On the trail of the lost point: the memory of jongo in Bananal/SP

Abstract

This paper presents data from an ethnographic research that tookplace in a small city called Bananal (a little over 11 000 inhabitants). Thereferred city is located at Vale do Paraíba in São Paulo State – Brazil.Historically, Bananal was enshrined as one of the main coffee producers inthe 19th century, in the eastern region of São Paulo State. At first theresearch investigated among the popular imagination of local studentsabout a characteristic of a character of the "folklore" in the country: theSaci. The researchers noticed that beyond the walls of the local school,there were memories, musics and dances that are characteristic of blackpopulation brought through the African diaspora. Bananal is located at theHistoric Valley of the Paraíba do Sul River, which until now preserves thetraditional cultural that remain in the memory of its inhabitants, such as:the Jongo – a music style that can be identified as the music of the diasporadue to the particularity of antifonia of the singing. This scenary of Bananalwas ideal to the part of the oral history, reconstruct the memories of thecommunity, the Jongo and the history of blacks in Brazil, without forgettingthe precarious condition of the public school system used for these socialgroups in their initial formation.