The Ox and the Slave

Book excerpt: This interdisciplinary study sheds light on the communal creative process of music and discusses the process of music change in Bumba-meu-Boi, and provides an example of exo-semantic analysis in the quest for the truth of this folk drama in Brazil. It argues that Bumba-meu-Boi sheds light on eighteenth century Brazil and reveals existing levels of interaction between classes (master-slave, oppressor-oppressed) on sugar cane plantations and mills. A sociologist perspective demonstrates that the structure of the Bumba-meu-Boi reflects a similar network of relations, as they exist in communities where it was and still is performed.