Within the framework of Documentary Tuesdays, Casa de América recovers this evening at 7pm in its Iberia hall the 2017 film Febreros, a tribute to Maria Bethânia, one of the greatest artists of Brazilian music.
The film features the honoured artist along with Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, Mabel Velloso, Leandro Vieira, Luis Antonio Simas, Squel Jorgea, Pai Gilson and Pai Pote. Mangueira is the most popular samba school in Brazil. In 2016, it won the Rio de Janeiro Carnival championship with a parade in honour of Maria Bethânia, the diva from Bahia, who has a great fifty-year career as a singer, with more than fifty million records sold, and is the sister of Caetano Veloso. The film follows the creation of this carnival at every stage, from the first drawings and rehearsals to the construction of the allegories and the winning parade. Discover the particularities that inspired the creation of this Carnival, such as its peculiar religious universe, which brings together candomblé and Catholicism, the festivities inherited from the slaves, and the opening of its house to the local community. While telling the story of Santo Amaro, Bethania’s hometown and the victorious Carnival of Mangueira, we establish links between Rio de Janeiro and Bahia, focusing on historical themes such as the birth of samba, racism and religious tolerance.
