EVERY GENRE PROJECT - July 17 - Jongo
Genre of the Day - Jongo
Album of the Day - Jongo do Vale do Café by Jongo do Vale do Café (2023)
July 17, 2024
There is nothing more powerful than humans gathering in a circle. As a former American middle school student, I’m well aware thanks to the mystical phenomenon of Socratic seminars in my English classes.
In southeastern Brazil, people know the power of the circle through a jongo roda, a centuries-old tradition that draws a path from the traditions of Angola, where many enslaved Brazilians were sourced by captors, to their modern-day descendents in Brazil. We also get a glimpse into jongo’s influence on samba, cementing its far-reaching influence in Brazilian culture.
Jongo is much more than a musical genre to its practitioners; its name, derived from the Kimbundu word ndjongö, has come to translate as ‘family reunion’ in Brazilian Portuguese. It was a vital communal gathering for Brazilian slaves toiling under the brutality of the highly lucrative sugar and coffee plantations that affirmed a vision of past ancestors’ strength and future descendants’ joy. It syncretizes spiritual and religious aspects of colonial Catholic influences as well as traditional Bantu religion—the rhythmically driving drums that typically are the sole musical accompaniment to songs, particularly the large caxambu, are anointed with fire to represent deities and ancestors.
Jongo is thought to have grown out of an Angolan riddle game called jinongonongo, an all-time great reduplicative word. After having waited so long to spend a day with family and with the community, enslaved people were not looking to simply guess riddles: they wanted to dance. After hours leading up to the main event, drums tightened, bonfires lit, and blessings from ancestors and spirits to commence, the roda would form. The circle accompanied the ritualistic yet festive drumming with opening songs and one at a time couples would begin to enter the circle. The dance may seem a bit cheeky—each couple must almost touch navels, known as the umbigada. It’s a poignant symbol of fertility consecrated in an environment not only populated by the living community but the sacred, affirmative presence of ancestors.
Jongo’s place in Brazilian culture is immeasurable, no matter the allegations of demonic spiritual aspects inevitably levied by ignorant detractors. Jongo rodas influenced samba by bringing the rural practice to urban areas after the abolition of slavery in 1888, where rodas continued in smaller settings and musically evolved into the world-famous genre.
Though nearly every music genre has an associated scene, dance, or practices, in some cases like jongo, understanding its history is essential in understanding the music. Many elders like Tia Maria do Jongo have worked tirelessly to bring the practice into the present. Fortunately, today’s album is from 2023; jongo’s flame is still lit thanks to their efforts. Listeners experience 27 different songs, ranging from odes to Angola and pre-enslavement history (“Nasci n'Angola” [“Born in Angola”], “Eu vou pra Angola” [“I’m going to Angola”]), humorous everyday vignettes (“Galinha assanha” [“Crazy chicken”]), and more mystical titles (“Senta no banco de areia, minha mãe é uma sereia, se eu soubesse que ocê vinha” [“Sit on the sandbank, my mother is a mermaid, if I knew you were coming”]). They reflect the wide range of folkloric, religious, and eccentric song themes that can accompany jongo, as well as proving my theory that a circle of people facilitates a kaleidoscope of human communication like nothing else. Though occasionally small stringed instruments join the chorus of people, the synergy between the collective sung joy and the drumming vibrations that connect participants to the ground beneath them and the ancestors who walked the same earth is a feeling that fills these songs with pure rejoice.