It is a typical dance from the beaches and started appearing on the northern coastline of Pernambuco. One of the most famous ‘cirandeiras’ (ciranda singers) is Lia de Itamaracá. It also appeared simultaneously in inland areas of the Forest Zone in the north of the State. It is extremely common in Brazil to define ciranda as a children’s circle game, however in the Northeast Brazil region, and especially in Pernambuco, it is known as an adult circle dance. Participants can be from various age groups and there are no impediments to the participation of children either.
There are various interpretations of the origin of the word ciranda, but according to Father Jaime Diniz, one of the pioneers of the study of the subject, it comes from the Spanish word zaranda, which is a tool to sift flour and evolved from the Arabian word çarand.
Ciranda, like coco in Pernambuco, was mostly danced on street corners and on the properties of rural workers, spreading later to squares, avenues, streets, residences, social clubs, bars and restaurants. In some places it became a tourist product.
It is a community dance that has no prejudices against the sex, colour, social or economic status of participants, just like it has no limit to the number of people who can participate. It begins with a small circle that grows, due to the arrival of people coming to dance, opening the circle and holding the hands of those already dancing. For both joining in and dropping out, there is no specific time, and people do so without problem. When the circle reaches a size that makes it hard to move, a smaller circle is formed on the inside of the larger circle.
The participants are called ‘cirandeiros’ (males) and ‘cirandeiras’ (females), having also the master, the counter-master and the musicians, who stay in the middle of the circle. Around the centre of the circle, the dancers hold hands and move their bodies in a counter-clockwise direction. The choreography is very simple: to the beat of the music, take four steps to the right, beginning with the left foot, at the strong beat of the bass drum, swinging your shoulders lightly in the direction of the circle. There are dancers who accompany this movement by raising and lowering their held hands. The ‘bombo’ or ‘zabumba’ (types of drums), ‘mineiro’ or ‘ganzá’, ‘maracá’, ‘caracaxá’ (types of rattle) and ‘caixa’ or ‘tarol’ (types of drums) form the most common instrumental conjunction of a traditional ciranda, although the ‘cuíca’, ‘pandeiro’ (tambourine), ‘sanfona’ (accordion) or a type of wind instrument can be used.
The master ciranda dancer is the most important part of ciranda, as it falls to him to “take the tunes” (cirandas), improvise verses, play the ‘ganzá’ and preside over the fun. He uses a whistle around his neck to help in his functions. The counter-master can play the ‘bombo’ or the ‘caixa’ and replaces the master when required. The music can be played by heart, improvised or even be commercial songs from the public domain transformed into a ciranda rhythm. The three most well-known dance steps of ciranda dancers must be mentioned: the onda (wave), the sacudidinho (little shake) and the machucadinho (little hurt). Some dancers create steps and body movements, but always obey the timing imposed on them by the ‘bombo’. It has no specific costume. Participants can use any type of clothes and ciranda is danced throughout the year.
From the 1970s cirandas began to be danced in Recife touristic points, like Pátio de São Pedro and Casa da Cultura, modifying the dance slightly to make it more of a spectacle. The master, counter-master and musicians came out of the centre of the circle to make better use of the microphones and sound systems, also creating a time limit for the fun. Composers from Pernambuco like Chico Science and Lenine enriched their repertoires, using ciranda in their works.
One of the most famous cirandas is by Antônio Baracho da Silva:
Estava (I was)
Na beira da praia (By the beach)
Ouvindo as pancadas (Listening to the crashing)
Das águas do mar (Of the seawater)
Esta ciranda (This ciranda)
Quem me deu foi Lia (Who gave it to me was Lia)
Que mora na ilha (Who lives on the Island)
De Itamaracá (of Itamaracá)
Recife, 12 November 2004.
(Updated on 25 August 2009).
Translated by Peter Leamy, February 2011.
Ilustration by Rosinha.
sources consulted
BRINCANTES. Recife: PCR, Fundação de Cultura Cidade do Recife, 2000. p. 108-112.
LIMA, Claudia. História junina. Recife: PCR, Secretaria de Turismo, 1997. p. 18. Edição Especial.
PELLEGRINI FILHO, Américo. Danças folclóricas. São Paulo: Universidade Mackenzie, 1980. p. 47-51.
RABELLO, Evandro. Ciranda. In: SOUTO MAIOR, Mário; VALENTE, Waldemar (Org.). Antologia pernambucana de folclore 1. Recife: Fundaj, Ed. Massangana, 1988. p. 55-61.
how to quote this text
Source: GASPAR, Lúcia. Chacrinha (Abelardo Barbosa). Pesquisa Escolar On-Line, Joaquim Nabuco Foundation, Recife. Available at: <http://basilio.fundaj.gov.br/pesquisaescolar/>. Accessed: day month year. Exemple: 6 Aug. 2009.