"THE MIRACLE OF CANDEAL" "Where are you from?" "Cuba." "But I've lived in Sweden for over 40 years." "First time in Bahia?" "Yes, sir." "Well, welcome to Bahia, the land of happiness." "Thanks." "Welcome." "Excuse me." "Are you a musician by any chance?" "Yes, sir." "You had to be!" "You were right." "My name's Bebo Valdes." "Mateus, Mateus Aleluia." "Where are you from?" "Havana, Cuba." "You had to be." " Make yourself at home." " Thank you." "This church was built by our ancestors, slaves who came from across the sea." "From our original home..." "Mother Africa." "So we feel we have... we all have a little of their blood in each of us." "In every corner of this church there's an ancestor who represents millions of others." "It wasn't chance that brought you here." "We're celebrating a cult here today..." "I call it a "syncretic" cult." "And though the Mass will be Catholic baroque everything has an African touch." "I have to thank God for the fact that in 1947" "I was in Port-au-Prince, Haiti." "And, all the time, I'd go to see" "Mâe-Santo, Pâi-Santo..." "And one of the things they told me... a lady told me... was that if I wanted to know the truth about my ancestors," "I should do all I could to go not only to Brazil but to Salvador de Bahia." "That was in 1947, no less." "A lot of things have happened to me since then." "And finally, 57 years later, here I am and one of the wonderful things about this place is you." "My story's more or less the same." "We..." "I mean my group, "Os Ticòas,"" "are from Cachoeira, an ancestral city." "We're singers, composers, writers, researchers..." "After a lot of trial and error, we concluded that there had to be something else, that we needed to go down new paths in order to find out what we were really doing." "And we thought that outside of Bahia, we could find something on the other side of the bay... in Africa." "Here we are facing Blue Bay in Bengela." "Bengela." "Bengela is south of Angola." "So we went to Africa..." "to Angola, to look for the essence of our origins." "It was a 7-day trip and we stayed there for 20 years." "Twenty years." "I'm only passing through Brazil." "I still live there." "I was in Cuba, a normal man, a completely normal man..." "Not a care in the world." "And suddenly the government changed." "A change of government..." "I was a free man and didn't want to belong to any political party, so I had to leave the country." "I left... my country 43 years ago and I've never been back." "But I don't hate anybody." "Nobody." "If I don't like something, I get away from it." "But no hate." "I think I was born in Bahia, you think you were born in Cuba, and that's how it was, but actually I'm not from Bahia and you're not from Cuba." "We both come from another place... our origin is elsewhere..." "in Africa." "It's as if we are visitors here." "On TV, for instance, I see very few people who look like me." "Now that's a problem." "And if we talk of the political power structure, that's something really unsettling." "Almost nobody here looks like me, and yet we are the majority." "As far as power goes though, we are the minority." "Which proves that we don't belong here." "One of the things I liked best about Africa... was when I attended the re-inauguration of a feast there called the feast of La Quianda." "Here in Brazil they call it "lemanjá"." "Lemanjá." "La Quianda over there..." ""the Mermaid"." "And it's the biggest feast in existence of pure Angolan rites:" "The La Quianda festival." "In two or three days... they'll celebrate lemanjá here." "You really shouldn't miss it." "In fact, I insist that we go there together." "The batuque, which begins the invocations, has started." "Without singing or drums, the Orixás won't appear." "I see." "Without that joy, the Orixás won't manifest themselves." " From Africa." " Yes, from Africa." "So our cult is one of joy." "You see?" "Of harmony." "The drums have a harmonious beat." "There are three kinds..." "the "Rumpi", the "Lê" and the "Rum"." "High-pitched, medium and deep." "What's that..." "The yellow one?" "Oxum's yellow." "You see that dark blue colour there?" "That's Ogum." "But it's an Ogum belonging to the Ketu people." "That brown there... is the Xangô's colour." "See that crossed-white dress?" "Those are Oxalá's colours." "Oxalá." "When the Yoruba were founded," "Oxalá was assigned a task by Olodum Maré, the supreme god." "He was told to create the world." "And the nicest part is that in that task" "Oxalá had the help of a female Orixá called Odudua." "From the marriage of Oxalá and Odudua life on earth took form." "You see?" "That's why we speak of it affectionately." "And they decided to turn Bahia into a festive land." "That's why this is a land of festivals." "Salvador