Music, Religion and Social Production of Space in a Working‐Class Town – the case of the church of pastor Ana Lucia in Belford Roxo, Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

The music used in neo‐Pentecostal denominations is undergoing several transformations today, revealing cracks and heterogeneities that contradict what is commonly thought to be a relatively cohesive doctrinal set around certain assumptions regarded as indisputable. We argue here that the euphoria around a musical genre that emerged recently in certain neo‐Pentecostal churches, known as "corinho de fogo" – here studied in one of the first approaches in the academic literature, if not the first – represents a trend of large spread between the faithful of these churches, and includes issues of racial exclusion and class inequality. As evidence, we present the case of the church led by Pastor Ana Lucia. Located in the city of Belford Roxo (in the Baixada Fluminense, a metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro), in a region of extreme poverty, the church attracts mostly low‐income, predominantly black families. In the services of the pastor, an exuberant black corporeality is placed together with a heavily percussive music that is, along with the dance, very evocative of African‐Brazilian religious rituals. Because of such practices, the pastor, the church members and collaborators, however unwavering, endure violent criticism from members and pastors of other churches. Thus, our results show a specific case of a new trend among the neo‐Pentecostal denominations, which is intensifying the heterogeneity within these denominations, allowing the faithful to question doctrinal foundations in favor of social and cultural struggles they consider urgent. The collective agency of the church members, musicians and pastors constituted the temple of pastor Ana Lucia’s into a social territory produced actively and positively in response and challenge to the exclusion and prejudice, of which music is a fundamental part. From this musical and religious space, this collective symbolically fights for the rights of inclusion and citizenship, and for respect for their beliefs and practices.