Manaus 353 years: local artists declare their criticisms and inspirations for the city

Ívina Garcia – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – Known for its culture, fauna, flora, architecture and traditionality, the capital of Amazonas, Manaus, turns 353 years old in 2022 and is responsible for inspiring and composing the creations and artistic expressions of those who were born in the capital of Amazonas.

Founded on October 24, 1669, as a fortress to control access to the Amazon, between the Negro and Solimões rivers, the city was renamed Manaós in 1856, in honor of a group of indigenous people known for their courage and bravery.

With 2,255,903 inhabitants, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), Manaus today is the sixth largest economy in the country and integrates the list of the 100 best cities to live in Brazil in 2021, according to data from the Municipal Management Challenges Index (IDGM).

In celebration of Manaus’ anniversary, CENARIUM MAGAZINE gathered artists from different segments from Manaus to talk about the impacts of the city on artistic productions and what are the expectations for investments in culture after the second round of the elections for president and governor of Amazonas.

Read also: Who chose the city to live declares: ‘A mother to those who seek opportunity’.

The Amazonas Opera House is the birthplace of the largest Opera Festival in Latin America and the stage of countless other concerts and artistic productions of music, dance, visual arts, and architecture, the Teatro Amazonas is one of the central points of creative constructions in the city and one of the inspirations of the singer Lorena Simpson (@lorenasimpsonoficial).

Owner of the hit ‘Brand New Day’, Lorena Simpson revealed to CENARIUM an emotional connection with the Historic Downtown Manaus, where most of the capital’s tourist spots are located, including the Teatro Amazonas.

“I have an affective relationship with this part of the city because I was born and raised there, and I have always loved living near the Teatro Amazonas. I have many memories of the Theater and of the São Sebastião Square that, for sure, influence and impact my story”, says the artist, who recently released the song “Felicidade”, in partnership with Raylla Araújo, a young singer born in Presidente Figueiredo.

The artist says that much of her work is impacted by other singers who were born in the Northern Region. “Raylla is a great potential artist of the new generation. Besides her, I follow Victor Xamã, Anna Suave, Rafa Militão, Karen Francis, Dan Stump, Unna, OSants, Gabi Farias, among others. All these artists are inspirations to me for their talent, creativity, and versatility, besides the impact they have on the northern artistic scene”, she says.

In the singer’s evaluation, all the artistic expressions of the “manauara” people, being through music or handicraft, generate a tourist potential that can be taken advantage of by those who will be in charge of the Amazonas Government and the Presidency.

She tells that she has read several researches and studies that prove the impact of art and entertainment in the creative economy in several countries, and that this result could be employed in Manaus, through fomentation projects that generate jobs.

“In my opinion, the federal and state governments need to have this differentiated look and understand that investing in art does bring positive results and that changes, incentives, and investments are necessary tools for the growth and expansion of our Amazonas to gain the space it deserves nationally and worldwide”, she says.

Award-winning performer Francisco Rider brings criticism in his works about the abandonment of certain spots in the city, once used for tourism and leisure. “When I did the project Other Manau(s), I went to perform in several of these places in deplorable states, but that were once, in a way, ‘paradisiacal’. But despite their states of destruction, they remain ‘magical'”, he says.

Francisco’s performance was held at the Balneário da Ponte da Bolívia, Parque Amazonense, Cachoeira Alta do Tarumã, Pátio das Lajes, Balneário do Parque 10, and Orla do Amarelinho, and received the Cultural Connections 2019 Award – from Manauscult.

Among Rider’s inspirations, he cites Bernadete Andrade, an important painter, designer, teacher, and set designer, born in Barreirinha, in the countryside of the state of Amazonas. “My friend Bernadete Andrade (1953-2007), with whom I collaborated in São Paulo in the show “Pegamater” (1994), which I wrote, did the visual conception. I really like the symbolic relationship she had with the city of Manaus”.

The artist also cites the visual work of Roberto Evangelista (1946-2019), “since I saw an installation of his at the São Paulo Biennial in the early 1990s, I was inspired by art”. Besides the paintings by artist Sérgio Cardoso and the literary works of writer Márcio Souza and writer Astrid Cabral.

Rider is a self-employed artist and cultural manager, and his presentations dialogue with dance and contemporary theater, bringing touches of improvisation and visual arts. Being an entrepreneur in the business, Francisco understands that the 2022 elections are collective and go beyond the individual.

