Cantos da Floresta (Forest Songs) : exchanging and sharing indigenous music in Brazil

Abstract

This thesis presents the research process behind the

project Rupestres Sonoros, by the São Paulo-based musical group Mawaca, that

recreated indigenous Brazilian songs, and the Cantos da Floresta tour of the

Amazon, involving an intercultural exchange with six different indigenous groups. The thesis also addresses the projects’ outcomes, such as the publication of didactic books, creation of websites, workshops and new projects that seek to shed light on indigenous musical expressions. The thesis is about the journey of going up on stage, organizing intercultural activities, producing books, records and videos that transformed me and Mawaca, in a postmodern context, into artists that create in order to help raise awareness on the current political issues concerning the indigenous communities in Brazil. The purpose of this thesis is to reveal how music performance and research can be conducted by “anthropophagizing” knowledge, that is, consuming from a broad range of cultural sources, regurgitating and reinventing multicultural musicalities.