In the the interior of the northeast of Brazil, there is a region known as the sertão. It is very similar in geography to the semi-arid deserts of California. When it rains, it is very fertile. However, there are areas that see little to no rain for 2 or 3 years at a time. Secas (droughts) drive many out. However, countless millions stay as well, learning to live with almost nothing.
The music from this region is diverse, but some of the oldest non-indegenous music comes not from west africa (as in the case with axé or afoxé, or some characteristics of samba) but from the north of africa and the middle east, from the moors and sephardic jews who were the among first settlers in Brazil.
Basic sustenance in the northeast has long involved cattle.
The cattle call is called an aboio (pronounced “ah-BOY-o” (boi means cow)).
The scale is said to be moorish, and can be better understood in terms of its tonal center, its maqam, or “place”, than its defined rhythm. Some maquam that have distinct scales for particular emotions are, for example, “Saba: sadness and pain. Hijaz: distant desert, SÄ«kah: love.”
I do not know what maquam the aboio comes from. We could analyze it, but perhaps much is lost in translation from old world to new, from arabic to portuguese, and over time.
When I asked Sr. Manoel from Natal, who is a marrano jew (a new christian who has come forth to declare his/her jewish heritage), he said he heard a lament, a longing, saudades, in the aboio. He also said he heard hope.
The aboio is still used every day in Brazil.
