Samba Deserves a Palace
An educational visit to the Favelas Museum through samba - By Weverton Martins
An invitation to our tour
I'm Weverton, but you can call me Wevs. Shall we bring out the memories of samba?
São Paulo rural samba - Pirapora (1937) (1937) by Mário de AndradeMuseu das Favelas
São Paulo rural samba - Pirapora (1937)
"I'm going to show, I'm going to show that the people of São Paulo also know samba. I'm from São Paulo, I like samba, in Barra Funda there are also great people… But does São Paulo have samba?"
The artist and activist Geraldo Filme even composed a song to counter the idea that São Paulo was not the place for samba. The samba singer also wanted to respond to his father who traveled to Rio de Janeiro in the 1930s and made such a statement.
Geraldo Filme (1927-1995) (1981-05-27) by MIS - Museu da Imagem e do SomMuseu das Favelas
Geraldo Filme (1927-1995)
Born and raised in Campos Elíseos (the territory in which the Favelas Museum is located), the son of Sebastião and Augusta Geralda was baptized in São João da Boa Vista, his mother's region.
"Wevs: Geraldo was one of the stalwarts responsible for the formation of São Paulo samba. His legacy is permeated with social, ethnic-cultural and political discourses that redesign São Paulo as a territory of artistic, political, religious expressions and black resistance..."
Weverton, the newspaper and the Palace. (2024-01-09) by Vanderson SilvaMuseu das Favelas
The Campos Elíseos Palace, now home to the Favela Museum,
It was built between 1890 and 1899 by architect Matheus Häusler for Elias Antônio Pacheco e Chaves (coffee grower and politician). Inspired by Écouen Castle, the property served as the official residence of the São Paulo government from 1911 to 1965.
Listed in 1977, it was the headquarters of different government bodies and SEBRAE before becoming the Favela Museum in 2022.
"Geraldo Filme: And there we delivered lunch boxes, by the way, we took them... we even delivered lunch boxes to the late Ademar de Barros, my mother's pension was in front of the Palace... In the past, in São Paulo, anything leather ate, right?"
"Here in São Paulo there was no joke. The tram would go up a penny and the revolution was about to start, those times weren't easy. So there was this problem that they were going to poison the governor, I don't know what there. So, Zeca and I were going to take packed lunches escorted by two soldiers. My mother was very musical, my father played the violin, my father played the violin in Choros and played the violin.
I still have the instrument to this day. The only thing. So we, my old lady, gave me a lot of things, She gave me a lot of things. She taught me how to dance, taught me the rhythm. So I learned a lot from my mother."
Geraldo Filme, interview given to the program "Ensaio" TV Cultura, São Paulo, 1992.
A view of Pirapora (1937) (1937) by Mário de AndradeMuseu das Favelas
Pirapora Rural Samba (1937)
"Geraldo Filme: I was a boy, Mom said: 'let's go, you're going to be baptized in Pirapora samba'.
Wevs: Wow, Uncle Gê, your words take us back to the memories of São Paulo samba, passing through different cities in the interior, and also in the capital."
Bumbo Samba (1937) by Mário de Andrade and 1937Museu das Favelas
Pirapora Rural Samba (1937)
"Wevs: This is why the formation of Samba Paulista converges with congadas, batuque de umbigada, jongo, samba de bumbo, tiririca, samba dos engraxadores and other African and Afro-Brazilian expressions."
Between Largo da Banana and Museu das Favelas (2024) by Pedro Sant'AnnaMuseu das Favelas
Between Largo da Banana and Museu das Favelas
"Wevs: Uncle Gê, you went and came back. But how did samba arrive? Where did he live? Geraldo: “Hello hello people, it's in Barra Funda where samba lives.”
Marked as one of the birthplaces of samba in São Paulo, since the end of the 19th century, the history of Barra Funda has been linked to the black population who, in the midst of precarious and uncertain work, performed samba in São Paulo.
The neighborhood was a popular and working territory, even though it was adjacent to mansions and palaces in elite places such as Campos Elíseos.
