Meicio Askanasy, José Prates, Ivan de Paula

Brazilian folk music is an umbrella term for the country’s regional and traditional musics that grew from the encounter of Indigenous, African (mainly West and Central African), and Iberian (especially Portuguese) cultures. It encompasses rural song, dance, and ritual genres such as baião and forró in the Northeast, viola-caipira traditions in the Southeast and Center-West, Afro-Brazilian drumming and chant in maracatu and jongo, circle-dance genres like ciranda and coco, and many others associated with religious festivals, work songs, and oral poetry. Marked by call-and-response vocals, propulsive percussion, syncopated grooves, and narrative lyrics, Brazilian folk music remains a living tradition that informs Brazilian popular music while preserving local identity and heritage.

Candomblé music is the sacred musical practice of the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomblé. It centers on polyrhythmic drumming ensembles, call-and-response singing, and dance that invites the presence (incorporation) of the orixás (divinities). The core ensemble features three hand-played atabaque drums (rum, rumpi, and lê), metal bells (agogô), and rattles/shakers (xequerê, adjá), with the lead drummer (alabê) cueing changes in rhythm and energy. Stylistically, it preserves multiple West and Central African lineages—especially Yoruba (Ketu/Nagô), Fon/Ewe (Jeje), and Kongo/Angola—expressed in distinct toques (rhythmic patterns) such as ijexá, alujá, agueré, congo, and opanijé. Chants are performed in liturgical languages (predominantly Yoruba/Nagô, as well as Kikongo/Kimbundu and Fon) and in Portuguese, using a responsorial texture led by a solo cantor with a unison chorus. The music is not entertainment but ritual: every rhythm, melody, and text is tied to specific orixás, colors, dances, and ceremonial moments. Beyond the terreiro (temple), Candomblé’s musical vocabulary has profoundly shaped Brazilian popular music, from afoxé and samba de roda to axé and MPB, especially through the diffusion of the ijexá timeline and call-and-response vocal aesthetics.