"Which is the difference between charme and funk?" Afro-diasporic musicalities in the suburban bailes of Rio de Janeiro in the 1980s

Abstract

From the mid-1980s onwards, the funk bailes emerged as one of the Afro-diasporic spaces for construction, re-existence, and identity belonging for a predominantly black suburban youth belonging to the most marginalized classes in Rio de Janeiro. Released by MCs Markinhos and Dollores in 1994, on the album Clube do balanço: o encontro do momento, the phonogram Rap da diferença proposed the following question: "what is the difference between charme and funk?". From this, the artists themselves listed a series of characteristics in dress and behavior that supposedly differentiated the funkeiros - those who frequent the funk bailes - from the charmeiros - those who frequent the charme bailes. In this article, in order to contribute to the discussion proposed by the aforementioned artists, we analyze the process initiated in the mid-1980s through which the musical segmentation of phonomechanic bailes originated specific events, such as funk baile and charme baile. Based on: a) semi-structured interviews with disc jockeys, DJs and MCs from suburban dances such as Paulinho Black Power, DJ Nazz, and MC Mano Teko, b) exploratory research in phonographic albums from the mid-1980s, and c) the use of the concept of Afro-diasporic musicality (Moutinho, 2020; Donato, 2021), we explore the historical and sociological conditions that allowed for the emergence of differences between the Afro-diasporic musicalities known as charme and funk. This differentiation was characterized by the process of enunciation of these musicalities within their own communities, in a practice directly observable in the multiplicity of artistic, aesthetic and tensioning experiences developed by black diaspora individuals.