Wandering and exile in soul music: the Black-Rio movement in the 70’s to the Quarteirão do Soul in Belo Horizonte, 2010

Abstract

The twentieth century witnessed several diasporas. Some of them clearly addressed by the vehicles of mass communication, others less so. This study addresses the emergence of a movement of affirmation of black identity in Brazil, the movement Black-Rio, which appeared in the mid-70s. It suffered persecution, not only on the political side, but also from the media, until its extinction in the same decade. The importance of the Black-Rio was confirmed thirty years later, with the constitution of the Quarteirão do Soul in Belo Horizonte, a movement with similar ideology. It started downtown in 2004 with a group of friends, became a space of sociability and affirmation of black identity and, like its predecessor, begins to suffer harassment.