de Bahia!" "This is Candeal." "Look who's here!" "It's Mateus, and Bebo Valdes!" "One and the same." "Let's hear it for him!" "The people from the Big Gang." "Thank you." "Give me a hug." "This is a great honour." "How are you, my dear friend?" "Welcome." "Axé, axé." "What's brought Bebo Valdes to Candeal?" "Ever since I was a kid, I knew I had to come here." "Great, because all the ancestral Yoruba are here." "Some books say that the Yoruba first came to Bahia." "And that they went to Cuba from here." "Creating a different music, and that music was a bridge" "that led back to Africa." "Now that you're here... why don't we go and meet the band?" "It's as if we'd rehearsed it a lifetime." "Yesterday they named the committee responsible for construction of the square." "It'll be built with two different levels." "On the first level, we'll put benches and tables so that people can play dominoes and sit and chat." "For the upper level we were thinking of an area for the community to stage capoeirashows, dances, music..." "And in the same area we'll build small grandstands and a kiosk for members of the community to sell hand-made goods." "It'll be a simple square but nice, and will serve the whole community." "Regarding volunteer work, on the days when" "I'm not on duty, I'll be able to help out here." "So do you agree to handle the coordination with Epifânio?" "And it was also decided that work days will be on Saturdays for those who can, and Sundays from 7 in the morning till 4 in the afternoon." "I'm Patrícia Marchesini, a health engineer." "I came to the "Pracatum" in April 1997." "I just came to take a look and never left again." "I walk through the streets of Candeal," "I know everybody, we talk about projects in the street..." "I think that people in Candeal have a true community spirit." "Things are different here, people have a different way of walking, a different rhythm." "In 1997, the situation in the neighbourhood was totally different than now." "There was no sanitation then, there were a lot of shanties, there was no regular water supply, some days there was water, other days there was none." "As a result, many people had high blood pressure in the population, breathing problems, worms, illnesses resulting from of lack of sanitation." "Carlinhos called in a team of experts and asked the community to dream up a profile of a Candeal that would be idyllic for its residents." "Walk carefully." "You're at home here." "My great-great-grandmother came over from the coast of Africa when she was twelve years old." "She arrived in 1781 with a family, not as a slave, but as a worker in order to enter Salvador and free a relative of hers who had come as a slave." "She brought a lot of money with her." "She brought gold... "lagdbá", coral, silver..." "She brought a lot of things." "I know she bought this Candeal..." "She bought five houses in Largo de Brotas." "She married and had three children." "Her husband's name was Manuel Mendes and she was called Josepha de Sant'Ana." "She came here in 1781 and died in 1881." "Right here, in Candeal." "She died in 18..." "at the age of 112." "From her line there are now 649 people." "That's a lot of people." "She had twelve slaves." "She had twelve slaves who she treated very well because they came from her race and her country." "She didn't treat them badly but like human beings." "Slaves were usually treated like animals but she treated them like brothers and sisters." "She came here to free a relative of hers and she raised a family here" "and things went well for her." "Yes?" "I'm Bebo Valdes." "I'd like to talk to Caetano Veloso." " He's here." "Just a minute." " Thank you." "So this is Bahia, Salvador de Bahia." "I finally made it!" " The Atlantic I was born to." " Welcome." "There it is." "The same sea, the same horizon." "Sing me something." "Whatever you like." "That was beautiful." "I could sit here all afternoon and listen to you sing." "You know, the first Brazilian song I played was "Brasil, Meu Brasil Brasileiro"." " Did you play this?" " A lot." "In the Tropicana?" "Yes, and before the Tropicana too." "Absolutely beautiful." "I'll sing you another song by Ary Barroso about Bahia which Bola de Nieve also recorded." "Beautiful." "You sing it like a god, God bless you." "Don't say that, no..." "I got it all from Joâo Gilberto." "From Joâo Gilberto, the great Joâo Gilberto." "Cuban music... we in Brazil have always thought it's the most beautiful there is." "We're like first cousins." "You know, Gillespie told me that the music of Cuba and Brazil would become one, and I've noticed the same roots in a lot of things." "Some Cuban songs tell of the African gods we worship in Bahia." "The same..." "Xangó, lemanjá..." " All about the