Cangaceiro
Cangaceiro is the name of a bandit in Sertão in northeastern Brazil who became poverty-stricken at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. There are many popular legends and anecdotes about the cangaceiros . Occasionally, in Brazil, “o cangaceiro” also means “the” cangaceiro: Virgulino Ferreira da Silva .
Lifeworld
In the Brazilian northeast the Sertão spreads over the states of Pernambuco , Paraíba , Alagoas , Bahia and Ceará , a dry steppe with vegetation mainly made up of cacti and thorn bushes, in which there is usually a lack of water and extreme heat and sometimes no raindrops fall for years. A few large landowners who breed cattle still face an impoverished population. Towards the end of the 19th century, the deep poverty and oppression of the population of the Sertão led to the formation of outlaws called "cangaços" who raided cities, fazendas and army bases .
Cangaceiro Lampiã
The most famous cangaceiro was Virgulino Ferreira da Silva , called Lampião (lamp, lantern), who terrorized the Sertão for over 20 years. He was born in Serra Telhado in the Sertão of Pernambuco in 1897. He was a cattle herder until his parents were killed by a landowner around 1918. He then went to the Sertão with his brother to join one of the roaming gangs.
About two years after becoming a cangaceiro , Lampião became the head of his own gang of between 15 and 50 men. He owes his nickname, the lamp, to the bright muzzle flash of his rifle. Unlike other cangaceiros who were generous to the Sertão's poor, Lampião was better known for his cruelty. His fame grew with the many stories and songs about his deeds that were spread across the Brazilian northeast. In 1929 he met Maria Bonita, who, according to legend, became his lover and the first woman to join a gang.
The authorities tried many times to get hold of Lampiãos and his gang, but unsuccessfully because the cangaceiros enjoyed the protection of the population and the intimidated landowners. On a July night in 1938, however, a military police force in Sergipe succeeded in encircling Lampiãos Cangaço. Lampião, Maria Bonita and nine other gang members were killed, their heads severed and displayed in the medical institute of Salvador da Bahia until 1969 . The last cangaceiro , a survivor of Lampião's gang, was killed in 1940, putting an end to the Cangaços era.
reception
A reception took place not only in songs and ballads, but also in film and music, the Brazilian people set an artistic monument to the cangaceiro .
music
The theme music ( Mulher Rendeira ) for the color film O 'Cangaceiro (1970) set in Mexico comes from the Italian Riz Ortolani . The probably more famous version, because it is very catchy, is likely to be the original version by Zé do Norte. See also the film music on YouTube and under the search term “Zé do Norte”. She was covered by Bert Kaempfert as O cangaçeiro (The Bandit) on the 1964 album That Latin Feeling and in the same year by Joan Baez .
Movies
- O Cangaceiro - The outlaws . , Brazil, 1953. Director: Lima Barreto . Awarded “Best Adventure Film ” at the Cannes International Film Festival in 1953 and the “Honorable Mention” for the film music (see below) Olé O'Cangaçeiro
- The end of the cangaçeiros. Original title: A morte comanda o Cangaço. , Brazil 1961. Production: Aurora Duarte. Director: Walter Guimaraes Motta.
- Deus eo Diabo na Terra do Sol. German: God and the devil in the land of the sun. 1963. Production and direction: Glauber Rocha
- Antonio das Mortes. Alternative title: O Dragão da maldade contra o Santo Guerreiro. Brazil 1968. Produced and directed by Glauber Rocha
- O'Cangaçeiro. Alternative title: The Magnificent Bandits or Viva Cangaceiro. Spain / Italy 1970. Director: Giovanni Fago
literature
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Jorge Amado : Seara vermelha .
- German edition: The emigrants from São Francisco . Volk und Welt, Berlin 1984, ISBN 3-87294-267-0 .
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Ronald Daus : O ciclo épico dos cangaceiros na poesia popular do nordeste. Fundação Casa de Rui Barbosa, Rio de Janeiro 1982
- German edition: The epic cycle of the cangaceiros in the folk poetry of northeastern Brazil. Colloquium Verlag, Berlin 1969
- Mario Fiorani: Cangaceiros . Arena, Würzburg 1983, ISBN 3-401-04045-6 .
- Dirk Hegmanns: Cangaceiros and fanatics. Gangism in northeastern Brazil . Bielefeld University. Bielefeld 1994
- Lene Klein, Walter Klein: The son of Sertao. New Life, Berlin (GDR) 1978
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Mario Vargas Llosa : La guerra del fin del mundo .
- German edition: The war at the end of the world. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1981, ISBN 3-518-37843-0 .
- Frances de Pontes Peebles: The Pernambuco Seamstress . Berliner Taschenbuchverlag, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-8333-0634-1 .
- Patricia Sampaio Silva: Sur les traces de Virgolino, un cangaceiro dit "Lampião". Fragilités, violences et légalité (Brésil XIXe-XXe siècle) . Dissertation Université de la Sorbonne, Paris 2000
Web links
- Official homepage of Lampião, the owner of the site is Vera Ferreira, granddaughter of Lampião and Maria Bonita ( Memento of April 11, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- Lampião website , with numerous photos and documents (Portuguese)
- The greatest hero in Brazilian folklore ( Memento from February 20, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
Footnotes
- ↑ The King of the Bandits - Part 1 ( Memento from December 8, 2009 in the Internet Archive )