“It Gets Better When the People Come to Dance!”

This paper addresses the ways the black social movement has evolved from a discursive and ideological self-presentation to the adoption of expressive forms related to an ancestral past within the city of Campinas, a medium-sized city in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. Music played an essential role in this transition as it had a long inscription in the history of enslaved Africans brought to Brazil and employed a participatory form of production. My purpose in this chapter is to analyze how these participatory musical structures not only create a sense of commitment toward the black community but also promote a resignification of feelings of belonging, redefining the very concept of “black community”.