Art, performance, and technology join the workshops, films, lectures, and concerts that have never been seen before in Portugal, to which world premieres are added.
The oldest part of the city will be highlighted with more than 50 activities carried out in the Historic Center, classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO
Unprecedented recital to celebrate the bicentennial of Brazil’s independence
After a break forced by the pandemic, MIMO FESTIVAL is back, with more vigor than ever, in a spectacular premiere edition in the city of Porto.
In the three days of the festival – completely free of charge -, from September 23 to 25, MIMO ends the summer at Invicta with more than 20 concerts, 11 DJ Sets, 8 workshops, workshops and residencies in the Educational Program, in addition to various art activities, performance, and technology dedicated to the Amazon; without forgetting the mythical Rain of Poetry, which this year takes place at the emblematic Livraria Lello.
Sites in the Historic Center of Porto, classified as World Heritage by UNESCO, such as Largo Amor de Perdição, Jardim da Cordoaria, Rectory of the University of Porto, Museum of Natural History and Science of the University of Porto, Jardim das Virtudes, Palácio de Cristal and the Churches of Carmo, of the Discalced Carmelites, of São José das Taipas, of Nossa Senhora da Vitória and of São Bento da Vitória, are part of the multi-geographical soundscape that MIMO will promote.
With free access, MIMO is an inclusive festival that privileges ease of access and diversity. With the premise of making known what is best in music today, in Portugal and in the world, between established names and new talents, MIMO provides a unique experience and contact with representatives of different musical genres and cultures.
MIMO Porto has the support of the Porto City Council. The Millennium BCP Foundation is the exclusive patron of the Educational Program and the Church concerts. The festival also has a partnership between the University of Porto and the Museum of Natural History and Science of the University of Porto.
For Rui Moreira, Mayor of Porto, “this is a remarkable event in the cultural life of the city. The MIMO program, which its programmer and her team have accustomed us to, fills us with enthusiasm because we know that those who live in Porto and those who visit us will have a unique range of choices and a set of artistic and cultural proposals from those that we rarely find with these levels of very high quality and, on top of that, fully accessible to everyone since all shows and all pedagogical initiatives are open access.”
MIMO PORTO HIGHLIGHTS
And there are many novelties that come together in this debut in Porto. Among the artists who will heat up the streets of Porto are the Brazilians Emicida – winner of the Latin Grammy for “Best Rock Album or Alternative Music in the Portuguese Language” -, the most important name in Brazilian hip hop today. The artist will make the first presentation of the award-winning album “AmarElo” in Portugal, at MIMO Porto. Journalist, poet, composer, and interpreter Chico César will show why, for 31 years, he has been consolidating one of the deepest and most solid careers in Brazilian Popular Music. He launches at MIMO Porto the 10th album of his career: “Vestido de amor”.
French-Nigerian singer-songwriter superstar Asa (Asha), who cultivated her musical roots in Motown hits and Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat, comes to MIMO Porto exclusively to present the album “V” – dedicated to Nigerian afrobeat – which featured features rapper Wizkid, duo The Cavemen and Ghanaian Amaarae.
Congolese multi-instrumentalist Ray Lema, recognized as one of the most innovative and creative artists on the African and world music scene, will present his ethereal ensemble of classical music, jazz and traditional sub-Saharan rhythms, in a tribute to Franco Luambo – the father of Congolese rumba, declared Intangible Heritage of Humanity by Unesco, in 2021.
The legendary English director and DJ, Don Letts, shows on the main stage of MIMO Porto, a set dedicated to his explosive musical combination, in addition to showing some of his films and giving a talk about his work. Letts gained notoriety in the late 1970s when, as a DJ in London nightlife, he transformed an entire generation and brought punk to reggae.
From Algeria and Tunisia, DuOuD, which, as the name suggests, is a duo of oud, the Arabic lute, formed by two of its most innovative musicians. It is made up of the Tunisian Jean-Pierre Smadja, also known as Smadj, and the Algerian Medhi Haddab, distinguished leader of Speed Caravan.
