The official opening of the 28th edition of Sonora Brasil, a Brazilian music festival that tours the country, will be held on the 19th and 20th of June, in the city of Santarém, in Pará. With the theme “Afro and Indigenous Reverberations”, the national tour, which is organized by Sesc, will visit 42 cities, in 15 states, with new shows. On Friday (19), Sesc Santarém will have shows by Gean Ramos Pankararu and Suraras do Tapajós. On Saturday (20), the program takes place at Praça Tiradentes, with performances by Nderé Oblé and Cabokaji. Throughout the year, these artists will make a total of 130 presentations and 30 training activities across the country. Related news: Free exhibition with 67 artists takes place in Parque Glória Maria in Rio. SP: In-Edit festival begins with more than 50 music documentaries. Rio Art Museum displays an exhibition by South African artist Zanele Muholi. Originally from Nheengatu, an indigenous language of the Tupi-Guarani branch, the word “suraras” ─ which means warrior or warrior ─ is used as a cry of resistance. The Suraras do Tapajós group emerged from this context of mobilizations, which ended with music circles formed by indigenous women to the rhythm of carimbó, traditional from Pará. "Today, we have already gained great prominence in the cultural scene and in Brazilian music itself. This strengthens us as indigenous women, as defenders of the territory, because firstly we want to take our message in defense of the territories, in defense of women", said Marina Arapiun, member of Suraras do Tapajós. >> Follow the Agência Brasil channel on WhatsApp She highlights that working in music is part of the indigenous resistance to guarantee rights. "Every year we suffer an attack. We are in a continuous fight, always, but the fight doesn't just have to be arduous. At the beginning of the year, they wanted to privatize the Tapajós River, and it was a very intense and very exhausting fight, and we managed to prevent that from happening", he recalled.  "The carimbó is also to strengthen the indigenous movement. You spend the whole day there in the hot sun, facing sun and rain, and, at night, you want to have a moment of rest, of joy", explained Marina.  For Suraras do Tapajós, the formation of all women contributed to the deconstruction of the logic in which musicians were men, while women could only be dancers. "From our group, other groups of women and indigenous women have also emerged. So, I think it ends up being a reference", said Marina. "[The group] ends up breaking this paradigm that carimbó was traditionally dominated by men. It is the first carimbó group formed only by women, and indigenous women. By occupying these places, we subvert this logic, bringing the female voice to the center of the cultural scene."   Suraras from Tapajós perform in Sonora Brasil. Photo: Bruna Callegari/Disclosure For Samara Borari, also a member of the group, the Sonora Brasil festival is a way of showing the ancestry of indigenous peoples through carimbó. “People say a lot that it is regional music, but carimbó has already spread, it is no longer just regional music, it is Brazilian music.” "It's also an opportunity to share our art, with this musical circulation. It's an initiative that promotes meetings of [groups from] different territories, we can dialogue with audiences from different regions, not only sharing our [knowledge], but also learning", added Samara. Listener training Sonora Brasil is one of Sesc's longest-running projects, created in 1998 to promote the dissemination of Brazilian music and cultural manifestations. “It is a project that focuses on training musical listeners and providing the [public] with knowledge of their own cultural richness and diversity,” said Leonardo Minervini, interim manager of Culture at the National Department of Sesc. Each artist or group will have 30 to 40 performances across all regions of the country throughout the year. “It is a very dynamic, very lively project, which responds to demands according to the different contexts of Brazilian culture”, he explained. According to him, the festival organization works to ensure that cultural diversity is always represented and, with each edition, brings news from the music scene to the project. Discover more attractions Gean Ramos Pankararu (PE), a contemporary indigenous musician, who connects indigenous and black ancestries in his work, is also part of this year's tour. The artist also brings educational actions aimed at valuing indigenous knowledge in his career. The group Cabokaji (BA) combines indigenous and Afro-Brazilian references with electronic and dance rhythms, with a performance that involves music, body and ritual elements. In the show, there is reference to communities such as Xukuru-Kariri (AL) and Fulni-ô (PE), as well as discussions about territoriality and historical and environmental repair. Nderé Oblé (RS) brings together artists from Rio Grande do Sul, the Federal District and Ivory Coast. The group's proposal is to create bridges between ancestry and the future through music, word and body, within the contemporary Afro and indigenous music circuit.