mother." " The mother." " The mother of rhythm." " The mother of all mankind." "The Pracatum School was something Carlinhos Brown had always wanted." "He had already been doing this kind of thing on the streets of Candeal, teaching percussionists, some of whom now play with famous musicians." "The Pracatum School was founded in 1994." "We erected the building and at the same time two programmes came into being..." "The "Tá Rebocado" programme and the school of music." "The school was originally intended for the local residents of Candeal, but the demand for it became so strong that we decided to open it up to the whole city of Salvador." "I'll show you the music classes..." "the transverse flute... where the kids learn in small groups in the smaller rooms." "Bring your flute down and more forward." "That's it." "Better, much better." "Do you know Bebo Valdes?" "The great Cuban pianist." "Okay..." "I'd like to do something with a Cuban rhythm." "My name's Jair Rezende." "I'm 24," "I was born and raised here in Candeal and I got my musical experience from my work with Carlinhos here in the community." "I lost my mother when I was 6 or 7 years old, and my father when I was 14." "So I grew up without a mother or father." "But he stood by me and was like a second father to me." "Then he suggested to the kids and me that I should be the one to organize and orientate the kids." "We looked for tin cans in the trash to play on." "And we began to look into the use of trash... into drugs, violence..." "We encouraged the girls to go to school, to get good marks." "¿So what do we do?" "Learn and pass on knowledge to others." "The idea is that the little you learn here you have the humility to pass on to others so that it isn't lost." "I think I see the world as a mirror." "If you're good as a person, you reflect good things." "Music has enabled the people to love the place they live in, and here it occupies and directs a lot of minds." "The most important thing is that the new generation of kids who come here should get a decent education." "That their lives should be stable, that whatever they do later, whether they become policemen, doctors, lawyers, musicians, singers, presenters, journalists... they should do it wholeheartedly and pass on their knowledge," "help out at home, help their community, that they should pick up musical instruments not weapons." "I want them to grow up as good citizens." "This is a very special day because I've spoken to you." "We're going to see my master." "His name's Pintado do Bongó." "They call him "Pintado" because he once caught a disease like smallpox that left his body looking like a kind of... peixe." " How do you say it in Spanish?" " Fish." "And there's a kind of fish called "Pintado"." "And all our samba friends started calling him "Pintado do Bongó"." ""Pintado do Bongó"." "He's been like a second father." "A spiritual father..." "He's a very special person." "He used to drive a car like this one." "For the government." "He was a government chauffeur." "He was the first person I ever saw dressed in a suit." "Because he worked for the government." "He had to look smart all the time, well-dressed and that was his job." ""Mestre Pintado"." "Always very smart, very neat." "For his job." "Let's give our friend here some money." " Here you are." " Thanks." "That happens to some people." "He worked for the government, wore smart trousers, and he looked so different to me." "He was so elegant he looked just like Sidney Poitier!" "And then one day," "I was at home, and I heard some music..." "it was different... that filled my soul with fire." "A bongo." "It was different from candomblé, different from anything I'd ever heard." "When he went for a drink," "I took the drumsticks and starting copying him." "And he came up and said, "Where did you learn that?"" "And I said, "I was listening, this is very heavy stuff"." ""You like music?" he asked." ""Well, learn to play." "This is your instrument now"." "It was Mother Nature who invented percussion." "What is real percussion?" "When Mom and Dad start dreaming of having us." "After that we develop in the womb to the rhythm of the heart, to the beat of the heart and, in a way, the first bass notes we hear... we hear inside our mother." "And to the beat of our mother's rhythm we become great percussionists, because it's our mother who gives us rhythm..." "Woman." "Is this an instrument?" "You can get sound out of it." "It has colours, that helps, but look at this, for instance." "If you do this... that's a rhythm." "A rhythm." "That's a rhythm." "But if you take it like this and you..." "People don't think of rhythm in films." "The image turning like this..." "Make a rhythm with your mouth." "As you did with the