Brincadeira e arte: patrimônio, formação cultural e samba de coco em Pernambuco

Abstract

This study approaches matters concerning public cultural policies. Its subject is the samba de coco in the communities of Castainho e Atoleiros, both of African descent, located in the municipalities of Garanhuns and Caetés in the State of Pernambuco, North-eastern Brazil, a region whose territory was part of the former quilombo dos Palmares, one of the main black slave resistances in colonial Brazil, which remained untouched for nearly a century. In the territory which once belonged to the former quilombo are several self-styled remaining groups, who still follow strongly the quilombola principles of strength and resistance. The title of the study is Recreation and art: cultural heritage, non-formal education and samba de coco in Pernambuco. The overall objective is to relate the process of popular artistic creation with institutional policies through an interdisciplinary and intercultural perspective, using as empirical referential the samba de coco from the cities of Garanhuns e Caetés, Pernambuco, respectively in the communities of Sítio Castainho and Sítio Atoleiros, through the musical groups Banda Folclore Verde do Castainho and Samba de Coco Santa Luzia. The idea is to create a study that refers to the concept of Brazilian ethnic heritage, which looks at culture as a historical construction of mankind and understands artistic expression as intangible heritage. It is an analysis of the groups who practise the samba de coco, a plural manifestation with various characteristics, and attempts to influence public policies towards artists of music, dance and popular literature, found in the lyrics of the songs passed on to new generations through orality or governmental cultural initiatives. Public policies on culture, heritage and also informal learning experiences are the key-words to identify the current relationship between artists and public management, considering the prospect of non-formal education, in the sense given by UNESCO, using statements as the main source. Getting to know some dimensions of the mythic-symbolic imaginary involving producers and managers is the foundation for the study, which is built from the collection, characterization and analysis of the relationship between artists and cultural institutions, in several instances, considering ideals of modernity, states and changes observed in the exercise, dissemination and management of recreational activity. The producers of Povoado Atoleiros are the creators of the samba de coco, an adult recreational activity which serves as a space for communion and get-togethers and receives interference from the municipal government of Caetés, a municipality of the surroundings of Garanhuns, whose periphery also contains Sítio Castainho. The latter, through diverse forms of articulation, receives public administration actions on local, state and federal levels, specifically within the Winter Festival of Garanhuns FIG (from the Portuguese Festival de Inverno de Garanhuns). This study s approach contemplates the situation of both communities, but does seize to recognize other locations where the samba de coco and the preservation acts towards it happen, as the recreation is an activity which is part of a cultural and also educational as well as necessary process that along with its possibilities of continuity and ruptures, contributes to the formation of generations.