The Oswaldo Cruz neighborhood is a symbolic place for Rio samba. Land of Portela and the icon Candeia, the region in the north of Rio will be part of a new tourist route in the city of Rio de Janeiro, which seeks, among its objectives, to attract foreign visitors.
The Caminho do Samba will be launched this Monday (2), National Samba Day, by Embratur, the Brazilian agency for international tourism promotion, and by the city hall of the capital of Rio de Janeiro.
The route highlights ten places connected to the history of this cultural expression in Rio located in the neighborhood, including the Portela court, the Oswaldo Cruz train station and the Yabás fair (which brings together typical foods and samba circles on the second Sunday of each month). ), in addition to the houses of Candeia, Tia Doca and Dona Ester.
“Almost all of our goods are symbolic, they are immaterial. There is no castle here. And this Samba Route is cool because people will visit and learn about history, a story that is not told. It demarcates certain places that are as important, as Oswaldo Cruz is, for the history of Brazilian music”, says singer and composer Marquinhos de Oswaldo Cruz, curator of Rota do Samba.
According to Embratur, the objective is to promote this Brazilian cultural heritage and attract more foreign tourists to the country, thus promoting the local economy.
“We trained guides and tourism students, who were trained to represent the routes and afrotourism, reinforcing the cultural and economic role of samba and promoting the local economy”, stated the president of Embratur, Marcelo Freixo.
According to him, interactive maps, audio guides and self-guided bilingual itineraries were developed, in addition to augmented reality applications. “And we will have free guided tours for foreigners, allowing authentic experiences along the samba routes, supported by audio guides and historical narratives accessible via QR codes”, explained Freixo.
Information boards with QR Codes from the Aqui tem História Project along with the River of Memories will make this curated content accessible and permanent along the routes, with QRcodes being made available to access the texts and stories of each historical point.
“The route is incredible and goes to places where very few people know the story, like Bar do Nozinho, where no one imagines that Walt Disney had a beer with Paulo da Portela and took inspiration from there to create the character Zé Carioca”, he said. Marcelo Freixo.