Between Largo da Banana and Museu das Favelas (2024) by Pedro Sant'AnnaMuseu das Favelas
Tio Gê and Largo da Banana
"Geraldo: There in Largo da Banana, in Barra Funda... The guys, the salary was, the pay was small. So they got so many bunches of bananas, for every so many bunches carried, they got one. Then they put them there in the square for commerce."
"And when they had a little rest, they would do a samba. We were kids, we would watch the 'old guys', they wouldn't let us join the circle, you know: 'Get out of here kid, get over there… We would enjoy the everything sings and we saved a lot of things and continued! Well for me it was 37 [1937], I was 10 years old. So I saw the..., after delivering the lunchboxes to the old woman's boarding house, the woman. We ran to Largo da Banana, see the black people there.”
Statement taken from the book Geraldo Filme. Brazilian Music of this Century by its Authors and Performers
In this region, samba took place in the “Largo da Banana”, called that by the samba dancers due to the food that arrived by train and was sold there, informally, by workers, mostly black, who loaded and unloaded products in the warehouses at the station. The black community contrasted hegemonic structures with the production and reproduction of their cultural experiences, generating other ways of existing through the streets, backyards, terreiros, cordões and samba circles.
Dionísio Barbosa (1891- 1977) (1976) by UnknownMuseu das Favelas
Dionísio Barbosa (1891-1977)
Dionísio was passionate about the carnival ranches and did not agree with the exclusion of Corsicans from the white elite. In 1914, Barbosa gathered family and friends to form the first Afro-São Paulo group: the “Grupo Carnavalesco da Barra Funda”, which would last until 1936.
Because of the green and white clothing, the group was named “Green and White Shirt” and faced persecution due to the proximity of the colors used by the opposition movement to the Vargas government.
"Yes, Uncle Gê, the older ones teach so much... Just like you, Dionísio, Inocência, Dona Ciata, who was the first lady of samba, as well as so many others..."
Barra Funda carnival group (1914) (1914) by UnknownMuseu das Favelas
Samba-marcha – Barra Funda Group (1914)
Composers: Dionísio Barbosa and Luis Barbosa
"My people, get out
From the window come and see
The Barra Funda Group
You want to appear
We all sing with high voices
Bringing life to the Barra Funda group"
Cordão da Barra Funda encouraged the emergence of other groups, of which Grupo Carnavalesco Campos Elyseos is undoubtedly the most important. Campos Elyseos was designed (1919) in the heart of Barra Funda, close to Largo da Banana, a black territory in the neighborhood.
The Campos Elíseos Cordon maintained several leisure and cultural activities over the years, creating an identity, social space, valuing black people and militancy.
Tobias Family: Inocêncio, Sinhá and Carlos by UnknownMuseu das Favelas
Tobias Family: Inocêncio, Sinhá and Carlos
Inocêncio Tobias, also known as Mulata, in 1953 reformed the old Cordão Grupo Barra Funda (founded in 1914 by Seu Dionísio Barbosa).
Dionísio's seed grew in Inocêncio and bore fruit in the rebirth of Cordão Mocidade Camisa Verde e Branco, which in 1956 became a samba school.
Considered the Lady of Samba Paulista, Dona Sinhá brought rural samba into her DNA. Born in the Bixiga neighborhood, at the age of twelve she joined the Vai-Vai cordon. In the 1940s, she moved to the Campos Elíseos region and met her future husband (Tobias).
She was one of the biggest supporters of the revival of the carnival group Mocidade Camisa Verde e Branco.
"GREEN, GREEN I WANT YOU GREEN MY SOUL TOOK ROOT IN BARRA FUNDA THE CRADLE OF MY CARNIVAL" - Samba of Exaltation by A.C.S.E.S.M. Green and White Shirt.
