Sérgio Gordilho, chief creative officer, Africa
Brazil’s creative force always came from the streets, from the sidewalks along our beaches, from the murals on the outskirts of town, from little neighbourhood fields in small towns, from the hills of favelas.
That’s where football with style, bossa nova and Oscar Niemeyer’s inspiring curves came from.
Brazil is an island. On a distant southern hemisphere. Isolated and surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and with Spanish-speaking countries on all sides.
The islands get winds from all sides.
For a long time, these winds reached us in closed formats. It was the "copy/paste" era. A foreigner invasion of rhythms, styles, songs, films.
Financial power and distance that did not give us access to information made the adoption of foreign models a violation of our creativity. It was a relation of domination. Everything good was from abroad. Brazilian self-esteem down.
That was until the winds of technological revolution that democratised the use of devices and technology. Everything became possible, easy.
The winds that devastated, like great hurricanes, now become a breeze that ventilates with inspiration the creativity of each Brazilian.
We entered the "merge" era.
In music, we have the rhythms from the north, which were native and made with wind instruments, mixing with American rap beats and becoming tecno brega (cheesy techno). Gaby Amarantos is the first lady.
From the hills of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo’s coast, we have Emicida and Criolo creating a new kind of hip hop.
In the arts, there is an explosion on all sides. Global art but with total Brazilian background: Vik Muniz, Speto, Os Gêmeos, Adriana Varejão, Beatriz Milhazes, the Campana brothers, Kobra, Henrique Oliveira, Ernesto Neto, Marcelo Jácome etc.
In cinema, City Of God brought the language of American action film to the context of our stories, our scenarios. There was an avalanche of great films: Elite Squad, Faroeste Caboclo, Gonzaga: De Pai Pra Filho etc.
In the year when football is coming back to where it is most at home, the world will see a country still full of contrasts, but proud and full of strength to show its dreams. A country unafraid to show off.
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