste from the twelfth century, called “La Chanson de Roland,”
narrates the deeds of the French emperor Charlemagne (742-814). Some congadas still
reenact this epic, as well as other fights between the Christians and the Moors. 43
From the eighth century until 1249, the Moors (nomadic tribes from North Africa)
occupied and imposed their own Arabic culture on the Iberian Peninsula. 44 Their
powerful civilization left visible prints in the fields of architecture, language and music.
Improvisation was a characteristic of Arabic music and became part of the Spanish
flamenco and the Portuguese fado. Portuguese folklore had already absorbed an ancient
Arabic practice called desafiao, a song contest based on improvisation. 45 The Moorish
scales, which probably were the origin of the Medieval European modes and tonal
system, were brought to Brazil through Portuguese music. 46 Syncopation and intricate
rhythms in the Brazilian samba therefore originate from the complexity of Portuguese-
42 Gerard Behague, “Brazil” in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. by S. Sadie
(London: Macmillan, 1980), III, 237
43 Behague, “Brazil,” 237
44 McGowan 1998, 12 (After the Moors were stopped in Poitiers, France, by Charles Martell in 732,
the Moors occupied the South of France and the countries around the Mediterranean)
45 Kirchner, 551
46 McGowan, 11 (The Portuguese also introduced many European instruments in Brazil. The flute,
piano, violin, guitar, clarinet, triangle, accordion and cavaquinho (small guitar), were brought by the
Portuguese. The lute, ancestor of the guitar, is known to be a modern form of the Moorish laud (Morales
2003, xiv))