Exhibition on History of Brazilian Music Opens in Rio Tomorrow

By Beatriz Miranda, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – This Wednesday, August 2nd, SESI cultural center in Centro opens the free exhibit “MUSICA BRASILIS – 5 séculos de música” (Musica Brasilis – 5 centuries of music). Through August 9th the audience can learn about Brazil’s musical history through video-arts, digital installations and miniature instruments.

Curated by Rosana Lanzelotte, “MUSICA BRASILIS” aims to promote the Brazilian musical diversity, from the millenarian songs from the “tupinambás” (a major indigenous group that used to live along Brazil’s coast) to present day funk and samba.

According to Lanzelotte, the project is based on an eight-year research of rescuing the history of Brazilian music. The interactive installations promise to present five centuries of Brazilian music in a very innovative way.

The exhibition first takes the audience to the fifteenth century, with the traditional songs from the tupinambás, indigenous group that lives along Brazil’s coast. The music is reconstituted in an audiovisual installation that was based on French missionary Jean de Léry’s writings, from 1557.

Miniature indigenous instruments can also be found at the exhibit, giving the visitors an idea of how the traditional native music sounded like.

Following, the visitors pass by allegoric cars, aimed at representing 1786’s Carnaval parade, and listen to the African slaves’ music from the eighteenth century, which reconstitution was inspired in French artist Debret’s portraits. Through interactive musical totems, the visitors can listen to the sound of former African instruments.

The expose includes interactive games, both for children and adults. In the composing game, visitors can create their musical compositions from pre-recorded pieces, made by Tim Rescala. What’s more, people will have the opportunity to understand the composing process in a mixing game that customizes the soundtrack’s volume, created by American composer Stephen Malinowski.

At “MUSICA BRASILIS”, the audience will also find the first Brazilian music’s interactive timeline, which will be displayed as an “infinite file”, where one can access information about artists and compositions from every period and genre of Brazil’s musical history.

The exhibition is part of the “VIII Circuito Musica Brasilis”, project created in 2009 by Rosana Lanzelotte that takes twenty scenic-musical concerts to many Brazilian cities.

What: “MUSICA BRASILIS – 5 séculos de música” (Musica Brasilis – 5 centuries of music)
When: August 2nd to August 9th – 10AM to 1PM/ 2PM to 8PM
Where: SESI Centro – Avenida Graça Aranha, 1 – Centro. Tel: (21) 2563-4163/ 2563-4168
Entrance: FREE