Page 65 - Aesthetic Formations Media, religion, and the Sense

50 Mattijs van de Port

incorporate their orixás. Yet for all the obvious differences, the rehearsal
produced a genuine effervescence that filled the studio to the brim, tran-
scending the mere rehearsal, producing a spectacle that was as powerful as
a religious ceremony of Candomblé.
Dancers told me they would sometimes feel the coming of their orixás
during rehearsals, and recalled instances of possession. Yet when I asked
Zebrinha about it he flatly denied it, saying “Orixá é burro? [The orixá is a
jack-ass?] Would not know the difference between a rehearsal and a cere-
mony? Come on!” For me, however, it was clear that both public ceremo-
nies of Candomblé and the Balé work with the same stuff, the same
enchantment, for which in Candomblé terminology there is a word: axé,
the vital, life-giving force that puts the universe in motion and makes pos-
sible growth, progress, and prosperity. In fact, in an interview, this is
exactly how Vava, the artistic director of the Balé Folclórico da Bahia, put
it: “o mistério do Candomblé é o encanto do axé.” The mystery of Candomblé
is the magic of axé. Given the prevalent boundary politics in Candomblé,
the conceptualization of axé as a force that does its work both in and out
of religious settings cannot but raise grave concerns. For it is here that the
simulacrum has appropriated the “ineffable” and “noetic” qualities of rit-
ual and ceremonial practices, the very stuff through which the Candomblé
community had sought to ward off its unsettling effects.

Concluding Remarks

I have argued that the public forms of Candomblé—the reworking of its
symbols, myths, rhythms, and aesthetics in other than religious frames—
have given a new impetus to the performance of secrecy. Creating zones of
silence and obscurity, highlighting the “ineffable” and “noetic” qualities of
mystical knowledge, and thus framing the talking and writing of others as
“empty chatter” are ever so many attempts to discredit new interpretations
of Candomblé and immunize Afro-Brazilian religion for the work of the
simulacrum.

In conclusion, however, it is necessary to widen our lens and position
these findings in a broader picture. For Candomblé’s struggles should not
be understood as a heroic fight to “ward off” the evil monster of the simu-
lacrum. However much cult adepts themselves may wish to portray it that
way, one cannot fail to notice that there is no such thing as a Candomblé
that is situated outside of the simulacrum. There is no community that is
still “untouched,” and that seeks to maintain its purity and authenticity by
keeping the forces of the simulacrum out. To the contrary, following