The paulista is an important musico-choreographic peasant genre from the mid Jequitinhonha river (Minas Gerais, south-east of Brazil). Starting with a formal analysis of some of its technical parameters, this article seeks to explore mechanisms through which a musical and literary form can propose a coherent statement and at the same time difficult or restrict its apprehension. This "codification" is done here through processes of formal structuring on one hand, combined to a particular economy of any analytical or not-musical discourse about the musical practice, on the other hand. At last, a short comparison of cases claims to suggest such problem as a paradigm possibly relevant to other peasant contexts in Brazil.
folião; paulista; peasant music of Brazil; musical structuring; semantic content
