Luísa Sonza talks about choreography in AM June folk festival: ‘Traditional party is to immortalize the local culture’

Marcela Leiros – From Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – The pop singer Luísa Sonza manifested, this Monday, 6, about the indignation of a spectator watching the presentation of an artistic group in Manaus. In a video, the man criticizes the choice of the song “Anaconda”, authored by Brazilian singer Luísa Sonza and American singer Mariah Angeliq, for the dance presented at the Folk Festival at the Centro Social Urbano (CSU), in the Parque 10 neighborhood, South-Central zone.

The festival is in its 41st edition and has more than 60 attractions and 80 dances. Several folkloric groups perform at the event. The video of the moment resonated after a man, who was watching the presentation, criticized her. “This is because we are talking about an arraial, right? Then we see this dance there, with these songs ‘scrotums’ that have nothing to do with arraial, “he said. (See the video below)

After the video was shared by an Instagram of news about artists and famous people, Luísa Sonza commented on the publication saying that, although she was happy with the choice of music, she agrees that in traditional parties what should be presented are songs that exalt the culture and tradition of the event.

“I think it’s important that young people live and enjoy the new, but without ever leaving aside the root of everything. It only grows and survives when it has roots! There is a time for everything and that is beautiful,” she said.

Keeping traditions alive

Jeanne Chaves de Abreu, professor of dance and popular culture at the University of the State of Amazonas (UEA) and PhD in Society and Culture in the Amazon, said that despite the updates and modernizations of the dances over time, it is important to respect the festivals and folkloric traditions.

“I think as a scholar and teacher of popular culture, that we should not let the traditions die,” she said. “We know that the June festivities have a whole context. So I, as a public, when I go to an arraial in this June period, I want, and there are many people who wait all year for this, to taste typical foods, watch the representative dances. He [the person] expects to find that in that place. Some people are disappointed when they don’t find what is in our own culture.

Jeanne also reminds us that traditional celebrations, with food, scenery, and typical costumes, go back to experiences, and it is important that each dance be presented in its ideal place and time. “I think that each thing has to be in its proper place, I’m not going to be radical. What to take to that place? The media, social networks, television. They wanted to innovate, is it wrong? I don’t know if it’s wrong or right, this is an actuality, a modernization,” he further said.

‘Funk na Roça’

The leader of Quadrilha Alternativa Funk na Roça, which has been performing in folkloric festivals for 27 years, Maicon Costa, says that he doesn’t totally disagree with the criticism of the dance, but it is necessary that people, or dance groups, don’t get caught up in fashion when taking a content to the stage.

“Folklore is folklore and funk is funk. We [the Funk na Roça] try to get into the folkloric theme, bringing the street culture into the folklore, but in a polite way, with dance work, where you can take the family, the children can watch, and showing that sensuality has nothing to do with vulgarity. I didn’t see anything major, they were just dancing, but from the boy’s point of view I see that he was prejudiced, but I don’t totally take away his reason,” he said.

“I don’t take away the reason of the boy who did the shooting and I also don’t support the way he put it, because he generalized. He didn’t see the folk part, the moment of the young people being on that stage performing, when they could have been doing anything different, they were dancing. The problem was not Luíza Sonza’s music, any music that he played he would say the same thing,” he concluded.