HORÁCIO JOSÉ RODRIGUES MUNICIPAL SCHOOL (TOCANTINS)
Location: Horácio José Rodrigues Municipal School / Barra da Aroeira Quilombo (Tocantins)
Community involved: 50 children aged 10 to 13
LAS correspondent: Diego Brito
Workshop 1
The instrument Buriti viola: quilombola construction and experience
18/06 and 19/06
Workshop facilitators: Laurindo Ribeiro (master instrument maker and viola player), Salviana Rodrigues (master of guianças, stories, and the collection of natural materials), Projeto Vereda – Instrumentos e Música [Vereda Project – Instruments and Music]
Photos: Emerson Silva
In dialogue with the Waters Cycle, the workshop recognizes the Buriti vereda (wetland ecosystem of the Brazilian Cerrado with the buriti palm) as a space of knowledge, where nature, culture, and water intertwine. The buriti palm (Mauritia flexuosa), characteristic of these wetlands, grows and thrives where water emerges and remains, acting as an indicator of springs and a guardian of the Cerrado’s wet territories. Its presence reveals the paths of water, sustains life around it, and at the same time is deeply integrated into the daily lives of communities, providing materials for food, shelter, art, and instruments.
The educational experience begins with the children’s reconnection with the vereda, a territory that, although fundamental to the community’s history and way of life, is today partially distanced from their everyday experience. In this context, the construction of the buriti viola, together with songs, stories, and traditional dances such as the sussa, becomes a learning device that brings together ecology, culture, and memory. By working with the buriti, children engage not only with a material, but with a living system that connects water, territory, and ancestry.