tambourine." "You." "You." "How's that?" "Very good." "Now you." "And you." "African." "Goes well with jazz." "You, my dear friend." "You." "You like Rubber Nose, right?" "Now let's do everything you've done together with our mouths." "Right, let's go." "Let's hear it!" "With your hands..." "Let's try it with our hands." "When I came here in 1955, there was no such thing" "as the Candeal you see here today." "For me, this isn't Candeal any more." "But thanks to that, the street improved." "Understand?" "I hope you realize that." "What about when you were a kid?" "I danced too, I went to samba school." "I was the standard-bearer of the batucada when they used to come out one by one in a row playing." "Then we'd do the roda, and I'd come out and samba with the flag to win the prize." "That's how it was, and you can carry it on." "I've done all that." "Well," "I'm over 70 now, I'm tired, and I can't follow that rhythm any more." "All I do now as you know is take you to the Bonfim wash or to Lapinha and tell you stories so you'll know how things were in my time, in the 30s." "Understand?" "That's why I say take my example and one day you'll tell your grandchildren what I'm telling you now." "I was always the happy kind." "I want to die happy, passing on everything I did and went through." "And I don't regret anything I ever did in my whole life." "I adore music." "Music is the physiotherapy of life." "Chano Pozo. "Pin Pon, Japan fell"." "It was Julio Cuevas's band." "Julio Cuevas." "The piano solo was mine." "Nice." "Nice, eh?" "Pin Pon, Berlin fell." "Pin pon, Japan fell." "This song was recorded in 1945 at the end of World War ll." "This is one of Bahia's oldest regions." "And Cachoeira is part of a number of cities that were the original towns of Reconcavo." " This bridge we're crossing..." " Great swing, great rhythm." "What's the name of this river?" "It's the Paragua¢ú." "The bridge was... named after Peter the First." "Listen to that music!" "All this... is an ancestral part of us." "Here the Orixás are very strong." "I want to introduce you to a very special person." "A mother who's cared for us all since we were children." "Who's cared for the whole community, for everybody." "Her name's Angelina, but her "saint" name is Maiamba." " You taught me that music." " I don't remember." "A mixture of caboclo and "Terno De Rei,"" "and some Oxum, so that it's like different songs together." " I don't know if I can sing it." " You can." " Of "Tuaritendê"." " Yes, "Tuaritendê"." "Caboclos, right?" " "Tuaritendê"." "Yes, Caboclos," " I only knew "village"." "Ah, yes." "She taught me that music." "It must be... goodness knows how old." "For me the lyrics, the situation and the story seem to tell of an encounter between Indians and blacks..." "the mixing of races." "The melody has something, shall we say very" "Angolan, Catholic and native about it." "And it seems to tell the story of Brazil and a desire for freedom, and racial mestization in an attempt to make human beings a pure race, not a race of different colours, bit one of pure men." "What is a "pure man"?" "He would have no colour..." "He has God, he has purity." "The "pure man" is not violent, he respects nature without needing TV propaganda." "The "pure man" wouldn't abandon his son or daughter." "The "pure man" doesn't beat his wife or mistreat his children." "The "pure man" wouldn't abuse children." "The "pure man" respects the Orixá above all else because the Orixá will accompany him better than he will a man who only turns to him when he needs him." "So I always ask those "leaders of light" like Maiamba to inspire me." "And to lead me... along the path of purity and goodness." "No, she's all right." "It was the answer he gave." "Is she all right?" " In Cuba we say, "Fambá's room"." " Yes." "This is a moment that will always be sacred." "That will always be secret." "When the saint enters the room, it is always private." "Right." "When the saint appears to the world as he has just now, it is an honour for mankind to know that the spirits of light are at our side." "May God grant you prosperity and great strength." "May Olorum grant great prosperity, strength and peace to all those present and absent." "Health, prosperity, peace." "Hardly anyone knows my name here." "My name's Pedro for those who didn't know." "I'm one of the coordinators for the Public Politics and Social Management" "Training Course." "One of the aims of this development programme is for the young people of the neighbourhood, the young people of Candeal, to be the leaders of this process of local development." "No documented proof exists but over 300 years ago" "Candeal was a "quilombo" where the Ivory Coast royal family lived when its country was enslaved." "And as you all