ABSTRACT
This article discusses exchanges between Brazilian intellectuals from the north and northeast directly or indirectly related to studies of boi bumbá within Mário de Andrade’s research agenda. This article analysis the work of writers based in Pará during the 1920s and 30s, focusing on their conception of Amazonian folklore, as well as letters sent by literati and musicians from Amazônia to Mário de Andrade during his journey to the country’s north from 1927 to 1943. This article addresses the oscillation between two ways of treating the Amazonian boi bumbá as folklore: using registered songs from boi troupes to develop national scholarly art, and the exhibitions of bumbás as a focus of ethnographic research.
Keywords:
Amazonia; boi bumbá; literature; ethnography; folklore