History of Afoxé in Brazil
Afoxé originated in Bahia, as a legacy of different African peoples who arrived in Brazil as slaves.
The first Afoxé group was created in 1885 in Salvador: the Afoxé Embaixada da África.
The Parade of Afoxés, or "Cortejo de Afoxés," is a characteristic expression of Bahian carnival, with roots linked to Afro-Bahian religions, and is recognized as part of the state's Intangible Cultural Heritage.
In the 1970s, Afoxé was also popular in the state of Pernambuco. There, it emerged as an instrument for fighting and combating racism, as Fabiano Santos, then president of Afoxé Alafin Oyó, explains in a video on the Afoxés of Pernambuco channel.
The word "afoxé," of Yoruba origin, can be translated as "speech that does."
Afoxé has a strong link to the religious expressions of the "terreiros de candomblé" (Afro-Brazilian religious centers). Its characteristics include clothes in the colors of the orixás, songs in the Yoruba language, and percussion instruments.
According to Goli Guerreiro, anthropologist and researcher, afoxés “can be described as ‘street candomblés.’" Almost all the members of afoxés have links to worship. Their musicians are alabês, their dances emulate those of the orixás, their leaders are babalorixás (heads of the terreiro who master the Yoruba language), and the procession ritual obeys the discipline of religious tradition."
Three basic instruments are part of this expression: the afoxé (or xequerês), a kind of gourd covered by a net made of seeds or plastic beads; the atabaques, a type of high, tapered drum; and the agogô, formed by a single or double bell without a clapper, made of metal and struck by a metal or wooden stick.
The original afoxé formation was composed of heralds (announcing musicians), a white guard, king, queen, Babalotin, afoxé standard (usually embroidered with gold thread), honor guard, and charanga (musicians who played atabaques, agogôs, xequerês, and afoxés).
Source: FERNANDES, Fernanda; Afoxé. In. MultiRio; Rio de Janeiro; Acessado em <https://www.multirio.rj.gov.br/index.php/reportagens/17562-afox%C3%A9>. Acessado em 24 de Novembro de 2022.