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The performance by the Cesária Évora Orchestra on Saturday, 12th, is the highlight of the Paraíso festival, which celebrates African culture over two days in the city of Braga.
Made up of musicians who accompanied the “Barefoot Diva” in live performances and studio recordings at the height of the Cape Verdean singer’s career, including Teófilo Chantre, composer of many of the songs sung by Cesária Évora, the orchestra backs the voices of Elida Almeida, Lucibela and Ceuzany, regarded as among the greatest voices of Cape Verde. The concert, a tribute to the singer who died in 2011 and is considered one of Cabo Verde’s greatest ever symbols, will take place at Theatro Circo at 21:30.
The festival’s theme is “Past and Future in Afro-descendence” and it features music, gastronomy, cinema and debates at various venues around the northern city. In addition to Theatro Circo, Paraíso also takes in the Centésima Página bookshop and the gnration venue (source in Portuguese), where on Friday, 11th, the film “Si Destino” by Vanessa Fernandes will be screened, followed by a debate between the director and academic Ana Cristina Pereira, also known as Kitty Furtado, one of the festival’s curators.
On Saturday, the same venue will host a debate with the authors of the project “Anti-racist Handbook for the Arts and Education”, with contributions from Dori Nigro, Melissa Rodrigues and Raquel Lima, from União Negra das Artes. The presentation of this project, which will soon take shape as a book, forms part of the centenary of the birth of Amílcar Cabral, a central figure in the struggle for the independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cabo Verde.
“At a time when it is important to look at what preceded us in order to be able to project what lies ahead, we propose to debate ways of existing between the heritage we receive and the realities we build collectively”, say the organisers of the event, which forms part of the programme of activities marking the 30th anniversary of the CPLP.