BETWEEN SONG AND ENCHANTMENT: THE REPRESENTATION OF MARIA PADILHA IN THE SONG “É TERREIRO,” BY DANIELA MERCURY AND ALCIONE, AND ITS CONNECTIONS WITH AFRO-BRAZILIAN LITERATURE FROM AN ORAL TRADITION PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

This article investigates how the song "É Terreiro" mobilizes the mythical figure of Maria Padilha and reinscribes her symbolic presence within the horizon of Afro-Brazilian literature. Through an analysis that articulates orality, vocal performance, and imaginaries of enchantment, it examines how the song constructs a representation of the sacred feminine, ancestry, and cultural resistance. The study is based on authors such as Martins (1999; 2005), Lopes (1999; 2005), Simas (2018; 2020), Sodré (2017), Evaristo (2011; 2016), and Zumthor (2007), aiming to understand how the figure of Maria Padilha emerges in the song as an identity sign and an element of Afro-diasporic affirmation. The qualitative methodology, based on analytical-interpretative principles, uses discursive and comparative analysis procedures between the musical performance and Afro-Brazilian literary texts. The results indicate that “É Terreiro” operates as a poetic and ritualistic narrative, configuring the space of the song as sacred territory, in which Maria Padilha acts as an entity of protection, power, and ancestral memory. The research concludes that the song reaffirms, through oral tradition, the symbolic strength of the Black feminine and the centrality of Afro-Brazilian cosmologies in the construction of plural identities.