“Na virada do maracatu”: territorialidade cultural e midiática na sede do Coletivo Afrocaeté.

Abstract

Coletivo AfroCaeté, a percussive group from Alagoas located in the Jaraguá neighborhood, emerges in 2009, after almost 100 years of silencing the practice of Maracatu in Alagoas. The persecution and repression of religious and cultural manifestations of African origin in the state, culminating in 1912, in the violent episode called Quebra de Xangô, serve as a motivating element for carrying out actions focused on black identity, developed by percussive groups in Maceió. One of them is the Ensaio Aberto, a free event promoted by AfroCaeté, with shows once a month, which has served as a meeting point for local youth and the affirmation of certain values, such as cultural resistance and revitalization of the historic Jaraguá. Such an occupation process results in negotiations and different ways of experiencing the city both by the members of the Collective and by the regulars of the reinvented territory of Ensaio Aberto. The activity in focus gives the space of the group's headquarters a cultural value (FRITH, 1996) and emerges as an unforeseen action to public policies. The present work understand how the space of the headquarters, the neighborhood and the musical practice are re-signified during the event on screen. It traces the trajectory of this cultural collective, by means of a cartography of musical productions in Maceió.