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When the first Music Therapy Program was formally established in Brazil in the early 70's,^[2] and when the clinical work was already being done in many institutions, one of the most discussed subjects was if patients should take part in public presentations.

In these "shows" there were many kinds of "performances": bands, choirs, plays or even performing festivals of cultural/religious expressions. This discussion raised many issues such as: 'the patient shouldn't be exposed in a public situation' or 'it isn't music therapy'.

But, as music therapy was becoming more well known and the music therapists got stronger identities, this kind of discussion gave rise to a different position. Nowadays music therapists accept not only the patients' "performances" but almost everything related to different music activities which contributes to the growth of their self esteem, to a better quality of life, as well as to the theoretical comprehension of the aesthetic growth as a sign of the patient's development.

One of the most popular Catholic cultural expression, which is very common in the month of June, is the St. John winter's party.

It is common in that time of the year to see children with special rustic clothes, coming and going in the streets, even in the biggest Brazilian cities. All schools, including the special ones, and also psychiatric hospitals, prepare their students and patients to sing and dance the "quadrilha"^[3] and to play out the marriage with fiancé, fiancée, priest and so on.

Other cultural expressions sometimes are part of not only special schools but also psychiatric hospitals or elderly institutions.

Negreiros^[4], a well-known Brazilian music therapist, had been working with the elderly in an institution specializing in this kind of population for many years. The team was an interdisciplinary one - Music Therapist, Occupational Therapist, Social Worker, and also Theater specialist. The patients were from different regions of Brazil with different cultural roots and experiences of life. Since they were from the "Radio Era", they sang and played old popular music such as Carnival Marches and folk music from their regions .on percussion instruments.

One day, one of them played a rhythm that reminded people of a well known cultural expression: the "Bumba-meu-boi". From this session on, Negreiros decided to work with the patients' different cultural expressions and the "Bumba-meu-boi" was one of them. So, she called the different people from the team to develop a collaboratie music therapy approach. From then on, the patients, with the help of the therapists, decided everything about the expression that they would create and perform.

Since there are many of them from different regions of the country, in order to prepare the "Bumba-meu-boi" presentation, they had to participate actively in the process, doing research about this expression, deciding which story to choose; choosing who would play every role - since there are various characters, and which clothes and masks to use. Besides that, they had to make the clothes and the masks, the latter in a special paper; to organize the choreography; to learn/compose the lyrics and music and to decide how to play them. The therapists were there supporting and helping them to decide, to construct, to organize and, at the same time, interacting with them or, even, doing the necessary interventions to facilitate the therapeutic process.

After having everything ready, they presented their "show" to other people in the building, and then decided to go to other institutions to present the results of their work, using the institution bus. They presented themselves many times, even in an opening ceremony of a Brazilian Congress of Gerontology. This was a very important experience for them and, to tell the truth, for the therapists too, who saw the evidence of the importance of their work!

Negreiros identifies many goals in this kind of work. First, the possibility that music gives and "integrative" experience to these kinds of patients with themselves, with the team, with reality and with the "phantom of future" - the expression she chose to represent the fear of the future or the insecurity of life or, even, the way to confront themselves with the fear of death. Negreiros also points out the importance of the possibility of being reconnected with culture - since many of them were for years in-patients and had no direct contact with reality and culture. She also emphasizes that this approach can promote the development of initiative and of decision making and the fact that this kind of work promotes the recovery of memories thereby updating them, giving the patients the opportunity to revise and re-establish contents, which contribute to a better quality of life.

This kind of work makes us believe, once more, that culture is a very strong and important element in Music Therapy and that it makes this kind of treatment more effective.

Certainly, the approach and subsequent results developed by Negreiros is one of the reasons why nowadays, many Brazilian music therapists can "dance following the music", i.e., can accept and prepare choirs, popular festivals, musical workshops, bands, musical groups and every cultural expression, when necessary or desirable, in order to help, to promote health, to provide joy of life for people who are ill and not at their best.

References

CASCUDO, Luis da Câmara (1962). Dicionário do Folcore Brasileiro. [Brazilian Folklore Dictionary]. Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro. Ministério da Educação e Cultura. Vol. 1 e 2.

Barcellos, Lia Rejane Mendes (2003). Interview with Martha Negreiros, Clinical Music Therapist, Psychoanalyst, Music Therapy in Mental Health teacher in the undergraduation and graduation Music Therapy Program at Conservatório Brasileiro de Música [Brazilian Conservatory of Music] in Rio de Janeiro, and Private Music Therapist.

Notes

1) "Bumba-meu-boi" : Bumba is an interjection which can be understood as crash or hit and boi is ox. So, in a free translation it could be understood as "hit the ox" or "horn the ox". This cultural expression belongs to the Christmas cycle, i. e., a Catholic summer party which is an agrarian cult where the ox represents the fertilizing image. As this expression has many forms, depending on the distinct Brazilian regions it comes from, there are also many different stories. It is a ceremony of exceptional plasticity and intense social and affective penetration.

2) The first Music Therapy Program was established at the Conservatório Brasileiro de Música [Brazilian Conservatory of Music] in Rio de Janeiro, in 1972.

3) "Quadrilha - is a dance introduced in Brazil from European roots. Today it has many variants and one of them is the "rustic quadrilha" which is part of St. John's party.

4) Martha Negreiros had been working in a psychiatric hospital of the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro [Federal University of Rio de Janeiro] for many years and nowadays she is a music therapist in the Maternidade Escola [Maternity School] in the same University. The work with the elderly was done in a special institution for this kind of patients.

How to cite this page

Barcellos, Lia Rejane Mendes (2003) "Bumba-meu-boi"[1]: a Brazilian Cultural Expression in Music Therapy. Voices Resources. Retrieved January 09, 2015, from http://testvoices.uib.no/community/?q=fortnightly-columns/2003-bumba-meu-boi1-brazilian-cultural-expression-music-therapy