The first edition of the Madureira Festival opens today (4) the celebrations of the month of Black Consciousness in Rio de Janeiro. There will be three days of music on the court of the Império Serrano Samba School, at popular prices, worth R$ 10 at the venue and R$ 12.50 for the Sympla.
The festival starts at 7 pm, On Saturday (5) and Sunday (6), the attractions will be from 3 pm. The initiative is from the local cultural agents of Rede Madureira, sponsored by the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Culture Department, the Anita Mantuano Arts Foundation of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Funarj) and the RioGaleão concessionaire. The age rating is free.
The festival is 100% produced by local artists who have joined together in a network and are working to transform Madureira into a tourist circuit in the north, an Afro circuit, he informed Brazil Agency producer Marcos André Carvalho.
“Because tourism is very concentrated in the south and center and Madureira is a black neighborhood, with ethnic tourism, with a lot of potential. But tourism doesn’t get there,” she noted.
He said the goal is to have a festival “from the bottom up, us for us”. All the producers are from the neighborhood and black and the programming is entirely by local artists “to be a visibility platform for these artists as well”.
Program
The program begins today with the rebirth of the Noite da Beleza Negra contest and a tribute to the oldest afro block in Rio, Agbara Dudu, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary.
The Noite da Beleza Negra was born on the court of the Império Serrano samba school and had not happened for over two decades. The contest elects not only the king and queen of black beauty in aesthetic terms, but also in terms of elegance and choreography, among other criteria, stated Marcos André.
There is also a presentation of the Drums of the Escola de Samba da Portela. Closing the night, the public will watch a show by the composer and singer Leci Brandão, born in Madureira, in a great Afro suburban celebration in honor of the drums and black music from Rio de Janeiro.
On Saturday, starting at 3:00 pm, there will be the Crespa Fair, involving black women entrepreneurs who will offer their products to the public at fashion, gastronomy and handicraft stalls. Then there will be the Quintal da Magia samba circle, which has been drawing crowds to the streets of the Carioca suburb with its samba circles with lots of drums and macumba points, bringing together between five thousand and six thousand people per edition. The night promises to be one of emotion, with a tribute to Arlindo Cruz made by his son Arlindinho, at Império Serrano’s headquarters, who, this year, returned to the Special Group, precisely with the plot about master Arlindo.
The program also includes presentations by children from the samba schools of Império Serrano and Portela, which are Império do Futuro and Águias do Amanhã, representatives of the future of samba in Rio.
On Sunday, Feira Crespa will begin at 3 pm, followed by the Roda de Samba do Quintal da Portela, led by members of the old guard of blue and white, which promises to repeat the success that this roda has had on Saturdays at Quadra da Portela. Also awaited is the Roda de Jongo do Morro da Serrinha, with the Companhia de Aruanda, formed by people who practice jongo, considered the father of samba in Rio.
The Companhia de Aruanda became famous for carrying out, for 15 years, its roda every month under the Viaduto de Madureira, forming thousands of new jongueiros.
The festival will be closed by Grupo Awurê, created in 2018 in Madureira, which sings sambas in honor of the orixás and entities of Umbanda and has been successful.
Calendar
A festival pilot was held in May, coinciding with Madureira’s birthday. Marcos André added, however, that the idea is to promote the festival twice a year.
“The idea, really, is to demonstrate this tourist circuit, which brings together a series of tourist attractions, such as the samba schools Portela and Império Serrano, the Mercadão de Madureira, from where the procession of the traditional Yemanjá festival leaves, the Baile Charme do Viaduct. We want Riotur and the city government to include Madureira in the city’s tourist circuit, because there is a lot of interest in ethnic tourism,” said Marcos. He believes that tourism can generate income for the groups that participate in the festival.
