Not just song & dance

For thousands of years, man has used music and dance to manifest its culture.  This practice takes many forms and covers several subjects.  Music and dance have always been the most popular way to communicate beliefs, social order, and any celebration, as they’re as much fun to watch as they are to perform.  Eventually, music and dance branched into entertainment.  This branch exists to entertain, without the ritual aspect.  People began to gather strictly to let off some steam; to play instruments, to dance to the rhythm, to sing.  All of our cultures have this in common, right up until modern day.   

In the old days, populations were more isolated due to limited means of travel and bad roads.  Villages were pretty much self-sufficient, which was another contributor to the isolation.  Naturally, when there was a need for entertainment, the music would probably be locally sourced.  This made way for a diverse tapestry of songs and dances, each of them unique to its locality.  The differences may not have been too great, but they were enough to express the local culture.  With the advent of the migrations to cities, the entertainment became more homogenous, so the differences became more regional than local, and there lie some more significant differences, especially when speaking of cultural dance.

  When I was a kid in Toronto, like many other children of Portuguese immigrants, I was forced to go to Portuguese school in the evening.  When I say forced, I mean that when you’re a kid, a lot of things are forced on you, but you learn to like them sometimes.  In my case, I did enjoy it, got to make some new friends, and got to spend some more time with those who were already my friends, after all we all lived pretty close to each other.  My point? Well, Dona Helena, (that’s Portuguese for Mrs., not her actual name), ran the night school at Montrose Public School.  She was a super nice lady, that really cared about everything Portuguese, and it rubbed off on most of us.  One day, she interrupted a class, to say she was setting up a “rancho” to represent our Portuguese school, and she wanted volunteers.  When she said volunteers, she didn’t really mean it.  She knew I was taking guitar lessons, (for about three months), so I was in.  My buddy Paul ‘volunteered’ to play accordion, as did all the dancers.  In a few minutes, she had picked out the team.  We practiced on Saturdays, and eventually went on to perform in several places, including a cold winter night in Ottawa.  It was hilarious because Paul’s accordion froze in the luggage compartment of the bus.  We had to wait an hour before he could get any sound out of it.  Anyway, we played as well as any rancho of 8 to 12-year-olds could play, and we always got an applause.  I never forgot those experiences.  I guess what I’m trying to say is that trying something different can many times turn into an unforgettable experience.  Maybe we’re all too cool now, to care about rancho, but I believe that it’s always better to see something live over reading about it in a book.  And again, if we’re to keep any part of our Portuguese heritage alive, the ranchos are of the utmost importance.  They’re a symbol of who we were, and who we are, and essentially, they, along with our other cultural gems, show whoever is watching, that which makes us stand out.

Fiquem bem,

Raul Freitas/MS