Diaz Meneses, Juan Diego
Research
Local Traditions and Global Influences: Musical Reinterpretations of Africa in the State of Bahia (Northeaster Brazil)
Musics of the African Diaspora in Brazil have undergone drastic changes during the last decades. These changes are linked not only to specific musical preferences, or imposed tastes by media, but also by a complex history of racial/cultural mixture in Brazil. In my research I explore why and how those changes are taking place. For that I will focus on a number of Afro-Brazilian music/dance genres from the state of Bahia (Northeaster Brazil), including candomblé, capoeira, maculele, samba de roda, and carnival music. I will analyze their musical structures. Then I will assemble a collection of features which are considered "African" by respective genre "experts" (e.g. musicians, consumers, scholars). Next, I will identify the contexts in which those musical interpretations of "Africa" make sense. Finally, I will analyze those interpretations in the context of the Black Atlantic in order to understand why and how re-Africanization processes take place in Brazil.
With this research I hope to contribute to the study of processes of transformation in musics of the African Diaspora in the Americas. More specifically I hope that my research demonstrates what roles music has as a marker of identities for Afro-Brazilians.
I decided to pursue a graduate program in ethnomusicology because I felt that it would provide me with the theoretical and practical tools to follow my passion: living music and using it to understand and interact with the world.
UBC was a relatively easy decision for me. I immigrated to Canada in 2008 and this is the warmest city of this country. Other major factors are: an important portion of my Canadian family lives here; UBC and its school of music is a prestigious institution within the North American context. It was a good decision, my professors and peers are worth gold.
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