Leaving Salvador - Heading to Recife

Hi all! Spending my last hours here at the apartment of some very dear friends that I lived with in 1999-2000 when I was a teacher in this city (Salvador). We spent a couple days up the coast relaxing, swimming in the ocean, hanging around in the hammock, and reading. Now, it´s time to get to my fieldwork location and start working! I did happen to get some good info already from talking with some people. I got a great story from my friend Passos about how his mother had to hide from Lampião and his men when they came into their small town in the dry interior of Sergipe raiding. Lampião is an infamous character that has almost become mythlike in Brazil, becoming somewhat of a Robin Hood figure. In reality he was a bloodthirsty bandit that managed to evade the authorities as he and his troop roamed throughout the Northeast of Brazil in search of towns and farms to loot. There is a dance in Brazil called the xaxado that is a sub-genre of forró which is traditionally danced by men only, although in the present day it is danced by women as well taking the part of Maria Bonita, Lampião´s wife. According to Passos, Lampião came to town one day and put on a feast in which he encouraged everyone to dance. In the middle of the party he shouted out that he wanted the men to pair up and dance together. "Imagine! All of these macho northeastern men being told to dance together! So, one guy is so mad that he can´t contain his anger, even though Lampião is known as a killer. The man shouts out, `You´re damned´. Lampião turns around to see who had the nerve to disobey him and he gves the man a look that says the party might turn bloody. The man, realizing his mistake shouts out, `You´re damned good! You´re damned good!´" There is a well known song by forró master Luiz Gonzaga that plays on this story called "Danado de bom".