“I’m Dancing Samba on Everyone’s Side”:

Interviews with Ivan Diego Feijó da Silva [Mestre Batata]

Abstract

‘Mestre Batata’ is recognized, by his drum buddies and apprentices, as the best expression of the way of commanding, in artistic and organizational terms, percussive bodies in the city of Caxias do Sul and in the tourist region of Serra Gaúcha [Northeast region of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil]. This interview compiles a series of conversations with Ivan Diego Feijó da Silva [Mestre Batata], industry worker at Caxias do Sul and drum master Samba’s School, carried out for the documentary ‘De que lado que tu samba? O rufar do Mestre Batata’, of which I was a proponent, researcher, director and screenwriter. The documentary work relied on resources from Law No. 14,017/2020, the Aldir Blanc Law, in the Memory and Cultural Heritage area’s, of the notice Creation and Formation - Diversity of Cultures [Fundação Marcopolo and Sedac-RS] in the year 2021, in state of Rio Grande do Sul [Brazil]. Through the protagonist, the documentary sought to reveal nuances of local samba, the black presence in public space, in collective memory and in the respective associative organizations.