Mama's Comfort: a samba story

05/15/21 • 14 min

This fifth episode features the samba master Dona Nildes Bomfim and her daughter Mileide Bomfim – two important women keeping alive the samba de roda traditions from their state of Bahia.Dona Nildes and Mila are not just musicians, singers and dancers, they are producers, directors and administrators. We discuss their samba group Espermacete, which is not just about music, but also community, social service, family traditions and preserving generational knowledge.

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Xodó de mamãe: uma história do samba

Esse quinto episódio apresenta a mestra de samba Dona Nildes Bomfim e sua filha Mileide Bomfim, duas mulheres importantíssimas para a manutenção da tradição familiar do samba de roda baiano em seu município de Camaçari. Dona Nildes e Mila não são apenas músicas, cantoras e dançarinas, elas também são produtoras, diretoras e administratoras. Discutimos seu grupo de samba Espermacete, que não trabalha apenas com música mas também com trabalhos sociais, tradições familiares e a preservação da cultura popular.

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We Honor Our Religion With Our Acarajé

The final episode in our first season Baianas em Foco features guest host Dr. Vanessa Castañeda as she interviews the Baiana de acarajé and Candomblé priestess Tânia Pereira de Jesus. In this English language episode the creator Dr. Jamie Lee Andreson speaks with Dr. Castañeda about her years of research experience, collaboration and activism with the Baianas de acarajé in Salvador, Bahia. Baianas are street vendors, generally older, Black women, who sell various foods associated with the city of Salvador; the most famous of which is acarajé, a black-eyed pea fritter fried in palm oil with origins in West Africa. These street vendors are often referred to as the “postcards of Bahia” as they are cultural icons of African heritage and regional Afro-Bahian identity. We discuss the main topics that come up in Tânia's interview, including the relationship between the acarajé sold on the streets and its religions origins in Candomblé, the women’s political engagements within the field of Brazilian cultural politics and the current challenges they face with the COVID-19 pandemic.