Educational visit "Samba deserves a Palace" (2024-01-25) by Man ProduçõesMuseu das Favelas
I'm Going to Sambar Elsewhere
Composer: Geraldo Filme
"I was left without the school yard
I can't dance anymore
Sambista without Largo da Banana
Barra Funda will stop
A viaduct has appeared, it's progress
I can't protest
Goodbye, birthplace of samba
I am leaving
I'm going to samba somewhere else"
Geraldo laments in the lyrics “Vou Sambar Noutro Lugar” the “whitening, gentrification” project, which also operated in the 1940s, forcing several black and poor communities to move from neighborhoods that were once peripheral, causing the destruction of homes and disarticulation of experiences cultural.
Educational visit "Samba deserves a Palace" (2024-01-25) by Man ProduçõesMuseu das Favelas
"Wevs: Geraldo was left without the School's terreiro and could no longer samba. He became a samba dancer who was left without Largo da Banana… And Barra Funda had to stop, as a viaduct appeared that announced progress and he and so many others couldn't could protest…"
What is the importance and role of samba circles and schools?
São Paulo samba map (2018) by Marcelo Vitale Teodoro da Silva, Jamille Santos Conceição (elaboração cartográfica), and Thais Fernanda Alves Avelar (pesquisa e organização cartográfica)Museu das Favelas
"Wevs: But after all, Uncle Gê, samba is over? For this bastion, perhaps there never was a total interruption, but rather the taking of new paths to recreate these sociocultural experiences in contemporary times. As Uncle Gê says: it's tradition and samba continues. "
"And he continues in Casa Verde, Peruche, São Mateus, Bexiga, Liberdade, Santo Amaro, Grajaú, Jardim Miriam and many other strongholds."
Samba from São Paulo occupies the outskirts!
"Abre-Caminhos" event at the Favela Museum with Bernadete do Peruche (2022-07-30) by Carlos PiresMuseu das Favelas
"Abre-Caminhos" at the Museu das Favelas, with Bernadete do Peruche, matriarch of São Paulo samba (2022)
Whenever feet, hands and voices move, a black (Re)existence is resumed, Geraldo appears in this way to revere his legacy and discuss his complaints that go against the importance of the symbolic occupation of the Museu das Favelas in the central region of city.
In the search to guarantee reparation, rights and access to the cultures, characters, material and immaterial heritage that make up our stories that are sometimes on the other side of the palaces that need to be subverted to the protagonism of new narratives.
Educational visit "Samba deserves a Palace" (2024-01-25) by Man ProduçõesMuseu das Favelas
I'm Weverton Martins (Wevs), educator, artist and samba player. My artistic and educational journey is fostered through my family who bring with them the culture of samba, carnival and black parties...
It is also driven by art and education, which I graduated with a degree in arts, I am currently studying for a master's degree in Performing Arts at the Escola Superior de Artes Célia Helena (ESCH), in which I focus on understanding the social, educational and cultural role of samba in São Paulo.
Educational visit "Samba deserves a Palace" (2024-01-25) by Man ProduçõesMuseu das Favelas
These experiences awaken my affection for Afro-diasporic art and culture, which undoubtedly contribute to my technical training in Theater and Dance.
"Abre-Caminhos" event at the Favela Museum with Nega Duda (2022-07-31) by Carlos PiresMuseu das Favelas
The time has come to close this wheel that we opened.
Closing does not mean ending it, it is just an interval until its next opening where we will launch its circularity. The questions were intertwined through possible paths that still need time, wisdom, prose and listening for the objectives to be achieved!
"My desire is to continue the lineage of samba players
who built possible bridges for me to be here, perpetuating and recognizing samba. I revere all the bambas and people who strengthen me on this journey, such as family, friends, artists and educators."
Weverton Martins - Educator and Curator of this virtual exhibition
References:
Amailton Magno Azevedo - “Sambas, orixás and skyscrapers: the music of Geraldo Filme”.
Bruna Queiroz Prado - “Geraldo Filme’s passage through ‘samba paulista’: narratives of words and music”.
Mário de Andrade Collection - Institute of Brazilian Studies IEB-USP.
Geraldo Filme - CDs and interview from SESC, 2000.
Petrônio Domingues - “The triduum of madness: Campos Elyseos and the Afro-diasporic carnival” and “Black protagonism in São Paulo: History and historiography”.
