Different Batuque

A People Who Does Not Love And Who Does Not Preserve Its Most Authentic Forms Of Expression Will Never Be A Free People. Thus, Plínio Marcos (1935-1999) Introduces The Song Brasil Welcomes The World With Open Arms, A Classic Of São Paulo Samba Composed And Performed By Zeca Da Casa Verde. The Song Opens The B Side Of The Historic Album Plínio Marcos Em Prosa E Samba – Nas Quebradas Do Mundaréu (1974), Featuring Geraldo Filme, Zeca Da Casa Verde And Toniquinho Batuqueiro – Nas Quebradas Do Mundaréu, 1974.

To Love And Preserve The Unique Samba Produced In São Paulo, Is Highlighted Through Three Of Its Main Composers And Interpreters. This Was, Without A Doubt, Plínio’s Intention With The Album, Whose 50^th Anniversary Is In 2024, And Was The Culmination Of A Series Of Cultural Interventions In Multiple Forms Carried Out By The Playwright, Actor And Cultural Agitator Around And In Favor Of São Paulo’s Batucada, Remaining With Its Potential As A Historical Document And Cultural Influencer Intact, Author Of Brazilian Theater Classics, Such As Dois Perdidos Uma Noite Suja (1966) And Navalha Na Carne (1967), Plínio Marcos Was Passionate About Samba And, More Precisely, Samba From São Paulo.

This Is Also The Intention Of The Different Batuque, 50 Anos Das Quebradas Do Mundaréu Documentary For Tv, A Series That Will Tell The Story And Circumstances Of The Production Of The Record And Of Its Characters And, Through Them, Give Visibility To The Cultural Phenomenon Recorded By Plínio: São Paulo’s Samba. This Is A Unique Musical Style, Which Insists On Remaining Invisible, And Whose Strength And Originality Continue To Be Underestimated In The Brazilian Music Scene And Ignored By The General Public. The Record’s Relevance As A Social, Political And Cultural Phenomenon Remains, In Multiple Forms Still Alive And Vibrant Today.

“The Samba Of São Paulo Came From The Countryside, It Came From The Coffee Yards, It Was The Samba Batuque, The Samba Of Labor, The Samba Do Toco”, Defines Plínio Marcos Defines This Unique Musical Genre And That Is, Even Today, Practically Unknown.

The Album Brought To Light The Origins And Stories Of São Paulo Samba, Recovering African Traditions And How They Were Present In The São Paulo Scene: Variations Such As The Batuque De Umbigada, The Congado, The Reisado, The Pernadas And The Jongos, Of Angolan Origin And Of Bantu Lineage, Performed By The Enslaved And By Former Slaves In The Terreiros Of Coffee Plantations In In The State’s Countryside State And That Coalesced In The Shacks On The Occasion Of Pilgrimages In Region Of Pirapora Do Bom Jesus, In The Metropolitan Region Of São Paulo — Sung, In The Record, By Toniquinho Batuqueiro. And Also The Tiririca, The Capoeira Of São Paulo, More Swaying And Musical, Rocked By The Hallucinating Drumming By The Shoeshine Men In The Sé Region And In The Late Largo Da Banana, Meeting Point Of Blackness And Cradle Of São Paulo Samba, And Which Today Lies Under The Viaduto Do Pacaembú, In Barra Funda — Immortalized By Geraldo Filme In The Record).

Plínio Marcos Saw Art As A Lived Experience — “I Tell The Story Of The Ravines Of The Mundaréu, The World At Large, Where The Wind Licks The Trash And The Pests Lay Their Eggs” — Of A Truly Popular Nature And As An Act Of Affirmation And Of Cultural Resistance, In A Clash Against An Intellectualized And Elitist View Of Culture, In Addition To The Invasion Of Foreign Cultural Production. And He Fought For Art To Provide Sustenance And A Dignified Livelihood For Artists He Brought Together In His Surroundings – Who Were, As A Rule, Economically Excluded And Socially Marginalized.

The Record Thrilled The Eyes And Ears Of A Whole Generation Of Drummers, Composers And Performers Workinged In São Paulo In The 1970’s, As It Aimeding Not Only At The Rhythmic And Specifically Musical Richness Of This Production, But Also At The Territories Where The Drumming Took Place And The Conditions Of Life Of A Mostly Black Population, Excluded Not Only From The Most Basic Conditions Of Citizenship, But Also From The Recognition Of The Grand Role Of Their Art. When He Asksing The Old Guard Of Malandros For Permission For The Batuque Made In São Paulo To Join The Samba Family, In The Very Strong And Beautiful Narrated Introduction That Opens The Record, Plínio Had This In Mind, Above All: The Recognition Of The Strength And Cultural Legitimacy Of An Original Style — The Samba Paulista — And The Visibility And Appreciation Of Its People: The Batuqueiros Of The Metropolis, In Free Transit With The Batuqueiros Of The State’s Coutryside State.
Half A Century Later, Batuque Outros, 50 Anos Das Quebradas Do Mundaréu Renews And Expands This Proposal, Betting On The Strength Of The Audiovisual Format To Take The Message Of The Record To New Generations. And It Intends To Do This By Recovering The History Of The Style, Of The Sambistas And Batuqueiros And Of The Cultural Phenomena That Preceded Them And  Made It Possible; And, From There, By Following The Path Opened By Plínio, Going After The Batuque, Following Its Trail, In  The State’s Countryside And In The Ravines Of The Capital, To The Present Day, In Order To Record It, Alive And Vibrant Through A Myriad Of Drummers And A Multiplicity Of Developments And Styles That Mark Contemporary Musical Production And The São Paulo Scene.