know, a "quilombo"" "is a place where the black community took refuge from the outside world." "And that is how Candeal is today because it is a poor community and it is surrounded by Cidade Jardim and Horto Forestal, which are high-class districts." "So, the Community Development programme devised this Project for the Political Integration of Candeal and participation in the city's political life." "I want you all to think of your hopes for the course." "My desire is that all the hopes expressed here will be met." "Now I'm going to make a ball with my hope and pass it to lima." "She will read hers and make a ball around mine, and in that way we'll make our ball of hopes." "My hope is to gain greater knowledge and depth in the things I know." "My hope is to discover what rights and obligations I have and I'd like to learn more and become a better human being and do more to help my community." "My hope is to learn more about public politics and, above all, about rights." "My hope is to acquire knowledge in order to enrich my part in society and to find new friends, especially new girlfriends." "I'm going to put this ball away and at the end of the course we'll unroll it and see if our hopes were fulfilled." "I'll put it here." "Now everyone walk around the room, relax and forget about everything else." "Now let's try and walk on our heels." "Now let's greet each other with our elbows." "Elbow to elbow." "Now let's greet each other with a handshake." "Just a handshake." "Now let's greet each other with a hug." "And say, "Good morning"." "Now let's greet each other with our nose." "With our nose." "With our nose." "Do it." "It's very important to know how the neighbourhood came into being, who the people that lived here really were, why our streets have the names they have, and to ask ourselves, "Is that the best name?" "Does it represent me and the community"." "She lives here." " Ciete!" " Hey, Ciete!" " Hi." "How are you?" " Fine." "Can we talk to you a minute?" "We're researching the name of this street." " Does it have to be now?" " Yes." "All right." "I'll come down." " Hi." "How are you?" " Fine." " You okay, Carol?" " Yes." ""9th October Street"." "Why is it called that?" "It commemorates a squat." "It was 9th October when we squatted in this area, some other girls and me." "It was a women's struggle." "Women started all this." "We built our shacks here," "City Hall came after us and pulled them down several times." "So we rebuilt them." "They pulled them down three times, but we stood up to the authorities." "And the community stood united." "We held out and managed to occupy this area." "And then we fought for other things for the good of the people, like bringing electricity into the neighbourhood, and water, and sanitation..." "All this is the result of a struggle, a women's struggle." "We put up huge resistance." "And the sacrifice was worthwhile, our struggle was worthwhile." "Now we have homes of our own, which is difficult in this country." " Bebo, maestro." "How are you?" " Fine." " How are you?" " Fine, thank you." "We'd like to invite you to a rehearsal..." " When?" "...of the Hip-Hop Roots." " Yes." " The Hip-Hop Roots." "Tomorrow." "There'll be a good piano there." "Playing with you guys is something I'll remember for the rest of my life." "Playing with you." "For me, you guys are the best rhythm players in the world." "Thanks." "Your generation is this country's future..." "and the world's." "I'll be there tomorrow." "Lucas!" "My name's Felipe de Souza and I'm a musician." "My main instrument is the violin." "I was born in Sao Paulo and I had the privilege of coming from a family of musicians." "I spent some time studying music outside Brazil and when I came back," "I was lucky enough to come to Candeal with an instrument that's kind of legendary here and turned out to be something new." "I remember I brought along a small violin I used to practise with when I was 6 years old." "About ten kids got hold of it and started playing rhythm with it." "Good afternoon." "Good afternoon, Vanzu." "Good afternoon." "And apart from the music, coming back to Brazil was something kind of social." "It's a real pleasure to come back to Brazil and find all this." "It really changed my life." "I hope it's changing their lives too." "For me as a Brazilian, Candeal is like a sanctuary." "Not only because of music but also the community." "Si, lower." "Do." "Re." "Do." "Si." "La." "Yeah, Leo!" "This violin's too big for you." "What do you want to do when you grow up?" "Study." "I want to work." "Yeah, I want to work and study too, so I can live well." "That's the way it should be." "That'd be great." " What do you want to be?" " A doctor." "I want to be a singer... a musician and all