“Places of resonance” and the production of a Senegalese musical diaspora in southern Brazil

Abstract.

Senegalese migration to Brazil is part of a wider migratory flow of nationals from African countries who found themselves attracted by the receptive opportunities that the country offered between 2010 and 2015. This article stems from a broader ethnomusicological research among African musicians settled in southern Brazil, carried out between 2018 and 2019, and it discusses the production of a Senegalese musical diaspora through the narratives, transits and musical collaborations of a Senegalese rapper in his residency experience in the state. In the wake of a consolidated interest in ethnomusicology for the study of the multiple relationships between music and migration, we seek to explore the critical contributions of these studies in relation to notions of expressive sound-music cultures as territorialized and fixed entities. From this perspective, participatory ethnography has contributed to think African migrant musical practices beyond the conceptions that associate them with a cohesive ethnic community.

Keywords:
ethnomusicology; diaspora; music and migration; Senegalese; Rio Grande do Sul