Mário Lúcio – with Mário Lúcio & Os Kriols – is the biggest name in music and the arts of Cape Verde, accompanied here by the Kriols, his group formed by five Portuguese musicians who explore the Creole sound, the mixture, the synthesis. Mário Lúcio is the most recorded composer in the history of his country and is also an award-winning novelist, poet, playwright, and philosopher. He was Minister of Culture for five years. At MIMO Porto he will make the European pre-release of his latest album, “Migrants”.
From Ukraine comes classical pianist Valentina Lisitsa, who calls herself “the queen of Rachmaninoff”. With over half a million followers on her channel and 200 million views on YouTube, she is one of the most popular classical performers on the internet.
From India, Nishat Khan arrives in Porto, a virtuoso sitar player and one of the leading names in the instrument today. Coming from an illustrious family of seven generations of professional classical sitar musicians, he has collaborated with John McLaughlin, Philip Glass, Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, and Jeff Beck, and artist-sculptor Anish Kapoor. At MIMO Porto, Nishat will give a concert of Indian classical music, better known as Raga.
From Portugal, the producer and DJ Branko reinforce the festival, a unique name in digital activation throughout the pandemic, and has been moving the scene again in live performances. Pedro Burmester & Quarteto de Cordas de Matosinhos presents a program dedicated to Robert Schumann and Antonín Dvořák. Guimarães guitarist Manuel de Oliveira brings his music with an Iberian soul and Maria João & Mario Laginha share with the public, beyond jazz, an inexplicable complicity.
But MIMO PORTO has more to offer. Closing the exhibition “Women who make noise – Portuguese Rock Scenes I”, promoted by Casa Comum, of the Rectory of the University of Porto, is a concert that promises to revive the golden chapters of the history of Portuguese rock written in the female genre. On stage Ana Deus, Lena D’água, Anabela Duarte, Sandra Baptista, Mitó Mendes, Carolina Brandão and Marta Abreu.
Still from Brazil arrives Orquestra Voadora, which is synonymous with joy and celebration. Those who don’t know Carnival in Rio may be surprised, but the fact is that Voadora gathers more than 100,000 revelers who follow it along one of the main avenues of the city during Carnival. Their music is based on a bombastic mix of rhythms such as rock, funk, pop, and jazz with the traditional frevo, samba, and maracatu. At MIMO Porto, the collective puts on a concert/procession and a Carnival ball, where the public will be able to taste, after all, the fusion of samba, frevo, maracatu, afrobeat, Tarantino film soundtracks and understand what the Orchestra has.
For jazz lovers, imagine closing your eyes and listening to the elegant and precise notes of Miles Davis’ music echoing through Porto. This is what Gileno Santana, trumpeter, arranger, teacher and Portuguese-Brazilian composer, promises when performing Miles’ masterpiece, “Kind of Blue” live and in full, with a super band of musicians residing in Porto, who play the accompaniments by Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly, John Coltrane, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb.
From Brazilian classical music comes the soprano Chiara Santoro, who accompanied Ennio Morricone and Andrea Bocelli on international tours and won several European competitions. She will be accompanied by the Italian pianist Fabio Centanni, trained at the prestigious Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome and a sought-after name on the international lyrical circuit. Together they present a recital that will celebrate the Bicentennial of the Independence of Brazil.
Also for the first time in Portugal, a promise of international classical music, the Brazilian Plínio Fernandes. He has been touted as one of the greatest revelations of contemporary classical guitar. At the age of 16, he was accepted by the Royal Academy of Music in London, and today, at 28, he releases his first album on Decca Records (USA), “Saudade”, in which he discusses his musical loves and shows duets with the singer. Brazilian Maria Rita and the brothers Braimah and Sheku Kanneh-Mason.
Another novelty that MIMO PORTO also brings exclusively to Portugal is the rapper and actress KT Gorique. Born in Ivory Coast, at age 21, she was “World Champion” in the “End of the Weak” battle in New York and was also the first and youngest woman to obtain this title in EOW history. Because of his wide range of talents, KT Gorique received the nickname “Couteau-Suisse” (Swiss Army Knife) and promises to raise the temperature of the Porto public with his music that goes from hip hop to dancehall and reggae.
