Coco (music)

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Coco also called Côco or Samba de Coco , describes both a rhythm of Brazilian music and a dance and belongs to the música nordestina , the regional music of the northeast . Coco is related to the Baião and was first mentioned in the second half of the 18th century. A distinction is made between different variants of Coco: Coco de sertão (in the Sertão , the hinterland), Coco de praia (on the coast), Coco de roda (street dance) and others.

"Coco" is Portuguese for coconut and is also used colloquially for head .

origin

The exact origin of the coco is unclear.

One common theory is that Coco was created by Angolan slaves mixing African rhythms with local indigenous music . Coco songs were sung as work songs by slaves who had to step on the floor with wooden shoes during construction and field work, from which the typical Coco dance arose.

Another assumption is that Coco originated on coconut plantations and that the name Coco comes from the fact that the slaves had to break open coconuts for their masters, and the rhythm was created.

Whether the name Coco is derived from the coconut plantations or from the fact that the sung lyrics come from the head, i.e. are improvised, is also controversial.

dance

Coco can be danced in pairs or in a circle . The movements show a strong African influence. A typical feature is the rhythmic "stamping", which is reinforced in traditional Coco by wearing wooden sandals. The rhythmic foot technique contributes to the music as a percussive effect .

Coco knows many different styles and lives from improvisation and expressivity, there are no fixed dance steps. Often elements from other Brazilian dances or Capoeira are incorporated into Coco.

Similar to hip-hop jams , dance circles can arise with Coco. While the crowd in a circle stomps and claps rhythmically to the music, individual dancers or groups can prove their skills and challenge and challenge each other. As is common in other Afro-Brazilian dances, so-called umbigadas (from the Portuguese umbigo "navel") are used as a dance invitation , in which one dancer invites another by stretching his belly (navel) towards another dancer and thus this one invites you to dance in the circle. The bellies of the dancers can touch.

music

Typical accompanying instruments are pífano , pandeiro , triangle, zabumba or surdo, Ganzá , and occasionally the accordion (sanfona). In addition, body percussion plays a major role, in Coco dance and music are difficult to separate from each other. The lyrics are simple and are often improvised. The call-and-response principle is often used in traditional Coco .

At first only typical of northeastern Brazil, Coco became known to a wider audience through Jackson do Pandeiro , who recorded the Coco song Sebastiana in 1953 .

After that, various artists incorporated Coco elements into their music, including Gal Costa, Gilberto Gil and Alceu Valença.

Nowadays, groups like Samba de Coco Raízes de Arcoverde, Samba de Coco Irmãs Lopes, Samba de Coco Trupé de Arcoverde are commercially successful with traditional coco. Renata Rosa is also internationally successful with modern Coco.

literature

  • José Ribeiro: Brazil no folclore. Grafica e Editora Aurora, Rio de Janeiro 1970, pp. 403-404.
  • Altimar de Alencar Pimentel: O coco praieiro. Uma dança de umbigada . 2nd Edition. UFPB, Ed. Universitária, João Pessoa 1978.
  • Bricantes . Prefeitura da Cidade, Fundação de Cultura Cidade do Recife, Recife 2000, pp. 104-107.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Lúcia Gaspar: Coco (dança). In: gov.br. Fundação Joaquim Nabuco, accessed May 22, 2018 (Brazilian Portuguese).
  2. ↑ Grupo de cultura popular pé-de-chinelo - Jongo, Coco, Samba-de-roda - Coco. In: basilio.fundaj.gov.br. www.pedechinelo.com.br, accessed May 22, 2018 (Brazilian Portuguese).