Music

Barravento: Bahia in the 1960s

Barravento (commonly translated as The Turning Wind), was filmed in 1962, but was not shown in the United States until 1987, when it premiered at the Public Theater in New York City. It was the first feature film made by the highly regarded Brazilian director Glauber Rocha, who died in 1981 at the age of 42. 

Barravento is an exceptionally beautiful work, shot in dramatically filtered, black-and-white photography. The film tells the story of Firmino -- part revolutionary, part devil -- who struggles to free the fishermen in his village from capitalist exploitation and the religious superstition that prevents social change. (Read more about the film in this 1987 article in the New York Times). 

While fictional in script and production, the film offers viewers a glimpse of traditional cultural traditions from Bahia, including traditional samba music (13:18), samba de roda (13:29), capoeira (17:06), puxada de rede (5:30), and scenes from a Candomblé ceremony (20:53), along with an overall glimpse into life on the coast of Bahia in the early 1960s. 

For those folks who speak Portuguese or Spanish, the film is available in its entirety on YouTube in Portuguese with Spanish subtitles. For English-only speakers, the scenes marked above are a good way to see a bit of dance, capoeira and Candomblé ceremony.