Soror Mariana Auditorium, Dom Manuel Palace, and Garcia de Resende Theater host Concerts, a Documentary Film Cycle, Conferences, and Iberian Music Encounter
Conference Cycle includes topics such as the general state of the Alentejo cante or the ongoing apartheid in the international music industry. The Documentary Film Cycle includes, among others, the premiere of a film about a famous Guinean singer who returns home after a long period in exile and the presence of several international directors.
And because listening to each other is the best way to understand who we are and where we are, Imaterial invites us to meet again in Évora. Because this is really a festival that thinks of itself as a meeting place.
From the 1st to the 9th of October, the 2nd edition of Imaterial will take place in Évora, and among the varied cultural offer that is part of the program, the debate will also take place in this edition. The conference cycle includes reflection on topics such as the ongoing apartheid in international music, colonialism, and racism in the mass media and the General State of Cante in 2022, debates that will take place on October 7th and 8th.
With regard to the conference cycle, the Imaterial Festival proclaims it as “a space for exchanging experiences and knowledge about the responsibilities and challenges that depend on traditions and living expressions and by listening to the voices of those who have investigated and worked in closely with these unique and unrepeatable local manifestations we can better understand our role“.
The Estado Geral do Cante in 2022 takes place on October 7 at 6 pm, at Palácio Dom Manuel. It will be in charge of Paulo Lima, Francisco Torrão, and José Guerreiro, unavoidable names to debate a central element of the heritage of the region in which the Inmaterial takes place, the Cante Alentejano. Paulo Lima was the Coordinator of the Identidades Program, a program to safeguard the intangible cultural heritage of the Alentejo. He was part of the Regional Directorate of Culture of Alentejo, was coordinator of Cante Alentejano’s candidacy for the representative list of intangible cultural heritage, and director of Casa do Cante, of the Municipality of Serpa. José Guerreiro is coordinator of the Cante Alentejano Observatory and the Cante Alentejano Documentation Center. Francisco Torrão, now over 70 years old, was born in Serpa, grew up, and became an adult with the Alentejo cante. In Paris, he saw it being consecrated Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
On October 8, at 6 pm at Palácio Dom Manuel, the topic of racism is at the center of the debate. The ongoing apartheid in international music, colonialism, and racism in the mass media is addressed by Ian Brennan, 2011 GRAMMY Best World Music Award-winning producer. He has produced more than forty international albums in the last decade on five continents, including the countries of Rwanda, Tanzania, Sudan South, Cambodia, Romania, Pakistan, Ghana, Comoros, and Djibouti. It also has the participation of Marilena DelliUmuhoza who obtained her master’s degree in International Communication, writing the first thesis in Italy on African cinema in January 2022, Marilena becomes co-founder of the first online Academy focused on anti-racism in Italy, the Academy dell’Antirazzismo.
The programming of the 2nd edition of Imaterial includes, for the first time, a Documentary Film Cycle curated by Lucy Durán, British ethnomusicologist, responsible for the World Routes program on BBC 3. She is currently a music professor at SOAS University (London, United Kingdom), with a special focus on West Africa and Cuba. She is also the author of several documentaries.
The Documentary Film Cycle has already confirmed the premiere of All mighty Mama Djombo (France, Guinea-Bissau), 2022, directed by Sylvain Prudhomme and Philippe Béziat, which will feature the presentation of Lucy Durán. The film, which premiered at Imaterial, tells the story of the charismatic singer-songwriter Malan Mané who has lived in exile in Montreuil, France for 30 years as an anonymous immigrant worker. Having been the star of one of the best and most legendary bands in West Africa, Super Mama Djombo from Guinea Bissau. Malan saw his life change when he received an invitation to return to his homeland and perform live in front of an audience of 100,000 people. The film follows this emotional journey of reuniting with family members and former music colleagues. Back in Europe, inspired by this comeback, Malan enters the studio to record the acoustic album he’s always dreamed of, in an incredible twist of fate. This is the narrative of the film All Mighty Mama Djombo, which premieres in Imaterial, and offers a rare look at Guinea-Bissau’s turbulent history.
The musical programming has already confirmed the presence of a group of musicians who are, each in their own way, interpreters of what it means to take the past as a reference to invent music for today: Parvathy Baul (India), Tarta Relena (Catalunya), Annie Ebrel & Riccardo Del Fra (Brittany), Saz’isso (Albania), Amélia Muge (Portugal), Natch (Cape Verde) and Lia de Itamaracá (Brazil).
Soror Mariana Auditorium, Dom Manuel Palace, and Garcia de Resende Theater are the spaces that will host the programming of Imaterial, developed in order to follow the example of the traditions it celebrates and in order to constitute the Festival as a place of transmission of knowledge and cultures. between different peoples and generations.
The Imaterial Festival has the truth that heritage only exists if there are those who claim it and who reinterpret it, who know how to listen to the past, and learn from it, but do not find in it a prison and a limitation. Activating a heritage means taking it with us and knowing how to listen and then add something. Hearing ourselves is the best way to understand who we are and where we are. That’s what, once again, we want to do together.
Imaterial is a project organized by the Municipality of Évora/DCP, a candidate city for the European Capital of Culture in 2027, in partnership with the Inatel Foundation and with artistic direction by Carlos Seixas.
Always confirm with the concert hall or promoter the conditions of access, confirmation of the date or time, tickets place of sale, price, and availability.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, and TikTok and see the exclusive content for social networks.
