This image shows a street scene with musicians playing drums and various woodwind and brass instruments. According to Ewbank, "forty days after Lent, the most popular of Brazilian festivals takes place - that of the Holy Ghost. . . Each [church] has sent out a band of collectors, who for five weeks will canvass and recanvass the city, surburbs, and surrounding country. . . Musicians always attend them, commonly negroes" (p. 251). Thomas Ewbank (1792–1870) was an English writer on practical mechanics. In 1845–1846, he travelled to Brazil and on his return published an account of his travels. He was then appointed United States Commissioner of Patents by President Taylor in 1849.
Untitled Image (Musicians in Brazil)
SI-OB-1051
1846
Untitled Image (Musicians in Brazil)
Thomas Ewbank, Life in Brazil (New York, 1856), p. 251. Copy in Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library.
English
Music, Dance & Recreational Activities
South America--Brazil
Thomas Ewbank, Life in Brazil (New York, 1856), p. 251.
Jerome Handler; Michael Tuite; Henry B. Lovejoy Graduate Research Assistants: Tiffany Beebe; Travis May
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