Drumming for a Difference: Afro Reggae as a Weapon Against Violence

In Brazil, a country synonymous with samba, sunshine, and Carnaval, young people are using music -- one of their country's greatest strengths -- to fight their country's greatest shortcomings.

The young musicians are part of Grupo Cultural Afro Reggae, a troupe that empowers children from Rio de Janeiro's favelas (shantytowns) through workshops in music and dance. These workshops are conducted by a band of forty regular performers whose shows crumble stereotypes with an infectious combination of percussion, dance, rap and circus acts.

"We get people's attention with our music," explained Anderson Sá, 19, a performer and youth leader with Afro Reggae. "Then they start asking questions. They want to learn more about us and where we are from."

Anderson and his fellow musicians are from Vigário Geral, a favela on the northern edge of Rio de Janeiro infamous for its intense drug trade and for a police-led massacre in 1993 that left 21 residents dead. Violence, a daily presence in Rio's more than 500 favelas, is the leading cause of death for young Brazilians. Through music, Afro Reggae keeps young people alive.

Before the massacre, Jose Pereira (known as Júnior), at the time a 25-year-old taxi driver, was organizing reggae dance parties downtown and publishing a monthly newspaper, Afro Reggae News, with three of his friends. None had ever been to Vigário Geral, but they had all grown up in rough neighborhoods and were looking for a way to bring their work to the favelas.

When the massacre happened, they knew just where to begin. They found two volunteer teachers and began offering classes in Afro-Brazilian dance and drumming in a small courtyard in the favela.

Today the group works in a new cultural center offering classes in everything from flamenco and ballroom dancing to public health and citizenship. Afro Reggae's ability to use cultural stimulation to steer youths away from the drug trade and drive them to communicate with society has captured the attention of national and international foundations, governments, the news media, and even Hollywood.

Megan Mylan, a journalist and 2009 Academy Award winner for the short documentary Smile Pinki, explored the power of Afro-Brazilian drumming as a form of protest in Batidania: Power in the Beat, a documentary completed in 1999 that followed the work of a similar group of artists. In 2005, Grupo Cultural Afro Reggae’s incredible work for the children of Rio inspired directors Jeff Zimbalist and Matt Mochary to create Favela Rising, an award-winning documentary that details the group’s work and celebrates their triumphs.

The group uses the band performances and media attention to change stereotypes. According to Júnior, "The music is a way to communicate the reality of the favelas to the rest of society. Only a tiny fraction of the population is directly involved (in the drug trade), but everyone suffers from it."

A third of Rio's nearly 6 million people live in favelas, and Brazil has one of the widest gaps between rich and poor. Armed drug mafias took over the favelas in the early 1980s, and have gained trust and become entrenched by supplying services the state has failed to provide, such as sewage systems, roads, and soccer fields. Both boys and girls are recruited as bookkeepers, runners and lookouts, while traffickers and the police regularly clash. According to the Human Rights Watch, an average of four civilian killings took place each day from January to June 2008.

Afro Reggae is determined to use its concerts as vehicles of protest, challenging acceptance of the notion that losing teen-agers to violence is a commonplace occurrence. While the legal system drags on, Afro Reggae is building an army of politicized performers who are sending a strong message to Brazilian society that they expect more for their future.

Reported By Megan Mylan