Hy-Brazil, celtic land? A Brief Overview of the Brazilian Irish-Celtic Musical Scene with a Focus on the Rio de Janeiro Case

Authors

  • Caetano Santos University of Oxford

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37389/abei.v24i1.198899

Keywords:

Irish Music, Celtic Music, Ethnomusicology, Brazil , Ireland

Abstract

The present article charts the appearance and development of an Irish-Celtic (O’Flynn 2014) musical scene in Brazil, a small but tightly knit community of Brazilian amateur and professional musicians and music groups which constitutes a good example of what Mark Slobin named “affinity intercultures” (Slobin 1987). From an ethnomusicological perspective, it seeks to provide a portrait of such social and musical phenomenon based on a tripartite approach: 1) the discussion of international literature on the globalization of Irish traditional music as Celtic music around the turn of the Celtic Tiger period (Williams 2010) and the impacts of such process on Brazil; 2) the presentation and analysis of the results of an online survey conducted in the main Facebook community connected to the scene in order to characterize its main sociodemographic and musical characteristics; 3) the ethnographic description of the Rio de Janeiro chapter of such music scene based on its main musical event, the monthly session known as “Irish Session Rio.” 

Author Biography

  • Caetano Santos, University of Oxford

    Caetano Maschio Santos is a multi-instrumental musician, ethnomusicologist, and historian, Master in Music (Ethnomusicology) by the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, and doctoral student at the Faculty of Music in the University of Oxford, where he is a Clarendon Scholar supported by Merton College and the Stuart Hall Foundation. His doctoral research deals with the musical endeavours of Brazil’s Haitian diaspora, analyzing the relationships between music and migration, race, translation, and intercultural conviviality through collaborative ethnographic engagements centred on music-making. As a musician, he is an expert on Irish traditional music, carried out ethnographic research of the Irish-Celtic music scene in Brazil, and acted as Board Member for Comhaltas Brasil, the Brazilian chapter of the most important Irish musical institution.

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Published

2023-02-01

How to Cite

Hy-Brazil, celtic land? A Brief Overview of the Brazilian Irish-Celtic Musical Scene with a Focus on the Rio de Janeiro Case. (2023). ABEI Journal, 24(1), 69-79. https://doi.org/10.37389/abei.v24i1.198899