"O evangelho não pode ficar dentro de 4 paredes, ele tem que ultrapassar fronteiras".Daniela Zeidan
FROM CONSCIOUSNESS TO ACTIONThe embrace of the narratives I have outlined here were frequently associated, I found, with other, more politicized views about what ought to be done collectively by evangelical Christians to improve the lives of Afro-Brazilians. Among the Black gospel artists I got to know, fully three quarters expressed strong agreement with one or more of the following: the need to develop a Black Christian theology; the desirability of creating a church with Black leadership; the importance of getting the church to teach Black history and nurture Black sel-esteem; the need for churches to advocate race-based afirmative action; and the desirability of black Christians to make purchases from black-owned busines Furthermore, as the Black evangelical movement in Brazil continues to grow, Black gospel artists seem to be playing an increasingly important role in shaping and directing it. Between 2002 and 2005, I tracked three groups of black gospel singers who organized evening study groups in witch they discussed the interconnections between the Bible, social history, and slave resistence. Every year one church that is home to a major black gospel choir hosts a major teach-in about the connection between black music and the civil rights movement in the US. Several networks of black gospel singers created web-pages devoted to “Blacks in the Bible” and “Black heroes”. The
Pão da Vida church, home of several black gospel singing groups, regularly organizes educational forums on racism, Black in the church, and buying from Black-owned businesses. In 2007 and 2008, leading black gospel singers could be found in the forefront in organizing the annual march for Black consciousness in São Paulo. Sergio Mello, a singer of gospel blues who built a church around a Black choir, used his pulpit to proclaim the virtues of afirmative action, the valorization of Black beauty, support for Black entrepreneurs, and nurturance of Black leadership. In the fall of 2005, he led a march of evangelicals to a downtown mail in São Paulo to protest the racially-motivated discrimination against a black musician. The minister of music of
Pão de Vida,
Daniela Zeidan, increasingly appears in inter-organizational forums to speak out about the need of evangelical Christians to take a stand against racism.
Music & Arts in Action -
Collective Identity and Racial Thought in São Paulo's Black Gospel Music Scene
JOHN SAMUEL BURDICK
Department of Anthropology Syracuse University USA
Music and Arts in Action/John samuel Burdick 2009 ISSN:1754-7105 Page 23-24
Music and Arts in Action www.musicandartsinaction.net/saopaulogospel