By NABOR JR.
Ethnic immersion of the photographer Wagner Celestino visit to the black memory of Sao Paulo through the images of his pioneers samba singers.
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.It's been said that São Paulo was the tomb of samba. For sure, they forgot that the samba agonizes, but it doesn't die. Such rhythmical and bloody immortality pulsates not only in the lyrics and samba groups spread on the city, but also in the quotidian life of the intermixed races from São Paulo, making part of the biographical trajectory of people who follows the rhythm as a religion, doctrine and life style, when not, as a sense of life.
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And it was just to this last group that the lenses of Wagner Celestino, 59, the photographer from Sao Paulo, turned round when, in March of 2003, he began the daring project of registering the remainders of the Old generations of the Schools of Samba of the City of Sao Paulo.
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The visit to the black memory from Sao Paulo through the images of his pioneers samba singers, protagonists of the first drum's sound of the carnival groups of the city, it puts back the bastion as main actors of a movie created, produced and adorned by them.
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The result of this ethnic and photographic immersion is a poetic essay, simple and calm, that represents the historical importance of those 29 portrayed characters. A real tribute to eyes and ears of people from Sao Paulo, no matter if they are samba dancers or not.
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.“To register the remainders of the Old generations of the Schools of Samba of the City of Sao Paulo, it is to rescue black man's main role in the creation of one of the biggest cultural inheritances of the city, the carnival”.
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.“Practically all the portrayed people gently opened their houses' door. I tried to pass such affection through photography. Interchanging a coffee and a slice of cornmeal cake I tried to do the best possible”.
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.“The last photography was taken approximately three years ago. In spite of the indifferences, disregards and of the cultural illiteracy, I will keep insisting on this project 2011. The Old generations deserve it”.
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READ
Brazilian black sounds (Os sons negros do Brasil)
José Ramos Tinhorão
Art Editora
São Paulo, 1998
Navel Samba (Samba de Umbigada)
Edison Carneiro
MEC
Rio de Janeiro, 1961
Eternal samba singers (Sambistas Imortais)
J. MUNIZ JR.
Ed. Part.
Santos, 1977.
Brazilian Musical Dictionary (Dicionário Musical Brasileiro)
Mário de Andrade
Editora da Universidade de São Paulo
São Paulo, 1989.
