A Samba Funeral

On Tuesday morning, as I approached the door to my Portuguese class, there was a sign posted up to meet in another room. Once the other people from the program and I were all gathered together, our director told us that the famous Bahian musician affectionately known as Neguinho do Samba had passed away. Neguinho was an instrumental in developing the traditional African drumming band Olodum that brought international acclaim to Brazil in the 1990’s for their work with Michael Jackson and Paul Simon, among other famous people. Neguinho used the profits he made to create a number of music schools and community centers throughout Salvador to promote Afro-Brazilian traditions and music while providing a place for the youth of the city, especially the poor and homeless, to gather. Sorry, I didn’t mean for this to turn into a eulogy but I just wanted to give a quick grasp on why he was so endeared to the people of Bahia. We were excused from class to attend his funeral precession throughout the cultural district of the city. It was pretty amazing to experience a large funeral here, especially for someone so beloved. We joined it when there was a few band members playing while a small group of people followed. Though the group wasn’t initially to big, you could still feel the emotion, especially because Neguinho was in seemingly perfect health and still relatively young in his early fifties. No one had expected him to go without warning. As they moved throughout the narrow, cobblestone streets more band members began to play and the group grew larger and larger. People threw flowers from their balconies onto the marching precession, as the sound of the bands grew more intense. Many of the musicians were shedding tears as they passionately played out beutiful rhythms. It was interesting because there was never any boundary between the musicians and the crowd; everyone was just walking and playing together in a crowd that began to grow even larger.

As the crowd spilled into the main plaza, the coffin came into sight and became engulfed by the now huge crowd carrying it on their shoulders. A hysteric man came and snatched a Brazilian flag from the hands of a woman next to me and spread it across the top of the coffin while trying to control his emotion. It concluded where we were as the bands gave a final send off, in one massive drumming unison. One of Neguinho’s close friends spoke words to the mass of people that were now gathered in the plaza around his coffin, all holding their hands up to put a blessing on him. As we were leaving, the coffin was put on top of a fire truck that took it through the entire city for one last send off before reaching the cemetery. It is a shame he died, but amazing to be part of such a grand tribute. Almost all of the famous Bahian drumming bands were just playing throughout the streets in full force, a spectacle that only normally happens at Carnival. It was surreal to witness all at once beside so much grief and passion from the crowd for a man so beloved. When I told my maes where I had gone, they got into an argument because Liane didn’t immediately recognize who he was. “What do you mean you don’t know Neguinho!? HE DANCED WITH MICHAEL JACKSON!” Even for two middle aged ladies with no ties to music, his had death struck a chord; he was a real source of pride for the city and people of Salvador.