As you can see from the last post, I'm trying to dedicate some blog time to my Portuguese-speaking friends (should any of them actually read my blog). That being said, I want to dedicate this post to Madureira. If you've been keeping up, Madureira is not only a cradle of samba heritage, but home to several legendary samba schools and numerous sambistas.
So let's start with the song "Star of Madureira" by the late Roberto Ribeiro, of the Império Serrano Samba School, singing to his neighborhood. This is a beautiful song that is still heard at almost every roda de samba I've been to.
"Estrela de Madureira" (Cardoso/Acyr Pimentel) from the 1975 album Molejo.
Today and tomorrow there's a conference being held there celebrating the nomination of samba as the cultural patrimony of Brazil. The event was incredibly well planned by Nilcemar Nogueira, granddaughter of none other than Mestre Cartola, bringing together illustrious musicians with academics and cultural ministers sitting side by side and debating. It's quite refreshing to see, not only an entire conference dedicated to samba, but also musicians and researchers being privileged over journalists (I have issues with journalists). What I mean is that, in Rio, journalists seem to have the monopoly on these kinds of events, which is terribly frustrating. Also, conferences in general (not just here), tend to have a bunch of navel-gazing academics. At the conference legends like Nei Lopes, Tantinho and Monarco presented (or will present tomorrow), and in attendance so far were the Velha Guarda do Salgueiro and Zeca da Cuíca (who recorded in the 1970s alongside Doutor on some of João Bosco's samba recordings).
At the end of the conference, I was blown away to see the incredible young talent coming out of this amazing neighborhood. This is the next generation of sambistas and tradition-bearers of Brazil's Cultural Patrimony. Check out these AMAZING DANCERS! It brought tears to my eyes watching these kids putting all their heart and soul into this presentation. Salve Madureira!
Thursday, April 3, 2008
The future stars of Madureira
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2 comments:
It's so good to know that a foreigner write about our culture and thinks it beautiful. Just because there are so much people that simply don't care about. It's coincidence 'cause my father was Roberto Ribeiro manager's.
Very good!
oi Vivi,
Eu sou filho de brasileiros! Mas concordo que o brasileiro não dá valor ao que é seu. Eu conheci o Alex Ribeiro, também tem fotografias dele no site.
Pena que os links de música não estão funcionando no site e não tive tempo de arrumar.
Por acaso você ou seu pai tem fotos antigas daquela época? Se puder compartilhar, seria muito bacana e ajudaria muito no meu trabalho. Talvez poderia até publicar alguma coisa.
abraço
Beto
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