A dança do zambê da família Cosme, em Cabeceira – Rio Grande do Norte/Brasil

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an ethnomusicological research about zambê dance practiced by the Cosme family, in Tibau do Sul, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, located in North-Eastern Brazil. The local economy is based on sugar production, shrimp, and tourism. Among its musical expressions, there are coco de roda and, mainly, zambê – a kind of group music and dance, from oral tradition, with responsorial singing and percussive accompaniment, practiced by African descendants in RN. This investigation aims to present and discuss the performance of zambê of the Cosme family, especially considering the structural characteristics, the symbolic universe and spectacularization. The investigative process includes participant observation, analysis of audio-visual materials and oral history. It was verified that zambê shows similarities in poetic form (responsorial singing) with types of "coco", but it presents peculiarities in its dance, instrumentation, uses and functions. Zambê dance in RN has been reported, since the first decade of the twentieth century, by historians, researchers, cultural producers etc., which has yielded literary and audio-visual records. In this place, the group does not play routinely, but performs mainly according to external demand, although ephemeral, through paid presentations - which, according to them, contribute to the maintenance of zambê.