Fiddles in Luso-Afro-Brazilian Cultures

Dr Luiz Moretto holds an honors degree in music from Santa Catarina State University and a doctorate in ethnomusicology from King’s College London. He is a professional fiddle player and composer whose performances and recordings encompass various styles of African and Brazilian music, subjects that have been the focus of his research over many years.

1 Introduction: Mapping Afro-Fiddle Playing in Three Different Contexts
Busking in Lisbon First beatsUpbeat down-bow: musical identitiesAfrican musical aesthetics? Perception, the ‘sensuous’ and improvisationRhythm as a diasporic reinvention Approaching the fieldworkFiddles in transit2 The Kriolu Violin of Cape VerdeThe archipelago at the Atlantic crossroads Transnational culturesThe violin in Cape Verde
Antoninho Travadinha – the improviserResearch in the Ilhas do Sotavento (Santiago)
Kim Alves
Nhô Djonzinho Alves
Nhô NaniResearch in the Ilhas do Barlavento
Francisco Sequeira (archivist) and Malaquias Costa (violinist)
César Costa
Nhô Kzik
Breka (‘The Tall Man’)Kriolu violin playing: a dynamic tradition3 The Cimboa in Cape VerdeRumours of extinction A Fulbe heritage? The cimboa in batukuThe rhythm of cimboa music
Mano Mendi and Pascoal Fernandes
Ntóni Denti d’OroTranscultural revivals4 The Cimboa Becomes the OrocongoThe transformation of the cimboa in Brazil
Gentil do OrocongoThe orocongo, the rhizome and ‘creative creolisation’ 5 Vanished Fiddles: Vestiges of Mozambique in BrazilInvestigating historical traces Fiddle paintings Across the ‘emaka’ (ocean): the journey from east to westThe disappearance of the one-stringed fiddle 6 The Tchakare in MozambiqueThe Makua people
On the way to Niassa
The Makua tchakare and tchkwèsa
Between Mandimba and Mitande
Nfani Wathunia
A traditional Makua village
Almirante Bilale The Makua tchakare and a nationalist agenda

7 The Rabeca in a Brazilian Quilombo
Quilombola culture: resistance, identity and ethnic reassertion
Vale do Ribeira
Quilombos: cultural heritage and the struggle for recognition
Caiçaras, quilombos and music
Rabeca players in Quilombo do Morro Seco
Bonifácio Modesto Pereira
The fandango-rufado
The role of the rabeca
Hermes Modesto Pereira
Music and religion
Musical and social change

8 Conclusion: Creolisation and the Revival of Fiddle Traditions
The fiddle and the African diaspora
The Kriolu violin: local and overseas circuits, transnational identities
One-stringed fiddle connections
Fiddling in a quilombo: land, memory and identity
Unperceived aesthetics and disappearing traditions

Glossary of Terms