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Cinema-concert
In Pernambuco-Brazil there are more than 100 rural maracatu groups, most of them concentrated in the interior, in the Mata Norte region, like Maracatu Estrela de Tracunhaém. On the O Meu Balão Vai Voar – Portugal tour, the group will perform with its percussive suit, accompanied by the greatest maracatu poet of our time, Mestre Barachinha, who took part in the group Fuloresta do Samba, along with Siba.
What can poetry from the interior of Pernambuco do for the future of the Portuguese language?
O Meu Balão Vai Voar is the name under which the improvised words of Pernambuco will travel, in the poetic lightness of a balloon, to Portugal. Mestre Barachinha, one of the greats, will proclaim his verve in Portugal, displaying a cultural legacy that enriches the Portuguese language with every verse. He will be joined by the musicians of the Terno Percussivo do Maracatu Estrela de Tracunhaém, made up of bombo, tarol, mineiro, gonguê and cuíca, who complete the proposal to spread the maracatu de baque solto, or rural maracatu, a Brazilian cultural heritage, alive and well in the Zona da Mata, in the interior of Pernambuco.
My Meu Balão Vai Voar tells of a dystopian future in which poetry is banned and poets persecuted. The glosadores gather in a secret refuge to devise a plan to spread poetry: launch thousands of balloons with poetry chips. The great meeting of the rebels takes place in the middle of a cane field, with the help of hundreds of maracatuzeiros.
The proposal for 10 July will be challenging. The film to be shown will be O Meu Balão Vai Voar – not by chance the same name as the project – directed by Chia Beloto and Rui Mendonça and starring Mestre Barachinha. He himself will be singing live, along with the musicians of Maracatu Estrela de Tracunhaém, during the screening of the film. It will also be an opportunity to promote a film from Pernambuco, recognised at various film festivals and exhibitions, in an innovative format, and to allow the public to see images of what maracatu is like in its place of origin.
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