THE ACTIVITY OF WIND BANDS IN DIAMANTINA IN THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE NEWSPAPER PÃO DE SANTO ANTÔNIO

Abstract

This article analyzes how the newspaper Pão de Santo Antônio represented the activities of music bands in the city of Diamantina between the years 1906 and 1933. The study is based on an examination of the newspaper’s digitized editions corresponding to this period. A total of 115 articles referring to musical events were identified, 60 of which specifically mention bands active in the city, constituting the analytical corpus of the study. Through discursive analysis of these reports, the research identifies how the newspaper described, qualified, and attributed meaning to the presence of these ensembles in religious, civic, and community events. Grounded in Eni Orlandi’s Discourse Analysis framework, the study approaches the newspaper not merely as an informational record, but as a historically situated site of meaning production. The analysis focused on the forms of reference to the bands, the evaluative markers employed, the use of generic or individualized mentions, and the ways in which silence or musical absence generate symbolic effects. The article is structured around a historical contextualization of the newspaper and Diamantina’s musical life, a theoretical framework, a methodological description, and a discussion of the findings organized into three analytical axes: the band as a constitutive element of ritual, praise as a mechanism of symbolic legitimation, and the absence of bands as a marker of public life. The study concludes that the newspaper contributed to the discursive consolidation of the bands as central elements of Diamantina’s cultural identity.