About the author: Kazadi wa Mukuna is Professor of ethnomusicology and Coordinator of Graduate Studies at the Hugh A. Glauser School of Music at Kent State University, Ohio. He received his PhD in Ethnomusicology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Doctoral degree in Sociology from the University of São Paulo in Brazil. He is best known from his numerous publications on the traditional music of Africa on the continent and its influence in the musics of the Americas.
2003 0-7734-6690-8 This interdisciplinary study sheds light on the communal creative process of music and discusses the process of music change in Bumba-meu-Boi, and provides an example of exo-semantic analysis in the quest for the truth of this folk drama. It argues that Bumba-meu-Boi, sheds light on 18th century Brazil, and reveals existing levels of interaction between classes (master-slave, oppressor-oppressed) on sugar can plantations and mills. A sociologist perspective demonstrates that the structure of the Bumba-meu-Boi reflects a similar network of relations as they exist in communities where it is performed. The study contains a glossary, comprehensive bibliography, and a reproduction of the entire play.