Temporalities in/of Water: Interculturality in Bantos Iguape’s Oro Mimá, and Sued Nunes’ Velejo

Abstract

This article presents a comparative reading of two music videos produced in the identity territory of Recôncavo da Bahia, Brazil, by artists also from Recôncavo, namely: Bantos Iguape, from the district of Santiago do Iguape, in Cachoeira, and Sued Nunes, a singer and composer from the city of Sapeaçu. The comparative readingaims to understand the relationships and cultural exchanges that are established between Afro-Brazilian and regional matrices. The methodological basis of the study is a comparative analysis of the bodies on the scene and oralitures to help emerge aspects from the clips related to water flows and their materializations in those audiovisual expressions, as well as memories and specific ways of sharing. As main findings, the article discusses how infrastructural networks control large spaces, starting in the periods of European colonialism and neocolonialism. It shows how rivers, bays, and oceans, are commoditized and how through musical expressions from the Recôncavo territory, these water bodies gain new meanings linked to the matrices of Afro diasporic cultures that made their home in the cities of the region. As individuals living on the margins give birth to a radical creative territory that sustains their subjectivities, they create a new place from which they can articulate their own worldviews. Finally, it identifies how multitemporalities referred to in the clips contribute to the construction of self-referenced imaginaries about the African diaspora in Brazil on a symbolic level.