The interesting thing of be a Local Guide is that you don’t need to know that you are one to start doing what they do.
That is the story of the local guide who didn’t knew he was one, but has the will to seek the experiences just like this whole community have.
As an amateur photographer I’ve been always looking to portray my city, São Paulo, and its diversity.
November 20, 2019, Black Awareness Day in Brazil. I started to look on Maps in search of a place that could be aligned with my expectations, a place that breathes culture and that would be doing an event to celebrate the day. Then I found it!
The Latin America Memorial (Memorial da América Latina) is a huge complex that was created for cultural and political purposes with a large open space for events. In this place at that day happened the “A Gesture of Freedom” (Um Gesto de Liberdade), a tribute to Capoeira, one of the greatest legacies of the black people of Brazil.
Below you can see some of the photographs taken that day with a brief caption telling a little more about Capoeira’s legacy.
Capoeira, a 16th century Brazilian cultural heritage created by slaves brought from Africa, lives in Brazil and in the ancestral spirit of Latin America.
The Capoeira Round has its three origins: Angola - The oldest and most similar to a fight, from the time of slavery; Capoeira Regional - The most musical, fast and dance-like; Capoeira Contêmporanea - Most practiced today, unites both previous styles.
The berimbau was the third musical element introduced in the Capoeira round, before only drums and clapping (hands) were used. The sound was made to trick the slaveholders into thinking that it was just a dance.
A dance, a sport, the culture of a country, a fight that became an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in November 2014 by UNESCO.
Not just a dance because of its rhythm and more than a fight because of its history. Capoeira unites the Africa that exists in Brazil and reminds us of the ancestor’s origins that we’re part of in this land.