Sonic Supremacy Sound, Space and Charisma in a Favela in Rio de Janeiro

This article discusses the soundscape of a favela in Rio de Janeiro. It argues that sounds, and music in particular, play an important part in the creation and maintenance of boundaries between groups in the dense urban space of the favela. The politics of presence excercised by different groups constitutes the sonic charisma of the favela. Especially in relation to Pentecostal faith, it becomes obvious how the charisma of the city and in the city are related. A focus on the soundscape of the favela highlights the fact that electronic media are woven into the fabric of its social life and are part and parcel of the production of locality. Yet the mass-mediated sounds, employed to mark space and identity also demonstrate that identity is not produced either locally or supra-locally, but rather trans-locally and that electro-acoustic technology is essential to the deterritorialization and reterritorialization of religion.