Estácio's Paradigm (or paradox)? questions about ethnocentrism and the limits of musicography on the samba timeline

Abstract

In this article we address the construction of the “Estácio paradigm”, referring to the guiding timeline of samba, carried out by Carlos Sandroni (, 2012), based on seventeen melodies recorded by Francisco Alves in the late 1920s and early 30s. As we seek to sustain, the paradigm described by Sandroni has some very debatable points – despite its great importance in relation to the subject of the guiding line of samba – from the sample used, from the Western writing for the notation of the different timelines, as well as by the linear evolutionary approach in establishing the constituent stages of what the author named “Estácio's paradigm”. In this case, we bring to the discussion a small sample, little contemplated by the phonographic industry, but particularly significant of partido-alto sambas, whose practice is associated with samba circles in informal environments and in the schools themselves. We believe that, although small, this addition to the repertoire values ​​the samba circles as a space for the maintenance and eventual transformation of sound aspects that permeate the genre. The article is divided into three parts: in the first we expose the rhythmic cycle (or timeline) from authors who noted it in field research; in the second we seek to problematize possible consequences of the graphic characterization of the rhythmic cycle of urban samba and, finally, in the third and largest part, we question the “Estácio paradigm”.