THE POWER OF THE SOUND SYSTEM ON THE STREETS OF PORTO
The novelties continue in the 2022 edition. One of them is the implementation in the programming of a space dedicated to the Sound System culture. Set up in Jardim das Virtudes, the space receives big names linked to the sound system scene, especially Channel One, one of the best-known and most loved reggae sound systems in the United Kingdom. Mikey Dread – Channel One – and his brother Jah T., started playing at the Notting Hill Carnival in 1983 and never stopped.
Another strong representative, the Brother Culture Sound System, has been present in the British dub roots scene for 30 years. After conquering the United Kingdom, from the London Dub Club, Brother Culture conquered Europe and will be present at the MIMO Festival playing framed by the panoramic view of Virtues.
Proving that this culture has spread around the world, from Brazil will come the Ministereo Público Sound System, created in Salvador, in 2005. The collective has shared the stage with artists such as Manu Chao, Martin Campbell, Natiruts and The Congos, Max Romeo, and Alpha Blondy.
AMAZON COMMON HOUSE
In partnership with the University of Porto and the Museum of Natural History and Science of the University of Porto, the festival presents a series of activities dedicated to the Brazilian Amazon, through the eyes of multidisciplinary artists born in the region, of different ethnicities, with the world’s largest rainforest in the background.
Casa Comum Amazónia brings together lectures, visual arts exhibitions, and performances by artists such as Uýra Sodoma, Bqueer, who translate, from their artistic languages and their worldviews, the idea of Planet Earth as the common home of all living beings, using art and technology as means, deconstructing hegemonic western narratives.
Inspired by the words of indigenous leader Ailton Krenak, Casa Comum is an artistic research project that speaks to us from the cosmovision of indigenous peoples, appealing to all Humanity to treat the terrestrial globe as the common home of all living beings. It was created for the digital environment, has the Brazilian Renato Rocha as its artistic director, and was developed from a close collaboration between digital artists from Brazil and the United Kingdom – such as the London creative studio SDNA – and 10 multidisciplinary artists from the Amazon. Each one brought proposals related to the idea, and the Amazon Forest served as a base for everyone to meet in an immersive residence and get to know each other in person.
Between the Sateré Mawé Indigenous Community and Vila Waikiru, on the banks of the Rio Negro, and later isolated in the forest in the Tupana Mehua village, artists Alcimar Vieira Reis, André Sateré Mawé, Elizete Tikuna, Emerson Uýra, Jaqueline Santos, Jayne Kira, Rafa Militão, Rafael Bqueer, Roberta Carvalho, Wellington Dias, inspired by their surroundings, performed in the environment of the largest tropical forest in the world. Films and recordings of the artists’ performances were edited by SDNA, UK.
The unfolding of this multicultural and multimedia project, unprecedented in Portugal, is what will be presented within the MIMO Festival program, in various spaces of the University of Porto, such as the Biodiversity Gallery, the Natural History and Science Museum, and the Rectory.
PORT & MIMO
The second largest urban center in the country, Porto is a cosmopolitan, hospitable, and lively city, and a must for anyone looking for cultural diversity, architectural and scenic richness, and good food and wines.
Over the course of three days, the city of Porto transforms to host this festival for the first year, which, with its extensive and diverse program, brings together all the ingredients to be a memorable edition.
It is, therefore, the perfect place to host this year’s edition of the MIMO Festival. “Places of memory are points of dialogue and harmony, where we promote reunions of reconciliation and tolerance” – defines Lu Araújo, founder and director of MIMO, which, since the first edition, has conceived a free, democratic, diverse, multi-genre festival. , egalitarian and multi-territorial. Lu Araújo, in addition to being responsible for the curatorship and artistic direction of MIMO Porto, guarantees the production through the company Memories and Heritage Artes, with the support of the Porto City Council.
Reinforcing its original matrix, MIMO Porto dedicates special attention to accessibility and the elimination of barriers (so that everyone can easily and freely access the different artistic and cultural proposals), the environment, and sustainability.
MIMO PORTO also has a special food area, designed and built with the city, its residents, and visitors in mind, offering healthy options to suit different types of diets. It will be installed at Alameda dos Plátanos, in Jardim da Cordoaria.
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.
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