Literary Festival of the Periphery 2022 exalts Black Modernism

Credit: Disclosure/FLUP 2019

By: Gabriel Murga / Favela em Pauta – Lupa do Bem

The Literary Festival of the Peripheries, a traditional event on the cultural calendar in the city of Rio de Janeiro, occupied the programming of both the Museum of Art of Rio (MAR) and the Museum of Afro-Brazilian History and Culture (Muhcab) between the 11th and 18th. February, integrating roundtables, debates and artistic presentations, praising authors that make up the so-called Black Modernism: the Rio de Janeiro writer Lima Barreto; the conductor and composer, Pixinguinha, and the American singer and dancer, Josephine Baker.

The main legacy of the event was the approach of another vision, critical, to the centenary of São Paulo modernism, which has as an established mark, the Week of Modern Art of 1922, in addition to the presentation of Muhcab to the public in an official event that received an audience formed by city dwellers and tourists from all over the country.

The museum, opened in November 2021, is located in the central region of the city of Rio de Janeiro known as “Little Africa”, a cultural memory circuit dedicated to the period of more than three hundred and fifty years in which millions of black people were kidnapped, enslaved and brought by force to Brazil and other countries on the continent.

Understanding the context of black modernism

During the time of the Modern Art Week in São Paulo, France hosted the first meeting of black musicians in the diaspora, held in Paris.

Names such as Pixinguinha and his group Oito Batutas met with musicians who emigrated from the United States to France, which generated a meeting of musical genres and rhythms, from 19th-century Brazilian music to jazz and Caribbean music. This meeting brought two instruments to Brazil: the banjo and the drums, in addition to introducing the genius Pixinguinha to the saxophone.    

According to FLUP, the objective of the tribute seeks a vision that “questions the narrative that establishes modernism as a phenomenon centred on eminent figures of São Paulo’s intelligentsia”, says the organization in a press release.

“The São Paulo of Oswald and Mário de Andrade seemed to stand out as the cultural vanguard of the country, since the festival of modern art took place, effectively, in the Municipal Theater of the city. We know today, however, that the protagonism “of the paulistas” comes from an erasure of the cultural diversity of Brazil, reflecting historical inequalities, such as the marginalization of black culture”, they conclude. 

Cultural attractions and debates

During FLUP 2022, there was the launch of a biographical exhibition with photos, posters, reports and works by artists such as Arjan, Jaime Lauriano, Mulambo, Yhuri Cruz and TTK, Rabisco do Santo Amaro, in honour of these gatherings of black musicians who changed Brazilian and international music. On the same topic, a debate was held with actor, journalist and samba singer Haroldo Costa.

As a tribute to Josephine Baker, a pocket show by actress Aline de Luna was presented, as well as a debate with Terri Francis, a black woman from the USA, who wrote a biography of Josephine, and Audrey Pulvar, a French journalist and writer.

The author Lima Barreto, who died in November 1922, was honoured at the closing panel “Herdeiros da Pequena África”, with the participation of Tom Faria and Eduardo Assis, who recall the existence of a black elite that existed in the 1920s. and that suffered from a historical-cultural erasure. In addition, there was an exhibition of posters with 22 excerpts from works by Lima Barreto, chosen by Lilia Moritz Schwarcz, and a theatrical show by the director of Muhcab, Leandro Santana.

Great writers took part in the debate tables: such as the French-Congolese Alain Mabanckou, who participated in the “Transatlantic Flows” panel, and could explain how the scene of black musicians was developed in Montmartre, a bohemian neighbourhood of Paris, constantly compared to the region of Lapa, in downtown Rio de Janeiro; and the professor of the English department at the University of Tours, in France, and a reference in the field of African studies, Maboula Soumahoro composed the panel “Black Modernisms – From Expropriation to Reappropriation”, where she addressed the past when African wealth was expropriated, and the new artistic concerns of the black population.

How to follow and support

To follow FLUP, visit their website or the event’s Instagram.