Bahia X Rastafaris!

Followers organize themselves in evangelical churches, unions, or in communities such as the one in Rocinha.\r\n\r\nOn reggae's waves, Rastafarianism reached Bahia. With the face, voice and hair of Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer and other reggaemen, heard on the streets of Maciel, Pelourinho, or even in its brothels, places where Caribbean island music first arrived. In contact with Bahian culture, Rastafarianism acquired its own face. "Just as it is impossible to define a zero milestone for reggae in Bahia, it is impossible to arrive at a single definition of Bahian Rastafarianism. What exists is a multifaceted identity," explains Antônio Gody, sociologist, researcher and a reference in the study of reggae in Bahia. \r\n\r\nToday, in Salvador, Rastafarianism approaches unionism and fights for employment and the citizenship of the rasta; connects with Pentecostalism, with rastafaris converted to evangelical churches; becomes mere aesthetics, with dreadlocks (tufts of hair) representing the valorization of the Black race. But there is still a place where we can find something closer to the root of the movement, to Jamaican Rastafarianism, marked by the existence of rural communities. \r\n\r\nIn Rocinha, a small non-urbanized village hidden in Pelourinho, rastafaris divide their time between music production and reading and discussing the Bible, the supreme book of Rastafarianism. They live apart from the capitalist society's production scheme, making reggae, talking about peace and unity and strictly following some precepts and rituals of the movement. Mainly those that lead to meditation and spiritual elevation.\r\n\r\n

JAMAICA CONNECTION

\r\nMore than a new rhythm, a new music, reggae was the gateway to Rastafarianism, a way of life, philosophy, religion or movement (depending on who follows it), born in Jamaica and that enchanted Salvador's young Black people in the mid-70s and early 80s. It enchanted and strengthened self-esteem, the will to fight against an oppressive and capitalist system. Along with the anti-colonialist voices sounding throughout the world, Bahia's rastas joined the chorus against another kind of slavery: no longer physical, but mental. \r\n\r\nToday, more than 20 years after this initial moment, something remains untouched and still latent in the hearts of those who call themselves rastas: the desire for freedom, expressed in Bob Marley's songs — The songs of freedom — that still reverberate in every corner of this city and the world, regardless of the color or social class of those who hear them. The strength of reggae and Rastafarianism in Bahia can be understood in part by the similarity between Salvador and Caribbean cities. The streets of Dois de Julho that resemble those of Havana, the heat of the sun that warms and softens the body, the color and braided hair of its inhabitants, the sounds of African drums... In addition, the socioeconomic reality is also similar. \r\n\r\nHistorically, the slave trade brought Blacks from similar regions to Bahia and took them to the Caribbean islands. And the echoes of slavery are still seen in the poverty of the muddy streets of the neighborhoods of Alagados and Jamaican Trenchtown (city over ditches). "The only thing that reminds me I'm in Salvador and not in Jamaica is the language, Portuguese," said Denis Brown, one of the great representatives of reggae music, to producer Lino de Almeida, responsible for the Rasta-Reggae program and one of the founders of the Legião Rastafari da Bahia, created in 1983 and extinct almost two years later. And it is precisely the difference in languages that is the first cause of the different versions that Rastafarianism assumed in Salvador. \r\n\r\nBahians' first contact with Rastafarianism happens through music, all in English. The reggae fans, mostly young Black people from the periphery, did not even fully master Portuguese. And even when efforts began to carry out translations, what was not in the songs was ignored. Only later would the Bible be read and followed by Bahian rastas.\r\n\r\n

STRENGTH AND POWER

\r\nDespite the lack of information, music is a powerful force and by itself attracted followers to Rastafarianism. According to Antônio Gody, there is a cardiac groove in reggae's electric bass that penetrates deep into people. "Until '78, I listened to many types of music, but nothing that touched me so much. With Jimmy Cliff, Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, the songs began to touch my heart deeply and I wanted to delve into this music," confirms Joacy Neves, president of the Associação Beneficente, Cultural e Recreativa União Rastafari, founded in 1993. "We managed to gather about 500 people from all over the city in Liberdade to listen to music, discuss and try to understand the lyrics. \r\n\r\nWe were young, Black, poor, and we still shared an interest in reggae," says Lino. These meetings in Liberdade, headquarters neighborhood of Ilê Aiyê, show the fertile ground and the propitious time for mobilization around the valorization of Black culture. "Everything was connected, the first rastas emerged at this time, at the same time as the Afro blocs (Ilê was founded in '74) and the Black movement, which began in '78. And one of the most interesting things about Rastafarianism was the reconstruction of the Bible from an ethnic perspective," Gody emphasizes. The approximation was so great that a carnival entity, the Muzenza bloc, even proclaimed itself the reggae bloc.\r\n\r\n

