Living from Music in Salvador: Professional Musicians and the Capital of Afro-Brazil

An ethnography about local working musicians in Brazil’s “most African” city

Living from Music in Salvador examines the labor of musicians in Salvador da Bahia, widely regarded as Brazil’s most African city. Drawing on fieldwork that spans sixteen years, the book explores local musicians’ lives as members of a flexible work force, emphasizing questions of race, social class, and cultural politics in relation to professional music making. From clubs and restaurants to Carnaval parades and festival celebrations, to concert stages and recordings, the abiliy of musicians to earn a living wage is contingent on their navigating industry and societal conditions that are profoundly informed by the entrenched legacies of colonization and slavery.