Batuque (Brazil)

Batuque by Johann Moritz Rugendas, between 1822 and 1825.

Batuque in São Paulo, by Nachtmann, Spix and Martius (1823-1831)

Batuque (drum, drumming) was a general term for various Afro-Brazilian practices in the 19th century, including music, dance, fighting game and religion.

Batuques, or drumming ceremonies were an important cultural activity among the African population. These performance circles were a regular occurrence on Sunday evenings and holidays, drawing large crowds of enslaved Africans. Laws introduced in 1822 allowed police to shut down batuques.

A term batuque was sometimes used for specific dances and martial arts as well.

As a dance

Batuque was a common dance among Africans in Brazil during the 19th century. In 1802, Luís dos Santos Vilhena, a teacher in Salvador, complained on the slaves performing batuques:

It does not seem very prudent, politically speaking, to tolerate crowds of negroes of both sexes performing their barbarous batuques through the city streets and squares to the beat of many horrible atabaques, indecently dancing to pagan songs, speaking various languages, and all with such frightful and discordant clamor as to cause fear and astonishment.

Many zungu houses in 19th century Rio often organized communal dances or batuques, where Africans organized themselves into distinct groups or nations to perform together. In the Rio suburbs, these dances drew up to two thousand Africans who danced in separate circles based on their nations. These nations had distinct dances, but they came together for common dances, including batuque, lundu, and capoeira.

In 1859, the French journalist Charles Ribeyrolls visiting Brazil described the Afro-Brazilian dances he saw:

Here, Capoeira is a type of war dance, accompanied by the powerful, militant rhythm of the Congo drum. Then there is the Batuque with its sensual movements, with the Urucungo intensifying or slowing down the rhythm. Further on, I see another wild dance, with provocative eyes, swaying waists, and agile thighs. This captivating undulation is known as Lundu.

As a combat game

Batuque was a game played in Bahia in the early part of the twentieth century by African slaves, which were brought to Brazil, but now extinct. A similar game, pernada, was popular in Rio de Janeiro about the same time. Players stand in a circle; one player stands in the center in a defensive position, and another moves around him, suddenly attacking. The attacking player tries to throw the defending player to the ground with blows from his legs.

Batuque was a combat game of predominantly Angolan origins. In the 1930s the Angolans in Brazil were the champions in batuque, with one of the most renowned practitioners being Angolinha ('little Angola').

Capoeira innovators like Anibal Burlamaqui in Rio de Janeiro and Mestre Bimba, the founder of the regional capoeira style, incorporated numerous batuque techniques. Moreover, Mestre Bimba's father was a champion of batuque. Nestor Capoeira believes that many swipes (rasteiras) introduced by Bimba in the capoeira came from batuque.

Mestre Tiburcinho was a big batuqueiro and one of the last ones to preserve this art.

Batuque in present

There are efforts to resurrect Batuque (and leg wrestling in general) as a modern sport.

As a religion

Main articles: Candomblé and Batuque (religion)

Batuque is an old name for Candomblé religion.

Today, batuque is an Afro-Brazilian religion, practiced mainly in Brazil. The Batuque pantheon includes spirits rather than gods, who are mostly thought to come in two types: Catholic saints and encantados (anthropomorphic spirits who "inhabit the tangible world" and mostly come from Brazil, although there are foreigners in their rank). "Spirit possession and mediumship are...integral to Batuque worship."

See also

• Capoeira

Literature

• Johnson, Paul Christopher (2002). Secrets, Gossip, and Gods: The Transformation of Brazilian Candomblé. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195150582.
• Assunção, Matthias Röhrig (2002). Capoeira: The History of an Afro-Brazilian Martial Art. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-7146-8086-6.
• Capoeira, Nestor (2002). Capoeira: Roots of the Dance-Fight-Game. Blue Snake Books. ISBN 978-1-58394-637-4.
• Talmon-Chvaicer, Maya (2008). The Hidden History of Capoeira: A Collision of Cultures in the Brazilian Battle Dance. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-71723-7.
• Desch-Obi, M. Thomas J. (2008). Fighting for Honor: The History of African Martial Art Traditions in the Atlantic World. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 978-1-57003-718-4.