Music, corporality and diasporic recreation at Candomblé

Abstract

This article analyzes how and why body and dance play a central role in the transnationalization of Candomblé between afrodescendants and, increasingly, between Europeans in Germany. It examines how an Afro-Brazilian artist and father of a saint in Berlin disseminated religious practices and worldviews through transnational Afro-Brazilian dance and music, such as music and dance workshops and other events held in the city. This is an example of how an Afro-Brazilian religion has become a central element, recreating an idea of “Africa” in Europe which is part of a long history of the movement of black and Candomblé artists between Germany, Brazil and Cuba, resulting in the creation of transnational artistic-religious relations.