Pernambuco.com has an article (PT) on foreigners “with a Pernambucan accent”, or rather those who came to call Recife their home for various reasons. They hail from places like Venezuela (pictured), the USA, England, Germany and Angola.
Tag Archives: pernambuco
Pernambuco’s literary culture is strong
The Department of Culture of Pernambuco, Fundarpe and the Publishing house CEPE announced the results of the 1st Pernambuco Prize for Literature. Registration in 36 cities in Pernambuco, spread across the four geographical regions of the State, totaled 192 entries. According to the assessment of the Coordinator of Literature of SECULT-PE, Wellington de Melo, the numbers demonstrate the importance of the award.
The big winner is from the Sertão: Bruno Guimarães Liberal, with the storybook “Olho Morto Amarelo”, receiving the R$ 20,000 prize. Other winners were Delmo Montenegro, with the book of poems “Recife, no hay”; Fenando Monteiro, with the novel “O Livro de Corintha”; Joseph Walter Moreira dos Santos, with the storybook “O metal de que somos feitos” and Jeilson José Ferreira da Silva, with the book of poems “Discursos e Anatomias”, receiving R$ 5,000 each. Everyone will receive a first edition made by CEPE.
There were two judging committees composed of writers, scholars and literary critics.
Winners – The results of the award reveal the diversity of literary production in the state. Among the winners are all genres – short stories, novels and poetry – and the works are from the four geographical regions, from cities like Petrolina, Recife, Passira and Vitoria de Santo Antao. “We were very pleased with the results, which show the high level of literary production in the state in all its regions,” said Ricardo Melo, Director of Production and Editing for CEPE.
The winners will have their books published this year by CEPE and participate, in return for the award, in activities within the Literature Secult-PE/Fundarpe schedule of events. Besides the five winners, fifteen other works received honorable mention and their authors will also be invited to perform activities within the Pernambuco Nação Cultural Festival. Check out the full list of winners.
Winners
Grand Prize (R$20,000)
“Olho morto amarelo”, Bruno Guimarães Liberal (Petrolina)
Prizes (R$5 mil)
“O livro de Corintha”, Fernando Antônio de Barros Monteiro (Recife)
“Recife, no hay”, Delmo Montenegro da Silva Júnior (Recife)
“O metal de que somos feitos”, José Walter Moreira dos Santos (Vitória de Santo Antão)
“Discursos e Anatomias”, Jeilson José Ferreira da Silva (Passira)
The Honorable Mentions came mostly from Recife, but also from Capoeiras, Paulista, Olinda, Serra Talhada and Surubim. - Source (PT)
Filed under Events, Government, Literature, Pernambuco
Pernambuco’s abandoned hotels
“They were supposed to become symbols of leisure in Pernambuco, but fell through the cracks due to bureaucratic interference and so, throughout the years, the unfinished hotels and flats became ash-colored parts, from North to South, that don’t match well with the vistas of the colorful coastline of Pernambuco. Dormant to tourism and with obsolete architectural projects to be incorporated easily into the current hotel boom in the state, the buildings have assumed other uses within the spacial occupation of the beaches, becoming anywhere from residences to locales to sell drugs.
In the last five years, Pernambuco started receiving investments again from groups that are interested in building new hotels, accounting for 14,700 new beds between 2012 and 2014. The economic moment cooled a previous 15 year blackout period in the sector, when 18 estabilishments were closed down, according to the state’s “Brazilian Association of the Hotel Industry (ABIH-PE)”.