FRUSTRATED AND SUFFERING

\r\nFor Jessy Congo, 52, rastafari and leader of the band Congo Naya, originally from the Monte Sinai community in Guyana, it doesn't matter whether in Jamaica or other countries, the truth is that people were frustrated, suffering and, for that reason, entered the movement. "I was one of those who were sucked in, in 1979. Everyone was looking for love," he recounted, in the house where he currently lives with his group, in Pelourinho. This discourse — "One love/One heart/Let's get together and feel alright" — was spread here by Bob Marley, long before Bahian rastas delved into the Bible, into the Old Testament, which brings the foundations of Rastafarianism. \r\n\r\n"We let our hair grow with dreadlocks first because of identification with the idol. Only later did we begin to question everything and learned that this was one of the precepts strictly followed by rastafaris, because of what is written in the Bible," Joacy confesses. "Rastafarianism arrives here diluted," says Marcos Guimarães, guitarist of the band Adão Negro and researcher on the identity of reggae fans and rastas in Bahia. "I think that here, aesthetics is still stronger than everything. Rasta hair became fashion, became fashion. \r\n\r\nBut in truth, even this new conception of beauty already brings with it a change in behavior," Guima, as he is also known, emphasizes. For Lino de Almeida, who has traveled several times to the Caribbean because of his work with artists such as Gregory Isaacs and Starlights, "as a religion, Rastafarianism only exists in Jamaica. Here, it is much more a movement that can encompass various things." Today, it is difficult to find an orthodox rastafari, as those who strictly follow the commandments of being vegetarian, not drinking, not cutting or shaving any body hair, not having sexual relations with a menstruating woman are called. The rastas from Guyana seem to be the exceptions. Coming from the Caribbean, the members of Congo Naya are examples of rastas who most closely approach the original movement.\r\n\r\n

PENTECOSTAL CHURCHES

\r\nIn Salvador, two phenomena are striking in Rastafarianism: the approach of young rastas with Pentecostal churches and with class organizations. By living according to the Old Testament and having a Baptist (Marcus Garvey) as one of its founders, since its origin Rastafarianism has been close to evangelical churches. In Salvador, many rastas ended up converting, in a radicalization of the religious proposal of Rastafarianism, to the detriment of the more social character, the fight against Babylon, of Rastafarianism. \r\n\r\nIn any case, reggae continues to be part of the lives of converted rastas. Important reggaemen such as Cristal and Nengo Vieira. For a time, there were even large shows at the temple set up at Cine Art, in Politeama. In Salvador, something even unthinkable for orthodox rastas, who are against any approach to the capitalist world, even happens. In a version that approaches class struggle and union movements, the members of União Rastafari — who gather at the metalworkers' union while they don't find their own headquarters — fight for jobs and professional training.\r\n\r\n

AFRO-AMERICAN MOVEMENT

\r\nRastafarianism emerged in Jamaica at a time of great economic crisis. Rastafarianism is a movement that emerged in Jamaica, at a time of great economic crisis. Descendants of African slaves lived in misery, in terrible conditions, and this situation left fertile ground for the seeds of the anti-colonialist, Baptist and Ethiopianist thought of the Jamaican Marcus Garvey to germinate. At the beginning of the 20th century, Garvey, who left for England in 1917, launched his discourse of valorization of the Black race, exalted its power against colonialist forces, preached the return to Mother Africa and launched a prophecy in 1920. He asked Blacks to look to Africa and foresaw the coronation of a Black Ethiopian who would become king of kings. \r\n\r\nGarvey even bought a shipping company to encourage the return to Africa, but he himself never reached that continent. However, in 1930, it seemed his predictions were fulfilled. In Ethiopia, the young Ras Tafari Makonnen was crowned emperor under the title of Haile Selassié I. Selassié claims to be a descendant of King David, of the direct lineage of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (respectively, a Hebrew and an Ethiopian), "something that, if it cannot be confirmed, has also never been proven otherwise," Gody explains. Haile proclaimed himself King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Lion of the Tribe of Judah. \r\n\r\nHis figure is associated with the new Messiah, the Christ of the Old Testament. And Ethiopia, with paradise on earth, or Zion, as it is also called. In fact, according to Antonio Gody, Selassié gained notoriety shortly before World War II. "At the end of the 30s, Mussolini invaded Ethiopia, making clear in his writings that he was avenging the battle of Adoa, in 1896, when the then emperor Menelik II and Makonnen, Haile's uncle, expelled the Italians. The new Italian invasion organized by Mussolini shows the importance Ethiopia had on the world stage. It was the only African country that managed not to submit to colonialism," Gody recounts. \r\n\r\nWith the invasion, Selassié traveled to Europe seeking help and negotiating ways to make Mussolini retreat. He was the first African ruler to join the League of Nations, which would become the UN. In that same period, he founded the Ethiopian World Federation in the USA to support the restoration of Ethiopia. With the end of the war and Italy's defeat, Selassié showed his consideration by donating lands in the Shashamane region to Afro-descendants who wished to return to Mother Africa. Even without being aware of its importance, three currents of Rastafarianism were born in Jamaica, more specifically in Kingston, where Baptist churches linked to Garveyist thought already existed: Nyabinghi, Ethiopian National Society and Twelve Tribes of Israel.\r\n\r\n