“This election will be vital for Latin America and Planet Earth. It’s no use thinking that it’s just any election, because what is at stake is the preservation of the Amazon Rainforest and the lives of the Amazon ancestral peoples”, says the artist.

He believes that the federal government wants to destroy the forest through conservative agendas that unite politics, religion, and military force. “This government ties (these agendas) in a dangerous and fascist way, and it has to be defeated in the second round, for the good of humanity!”, he says.

Aldisio Filgueiras, composer, poet and journalist from Manaus, says he sees Manaus as a Portuguese cutout of a ‘devastated’ landscape. “On the streets, on the buses, I am struck by the look of those who don’t believe they woke up alive and are looking for a culprit for this; the buried creeks. What they call joy in Manaus is just hysteria. Manaus looks like Brazil”, he says.

The artist has in his curriculum great productions, including his debut book, ‘Estado de Sítio’, which was censored in 1968, during the military dictatorship. Aldisio was also the composer of the regional hit ‘Porto de Lenha’, in partnership with the composer Torrinho.

Filgueiras tells that he likes to go to Ponta Negra beach to see the river during the week, but he doesn’t believe in inspirations. “All my work is made of choices, research, and study. I respect the work of Luiz Bacellar, Elson Farias, poets who should be read more often“, he says.

For the poet, authors such as Márcio Souza, Zemaria Pinto, Tenório Telles, Renan Freitas Pinto, Antônio Loureiro, Etelvina Garcia, Nonato Tavares and his tribe from the Vitória Régia theater, and Aurélio Michiles are authors who manage to build thoughts about the Amazon and who should be given more prominence.

Aldisio criticizes the centralization of politics in the capital, despite the fact that the state has a plurality of art and culture throughout its 62 municipalities. “It is not surprising that in the first round a candidate for state government, and who has been governor more than twice, has said that the countryside was abandoned”, recalled the poet about the candidate Eduardo Braga (MDB), who is running in the second round against Wilson Lima (União).

“Art will continue to be treated as it always was: with a refined contempt, after all, civilized people don’t spit on the sidewalks”, argues the artist.

Singer and “immortal” of the Amazon Academy of Music, Karine Aguiar (@karineaguiarmusic) is recognized for ‘Jazz Jungle’, a rhythm that combines the musicality of jazz with sounds from the Amazon. Born in Manaus, Karine also says she has a strong relationship with the Teatro Amazonas, where she lived moments that marked her career.

Soloist of the Amazonas Guitar Orchestra for three years, from 2011 to 2014, and at least twice a month, Karine performed at the Teatro Amazonas. “It may even sound like a cliché, but the Teatro Amazonas has a pretty profound impact not only on my art, but also on my personal life”, she says.

“I even spent more time inside that theater than in my own home”, reveals the artist, who had two albums, “Arraial do Mundo” (2012) and “Organic” (2016), released inside the theater, in addition to the first DVD, which later became a music documentary entitled “Jungle Jazz: an Amazon symphony” (2022).

For the artist, Manaus has many artists of high aesthetic level that inspire her in their various languages and art forms. “But among these many, I could highlight the music of the anthems of Zeca Torres (one of the composers of the song Porto de Lenha, which, in my opinion, should be protected as the cultural anthem of Manaus), Lucinha Cabral (to me, our Ella Fitzgerald baré), the late Zezinho Corrêa, and Teixeira de Manaus”, she says.

In the visual arts, Karine exposes her admiration for the work of Hadna Abreu and Raiz Campos, plastic artists with works in Manaus. “In audiovisual, I highlight the work of Henrique Saunier Michiles and Sérgio Andrade. In literature, I travel through the words of Milton Hatoum, Márcio Souza, and Aníbal Beça. And, in fashion, lately I have been very involved with the work of indigenous designers, such as Seanny Artes, creator of the Intercultural Indigenous Fashion Show”, she reveals.

Karine believes that the election will be crucial for the progress of culture not only in the state, but in all of Brazil. She remembers that in the previous governments, with politicians from the Workers’ Party, culture was much more valued.

“If we continue with the current president of the Republic, it will be an incalculable tragedy, because he himself reiterates whenever he can his contempt for culture and for the workers in this sector”, the singer points out, remembering that it was only under the PT government that the Gambá masters from Maués got visibility.

For her, Manaus is the very materialization of the word ambivalence, because at the same time that it enchants her and makes her fall in love, it also arouses feelings of indignation and sadness. “Especially when I come across our urban rivers and forests agonizing amidst the devastation caused by an absolutely mistaken idea of progress”, she says.