Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Bandidos de Cristo : Representations of the Power of Criminal Factions in Rio's Proibidão Funk

2007; University of Texas Press; Volume: 28; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/lat.2007.0035

1536-0199

Paul Sneed,

Politics and Society in Latin America

This article draws on ethnographic research and theories of ideology to explore the cultural and rhetorical context of Brazilian proibidao funk, or prohibited rap music, and the usage of this music by the Comando Vermelho criminal faction to strengthen its hegemony in the favela of Rocinha in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Gangsters from this faction sponsor large-scale, outdoor street dances known as bailes de comunidade, and use them as platforms to stage their power. They also promote the production of clandestine rap songs such as Bandidos de Cristo (Bandits of Christ), which are recorded live at the dances by the drug traffickers and disseminated in the favela on bootleg CDs. Such clandestine songs are not played on the radio or available in stores. Through these dances and songs, drug traffickers in Rocinha represent themselves, with utopian and messianic overtones, as social bandits and the legitimate defenders of their community. Este articulo utiliza la investigacion etnografica y diversas teorias sobre la ideologia para explorar el contexto cultural y retorico del funk proibidao, es decir, de las canciones raps prohibidas, y los usos que hace de esta musica la faccion criminal Comando Vermelho para garantizar su hegemonia en la favela de la Rocinha en Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. Integrantes de esta faccion patrocinan grandes bailes al aire libre, conocidos como bailes de comunidad, y los utilizan como escenarios para representar su poder. Tambien promueven la produccion de raps clandestinos como Bandidos de Cristo, que son grabados en vivo en los bailes por los narcotraficantes en CD piratas. Estas canciones no son tocadas en la radio ni son vendidas en las tiendas. Por medio de estos bailes y canciones, narcotraficantes en la Rocinha se representan a si mismos, con tonos utopicos y mesianicos, como bandidos sociales y defensores legitimos de su comunidad.