SIX PRINCIPLES

\r\nOne of the landmarks of the rasta movement was the creation, in the 1940s, of the Pinnacle Commune (Community of the Pinnacle, of the Apogee, of the Peak), founded by Leonard Howell, one of the most important leaders of the rasta movement and founder of the Ethiopian National Society. Howell developed six principles, whose defense ended up leading him to prison: Hatred of the white race; superiority of the Black race; revenge against whites for their wickedness; denial, persecution and humiliation of the government and authorities of Jamaica; preparation for the return to Africa and recognition of Haile Selassié I as supreme being and sole sovereign of the Black race. \r\n\r\nIn fact, the intolerance of these principles goes against the main characteristics adopted by rastas around the world. That of peaceful life, in harmony with God and nature, of respect and tolerance for all beings, in addition to existence in accordance with the scriptures and denial of material possessions. Because of his speeches against England and the government of Jamaica, Howell was imprisoned for two years. After being released, he recruited a large number of followers and founded the Pinnacle Commune in the mountains above the city of Kingston. \r\n\r\nThis remote location served its purposes, at least initially, of keeping authorities away. Isolated from major centers, in the community the use of Ganja (as Rastafarianism identifies marijuana, or cannabis) is freely adopted and the holy herb, the holy herb, whose use is justified by passages from the Bible, grows freely and in abundance. In fact, it is precisely the use of ganja that is one of the main reasons for discrimination and prejudice against the rastafari. A fact that every rasta makes a point of clarifying. \r\n\r\nFor the rastafari, the use of ganja is ritualistic, religious. In addition, it is used for medicinal purposes. Served as teas against headaches, as a calming agent, to stimulate appetite and administered to adults and children. It is also used in cooking, to make cakes, coconut candy, as seasoning for beans. "In Rastafarianism, marijuana is used in a ritualistic, measured way, different from the dimension of altering perception. It has medicinal use."\r\n\r\n

STIGMA OF MARGINALITY

\r\nHowever, the mark of marginality, of trafficking, falls upon the rastafari. For Alumínio, 45, rastafari and member of the band Bem Aventurados, there is much prejudice against the rastafari. "And mind you, just as not every rasta wears dreadlocks and not every dread is a rasta, not every rastafari smokes," he explains. "The rasta is not a pothead, which is a degeneration of the contemporary world," Antonio Gody opines. \r\n\r\nIn any case, discrimination exists in various ways. "Look at a rasta inside the bus: the seat next to him will always be empty," Alumínio recounts, smiling. But the worst prejudice, the most effective way for Babylon to prevent the movement's advance, in Joacy Neves' opinion, is denial of employment. "Brothers who are not musicians or artisans often have to give up their aesthetics and cut their dreads to support their families. We have already lost many followers because of this," says the president of União Rastafari. Alumínio and other rastas who are part of the community in Rocinha, Pelourinho, for now don't need to worry about this. \r\n\r\nThey do not form a rural community, nor are they surrounded by mountains, as in Jamaica, but they have neighbors who respect and admire their life choice and habits. "We have nothing to say about them, except good things. They don't bother anyone, they are respectful, they like children and they make very beautiful music. They talk about Jesus all the time and also against social injustice," said Rosângela Auera, 32. "For coexistence, they are great. And the thing I like most is that they don't swear," concludes Maria Juracy, 45, a neighbor of the Rocinha rastafaris for ten years.