Chants, Bodies, and Devotions in Celebration: the Ethnomusicology of Popular Religiosity in the Amazon

Abstract

This article analyzes Amazonian popular religiosity from the perspective of the ethnomusicology of the festival, understanding music as a social, performative, and ritual practice that constitutes religious celebrations. Taking the Círio de Nazaré and patron saint festivals in the state of Pará as references, the study examines how chants, litanies, sung prayers, silences, and the sonicities of collective movement structure the festive experience and produce a sense of belonging. Based on situated sonic ethnographic descriptions, the article discusses the festival as an expanded sonic event in which body, space, and listening are inseparably intertwined. Dialoguing with contemporary ethnomusicological scholarship, the text emphasizes music as relational action and as a form of knowledge capable of mediating faith, memory, and territory. By highlighting the centrality of performance and soundscape in Amazonian religious festivals, the article contributes to debates on encounters, confluences, and celebrations within ethnomusicology.