that..." "Look how nice the square looks." "Are you coming to the square?" "Oh, I'll go..." "I won't be staying..." "I won't be staying at home." "I want to have fun." "My name's Arinalva Arcanjo Dos Santos, but in the community I'm Tita." "Tita's my "nom de guerre"." "I like being called that and everybody knows me by it." "I'm a descendant ofJosepha de Sant'Ana." "I grew up here and I stayed on here in the community." "I like working with kids." "I've always been a little girl." "I never stopped being a little girl." "I grew up here, matured, became an adult... but I'm still a little girl because I think we're all children at heart." "If you feel like a child then you can't say you're old." "I'd like to ask the Lord to spread his grace over the community of Candeal." "And make the kids who are growing up here strong." "But I'd like them to grow up slowly so that they can enjoy everything the Lord gives and teaches us." "Everything in this world has its day and its hour and I want there to be a blessing in the lives of the kids who live in Candeal." "When I grow up, I want to get a job and have a better future." "To go to university and get a degree in something." "And have a good family, a nice family." "And grow up and become a doctor... or a school principal or an engineer." "I want to be an actress." "I want to study and have a better life." "And help my mother with the money I earn." "I want to get a good education and when I get a job," "I'll buy a house so that my mother will have a better life." "If I grow up," "I'd like to buy things to put in my hair and look good." "There are cobras in there." " And there are birds, monkeys..." " I think that was where the mayor sent some people to clear the plants and erect buildings." "Plants are necessary to keep houses cool." "Because some people don't have electric fans." "I think the mayor was wrong." "The plants should be allowed to live." "People shouldn't mistreat plants." "When you pull a leaf off a plant, what comes out of it?" "Milk." "What comes out of it?" "Water." "What does that water mean?" "That the plant is crying." "If you pull up a capim, there's a lot of roots and those roots are full of water." "And what is that?" "The plant's tears." "So what is the plant?" "The same as a human being." "We should treat plants like we treat people." "Everybody playing the rhythm." "Good afternoon." " How are you doing?" " Fine." "I'm Carlinhos Brown." "I've brought Bebo Valdes to meet Gil." "We made an appointment." "Well, since..." "We may be able to do something." "The most important thing at the moment... comes from people... from young people like him... from their fighting spirit... to change things... the historic debt gets paid between people... between coloured people..." "people of African origin... that made a huge contribution... to the forming of our culture..." "All of it is due very much to a black presence in Cuba and everywhere..." "But I think that maybe in Brazil it's been" " even stronger." " Even stronger." "It's a continent." "That's right." "And maybe... the job... the only job is to share a little more..." " you know...?" " Yes, sir." "...what we produce and what we have and so achieve a social harmony that's stronger within the community, and more intense and maybe that way" "we can have the opportunity to serve as an example... a stronger example, to the rest of the world." "I think that in order to be an example to the Antilles, we need what you've got here, and we need it badly." "You did that song with Capinam..." ""I'm crazy about you, America"." "Beautiful." "That rhythm you were keeping..." "It's typical of Haiti." "Haiti?" "That is Africa." "That is Africa." "Did you know Chano?" "Yes." "Very well." "He was always violent." "He was the kind who got into fights for any reason." "Before, if you carried a weapon..." "If you pulled out a weapon, you had to use it." "Either you used it on somebody..." "or on yourself." "He grew up and became the drummer he is." "He sang in a number of African languages." "You know where "blen bien bien" comes from?" " No, but I'm dying to hear." " The rhythm." "Yes, I can see it." "There it is." "Chano was a genius in his way." "He couldn't read music but he was a great composer, a great dancer..." "A great friend." "Let's put those hands together." "Listen, today the celebration is yours." "The square is marvellous, and it is the community's." "Here comes Timbalada with Carlinhos Brown." "You know whose square this is?" "Ours." " You know whose square this is?" " Ours." " You know whose square this is?" " Ours." "So this square is ours." "I give you the Candeal Philharmonic!" "This is the miracle of Candeal." "A labour of love." "My name's Tatiara." "The kids call me Bin Laden"