Black Awareness Day in Brazil
Art to Rescue Our Ancestry
Free, until full capacity is reached
To celebrate Black Awareness Day on 20 November, the figure of Zumbi dos Palmares, a key figure in the fight against slavery in Brazil, will be commemorated on the same date of his murder. The Maloka Association, in collaboration with Museo Situado, will pay homage via a collective concert which, through music, dance and the interventions of anti-racist projects such as the Sindicato de Manteros (the Union of Street Vendors), honours the legacy of the Black and Afro-descendent population in Brazil. The activity also looks to heighten awareness of their invaluable contribution to culture and the difficulties racism creates.
Art and culture have always been present in the daily life of this community as they operate as a form of resistance and a medium to maintain the link with their roots, keeping hope alive in the process, despite life’s adversities. To a large degree, Brazilian musical rhythms draw inspiration from this African root and the concert performed here opens a space to weave community ties between the different cultures that live in Madrid, starting with respect and recognition for Afro-descendent heritage as a positive and integrating pillar of society.
The activity is held within the framework of Anti-racist and Anti-colonial Autumn, an initiative of different anti-racist collectives and organisations from Madrid to honour the memory of Lucrecia Pérez, the first murder in Spain to be officially ruled a hate crime. Numerous collectives and organisations have come together to organise cultural, community knowledge-creating and collective memory activities centred on migrant and racialised people that are reference points in the Spanish State and united under the slogan: “Without anti-racism there is no future and only by uniting can we be heard”.
Participants
Jeane Bonfim is a dancer, percussionist and capoeirista. In Madrid she previously worked as a percussion teacher, forming the group Batucada Feminista da Maloka, who make percussion instruments with recycled material. She currently participates in different Afro-Brazilian dance projects, investigating and interpreting the dance genre to regain ancestry and to recover art forms that have gone unnoticed for many years.
Hilton Cruz is a percussion musician. In 2006, he toured Europe with the companies Rio Samba Show, Brasil Pandeiro, Carnaval Brasil and Batucada Carioca and currently plays as a percussionist in the groups Samba y Algo Más, Só Canto Samba, Pagode da Piscina, Feijão com Samba and Sorriso Sacana.
Batata Galiza is a multi-percussionist with broad professional experience in both Brazil and Spain. He has lived and worked in Spain for over thirty years, with notable performances at different events organised by Madrid City Council and on television programmes. As a percussionist, he has joined a number of international samba groups, and is currently part of the Samba de Terraza circle.
Gil Gomes is a percussionist who has lived in Spain since 2010, participating in Forró du Luiz in Sala Barco and working on different collaborations with artists from the Brazilian scene in Madrid, as well as playing at an array of venues and concert halls. He has collaborated with Spanish artists such as Rosendo, Rodrigo Mercado, Diana Siliberte and Carmen Carmona, and currently plays percussion with the group Litoral Soul, in addition to working with other artists.
Okan Kayma is a musician, percussionist, music producer and educator who works across multiple artistic languages. In 2011, he conducted more in-depth research into the world of popular Brazilian music and explored further his work as an art educator, which culminated in the publication of the book Caderno de Ritmos Brasileiros e Instrumentos de Percussão (2015).
Lycanto is a musician, dancer and composer from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 2006, in New Delhi, he joined the group TONNERRE, gaining renown and popularity in the Afro-Indian community via Headlines Today Television. He currently lives in Spain, where he develops his own world music art project.
Eduardo Marreta is a musician who, in addition to the cavaquinho and guitar, dextrously plays different percussion instruments and performs his own compositions. He has participated in different cultural shows in Spain, including in the Teatro Real, and currently plays with Samba y Algo Más at Café Berlín and is part of different samba projects, as well as playing with Roda de Choro in Madrid.
Muzzangue is a multidisciplinary visual artist, dancer, choreographer and social anthropologist with a postgraduate degree in the Culture and Thought of Black People and Gender Equality. In 2002, he received the “Best of Brazil in Europe” award from High Profile magazine. He has also collaborated with renowned national and international artists.
Nar Ndiaye is a percussionist who plays the djembe, sabar, tama and other African percussion instruments. From his parents, both griots — storytellers in poetic and musical forms — he inherited his way of telling stories and teaching music. A prolific presence in Madrid’s music scene, and in other cities in Spain, he is part of different projects as a dancer and backing or musical percussionist, for instance the Afrojam project.
Wellington Nego Tinho is a singer, composer, guitarist and percussionist. Since his arrival in Madrid, he has played and danced with different ensembles while developing his solo work, which encompasses samba, bossa nova and popular Brazilian music. For many years he has performed on different stages in the Spanish capital, most notably participating in different editions of FITUR, the International Tourism Trade Fair, and with different Spanish television channels during carnival.
Edimundo Santos is a singer, composer and guitarist. In 2014, he was invited by the Teatro Defondo company to be the musical director on the work La ópera del malandro, by Chico Buarque, which was presented for a month-long period at Madrid’s Teatro Fernán Gómez. He also participated at FITUR 2024.
João Silva is a singer, composer and guitarist. His most recent project LitoralSoul, accompanied by Brazilian musicians living in Madrid, reflects the fusion and authenticity of his live performances, including songs he has written. His new project, Brisa Mar, compiles songs from his original repertoire and aims to promote and help to preserve culture and natural resources from his native city.
