Daime Música: identidades, transformações e eficácia na música da Doutrina Daime

Abstract

The Daime Doctrine is constantly refered to as being musical, both in the literature and in daimistas (Daime participants) discourses, since its knowledge is sung rather than preached. Daimes music is unveiled through the hymns received from the astral, being inscribed in the language and musicality of the time, place, and social conditions of its receivers. The hymns lyrics are the only written record of the Doctrine, being a guide and orientation for the members of the religion. Its melodies encapsulate a hybridism of amazonian and northeastern sounds that appeared in the Amazon in the first half of the 20th Century. The hymn books that form the religion reveal these typical crossings, which provide this music with an identifying uniqueness. The music has started as a monody, but as it has been updated in each ritual session throughout more than 80 years, its sonorous complex has become denser, being now sung, danced and played (maracás and other musical instruments) in long-lasting rituals. Within the continuous transformations experienced through oral transmission and dissemination, how did the Doctrine create its efficacy and how is it maintained? What do its practioners indicate as being relevant in order to fulfill its ritual-musical-religious function? Among a variety of aspects, these are questions the present study aimed at discussing, based on the voices of older masters, from Acre.