Slavery and syncretic performance in the noite do tambores silenciosos: or how batuque, and the calunga dance around with the memory of slavery

The article is focused upon an analysis of Africanity within the seven hour ritualised perfromance of the Noite do Tambores Silenciosos, conducted at the Recife Carnival, Brazil in 2007. This event and key elements within it, namely the Calunga doll and the dance called Batuque, are used to provide ways into thinking about the subversive and profoundly creative manner in which Afro Brazilians use dance, drumming and sculpture to unlock the traumatic memory of slavery.