So here I go with my soundscapes of the HOLY WEEK in Santa Teresa in 2007. I didn’t want to spoil my recordings.
It is a sound collage of the street atmosphere. Nothing too serious, but it gives a good impression of the district.
Next week José Tannuri, an artist living in Santa, gives you an overview of the event.
‘Rio 40 graus’ (Rio 40 degrees) sung by Fernanda Abreu, but the compositor is unknown is a reference to the film ‘Rio 40 graus’ (Nelson Pereira dos Santos, 1955) who was the first film to present a proper Brazilian film genre: *Cinema Novo* – analogue to Italian neo-realism like ‘Roma Città aperta’ from Roberto Rossellini.
The film was prohibited for its location ‘favela’ and the title ‘Rio is not so hot’. But the international reputation and the impulse it gave to other South American countries made it nevertheless a successful film and the censorship was neglected.
The song talks about the unequal situation in Rio de Janeiro. Who is the owner of this district, street, house, place??? Rio is hot, a melting pot of the worst and the best of Brazil. But it is mine, because I am carioca!
The last song ‘ deixa eu falar’ (‘Let me talk’ – Raimundos, 2004) is a reference to the *first Bloco de Samba* ‘deixe falar’ (Let them talk, 1928) which was prohibited to parade in the centre. The song (like Carnaval spirit) is about freedom of speech and expression. The message is coming from the street. There is no doubt about that. If I cannot express myself than living is not worth it.
The visual part of the clip are mainly photos I took during the ‘Semana Cultural em Santa Teresa’ (Eastern, 2005 in the district Santa Teresa) and during my visits in various favelas in Rio de Janeiro. The plans are based on data from the city of Rio de Janeiro. The photos between the plans are from the book ‘Rio 40 graus’ where architects, urbanists and sociologists talk about Rio’s urban situation.