Description
Slavery was the official mode of production in Brazil from the occupation of the territory by Pedro Álvares Cabral in April 1500 until its official abolition in May 1888. For nearly 400 uninterrupted years, despite the violence inflicted upon approximately four million enslaved Black people, the interactions between Whites, Blacks, and Indigenous peoples across various social strata facilitated the consolidation of what came to be known as “Brazilian culture.” Studies in religion, music, dance, and popular festivities reveal countless cultural expressions rooted in an Afro-Brazilian axis. However, another aspect that warrants further examination concerns Black-Portuguese transmission.
By 1552, Africans from the western coast, from the Senegal River to the Zaire River, made up 10% of Lisbon’s population, a number that only grew until the 18th century as the slave trade proved increasingly profitable. These individuals worked as domestic servants, agricultural laborers, dockworkers, galley rowers, animal handlers, vendors, artisans, and musicians.
Barber-surgeons were highly regarded professionals both within and beyond European courts, and their services—including haircuts, shaving, tooth extractions, and bloodletting—were in demand in Portugal’s main colony, often performed by enslaved individuals. In Rio de Janeiro, most of them were musicians, particularly violinists and clarinetists. However, despite the admiration recorded by several German, French, and English travelers between the 1820s and 1850s, hundreds of escape attempts were documented in the same period, raising questions about their living conditions. This paper presents the results of a systematic analysis of travelers’ accounts and an extensive survey of archival documentation concerning barber-surgeons' musical activities in the Brazilian Empire.
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