Tadeu Kaçula - “Casa Verde: a little Africa in São Paulo”.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS FAVELAS MUSEUM
SAO PAULO'S STATE GOVERNMENT
Governor Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas
Deputy Governor Felício Ramuth
Secretary of State for Culture, Economy and Creative Industry Marilia Marton
Executive Secretary Marcelo Assis
Chief of Staff Daniel Scheiblich Rodrigues
Coordinator of the Museum Heritage Preservation Unit Karina Santiago
IDG - INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT
General Director Ricardo Piquet
Governance Director Cristiano Vasconcelos
Business Director Daniel Bruch
Project Director Sérgio Mendes
Director of the Favela Museum Natália Cunha
Legal Legal Advice | Luz & Ferreira Advogados
Jurídico Assessoria Jurídica | Luz & Ferreira Advogados
Board of Directors Márcio Lacs (Chairman of the Boards of Directors I) | Ana Lucia Poças Zambelli (Chairman of the Board of Directors II) | Danielle Gomes de Almeida Valois (Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors I) | José Renato Rodrigues Ponte (Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors II) I Gabrielle Zitelmann | Luis Gustavo Costa Araújo | Márcia Pimentel Carneiro | José Pugas | Suzana Kahn Ribeiro | Tonico Pereira
Fiscal Council Luciano Porto | Luiz Félix de Freitas I Valéria Amoroso
Strategic Council of the Favela Museum - ConFavelas
Celso Athayde (President) | Adriana Barbosa | Andre Szajman | Dexter | Eliane Trindade | José Roberto Marinho | Karla Recife | KondZilla | Maria Alice Setúbal | Marlova Jovchelovitch Noleto | Patrícia Audi | Paula Lima | Paulo Sérgio Kakinoff | Black Zezé | Regina Casé | Renato Meirelles | Rene Silva | Ricardo Piquet | Rodolfo Schneider | Sérgio Sá Leitão
Area Leadership
Financial Administrative and Accounting: Ana Paula Maia | Institutional Communication Advisory: Nailanna Tenório | Institutional Relations Advisory: Mariana Kuo | Compliance and Risks: Márcia Carneiro | Exhibitions: Marina Piquet | Personal Department: Thays Souza | Business: Luciana Soares | Budgets and Costs: Alexandra Taboni Massa | Relationship: Clarisse Ivo | People and Organizational Culture: Isabella Carneiro | Planning, Performance and Process: Nicole Sieiro | Projects: Tatiana Azevedo | Incentivized Resources: Patrícia Nascimento | Executive Secretary: Elaine Magalhães and Renata Lima | Supplies: Josias Mendes
FAVELAS MUSEUM
Director | Natalia Cunha
Financial Administrative | Coordination Gustavo Barros
Content | Management Gil Marçal
Reference and Research Center | Coordination Vera Cardim
Education Center | Coordination Leandro Mendes da Silva
Institutional Development Management Luiz Félix
Communication | Coordination Priscilla Fenics
Projects | Coordination Lais Borges
Operations and Technology Management Marco Antonio Neves
Maintenance and Assembly Leader Adriano Monteiro
EXHIBITION “SAMBA DESERVES A PALACE”
Curator Weverton Martins
Collections Favela Museum | Mário de Andrade Collection - Institute of Brazilian Studies IEB-USP | Museum of Image and Sound | USP Images | Tobias Family | Marcelo Vitale Teodoro da Silva
Expographic Project | Collection research and selection Carolina Rocha | Laís Borges | Weverton Martins | Vera Cardim | Pedro Sant'Anna
Texts Weverton Martin
Audio pickup and editor Gabriel Theodoro
Video editor Pedro Sant’Anna | Gabriel Theodoro
Review Vera Cardim | Danieli Giovanini do. C. Milk
Virtual exhibition developer Pedro Sant’Anna | Danieli Giovanini do. C. Leite
Thanks to IEB-USP | Marcelo Vitale Teodoro da Silva | USP Imagens | MIS | Família do Geraldo Filme | Família Tobias
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