As vicissitudes da fama: os dons divinos e os pactos demoníacos entre os tocadores de viola de dez cordas do norte e noroeste mineiro

Abstract

The narratives of demonic pacts are important topics of thesocial life of guitarists from the north and northwest of Minas Gerais. Onthe one hand, they describe step by step the rules for achieving the covenants,pointing out the places, moments and objects best suited for theirexecution. True “recipes”, the reports keep all knowledge relating to contactswith the devil. Moreover, the narratives also highlight the character ofsupposedly factual events. For all purposes, the stories treat cases occurredwith someone in a specific place and at a peculiar time. I aim to observe inthis article how the stories of alleged pacts are articulated to build the publicfigure of a player. My argument is that the reports are events responsible fortriggering a specific field of disputes where the guitarists and their allies facearound reputations.