The newspaper Diario, however, has taken the path opposing that of tourists and businessmen by scanning the coastline in search of telling the stories behind the hotel endeavors that today stand in ruins.” – Diario (in PT, more here)
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Info from Diario’s report
• 34 hotels are being built and amplified between 2012 and 2014 in Pernambuco
• 14 hotels are set to be in operation by 2014
• 6 should be ready in 2013
There will be 5,917 “Habitational Units” (UHS) and 14,792 new beds, with:
• 1,960 UHS in Recife
• 2,737 in the Litoral Sul
• 354 in the Litoral Norte
• 866 in the Interior
Global flux of tourists
for Pernambuco in 2012 – 4,782,694
Average stay per tourist
for Pernambuco in 2012 – 7.3 days
Types of Lodging in Pernambuco (By Sept/2012)
• Hotels – 321
• Apart Hotels – 18
• B&Bs – 610
• Other estabilishments (Pensions, inns, hostels…) – 165
Total beds in Pernambuco in 2012
71,570 (By Sept/2012)
Source: Setur-PE and ABIH-PE
Filed under Architecture, Business, Green, Pernambuco
Costs of 2013 Carnival in Recife
This week, Diário Oficial do Recife published the costs involved in hiring certain performers from playing their music in Recife’s recent Carnival. The non-local Brazilian artists received significantly more, of course, than the local ones invited to play.
First, it’s always important to keep in mind that the minimum wage in Brazil, as of this year, will reach R$678 (per month) and that one-third of all Brazilians earn just this amount. Now, on to the figures…
Alcione - R$195,000 for one show.
Titãs – R$180,000 for two shows.
Jorge Aragão – R$137,500 for one show.
Devotos (local) – R$12,000 for one show.
Maracatus (local) – R$2,000 to R$3,000 per show.
By the way, that means for a few hours of work Alcione got paid the minimum wage 288 times over (or, R$678 x 288). Looking through the official finances that the gov’t put out, most performers were paid around R$1,500 to R$2,000 per show, and there were a total of 1,500 performances during the four days of Carnival. Doing a little math tells me that the city paid around R$3 million total to local performers.
In total, Recife’s Carnival (including publicity) cost the city close to R$32 million (of that, R$400,000 in prizes were given out over 11 contests). Other figures, according to the mayor’s office, state that 718,000 tourists came to the city, they accounted for 95% hotel occupancy and spent on average R$485 (I’m not sure if that’s daily or if it even includes hotel but it very likely includes Brazilians from other cities). All in all, Recife’s Carnival generated R$603 million in financial transactions.
- Source 1
- Source 2
- Diário Oficial (boring gov’t numbers)
Filed under Carnival, Government, News
Ó Xente, Pois Não – Short Documentary
Ô Xente, Pois Não is a documentary by Joaquim Assis from 1973 about farmers in Salgadinho, near Garanhuns, Pernambuco. The film resulted in long and free-flowing conversations with around 10 families that do their best against all sorts of difficulties, among them the drought. The point of the ‘short’ is to pass along to the viewer the knowledge of the farmers and the fraternity that binds them.
Filed under Film, Pernambuco
Caboclo de Lança – The Warrior
The caboclo de lança (mestizo with a spear) is a folkloric warrior figure from Pernambuco, tied to the cultural manifestations of Carnival and of Maracatu Rural. It is considered by many to be one of the principal symbols of Pernambucan culture. The other lesser-known names one might hear are lanceiro africano (African spear thrower), caboclo de guiada (another name for lança is guiada) or guerreiro de Ogum (an Ogum warrior).
Its origin is the result of a mixture of Afro-indigenous cultures with other popular manifestations, like Bumba-meu-boi, Caboclinhos, Cavalo-marinho, and Folia de Reis, which can all be found in Pernambuco.
Until the 1920s, the caboclos de lança, mostly workers in sugarcane plantations, did not arouse much interest or fascination since they lived and paraded in the inner cities of Pernambuco. In the 1930s, there was a the decline of the sugarcane mills and, with it, the growth of industrialization and modernization of the economy. This resulted from the Revolution of 1930 and thus brought about the displacement of people from the countryside to the cities and the coast. With those people, the rich traditions of the Zona da Mata (sugarcane region) arrived in Recife, including (and especially during Carnival), Maracatu Rural and its colorful characters.
(Source)
The ritual that precedes the presentation of the caboclo de lança, whether in the countryside or in the city, involves ceremonies that happen on sacred land (terreiros). They include the blessing of the spears and the flower that goes in the caboclo’s mouth, the consecration of the calunga (a doll representing divinity, held by the Bahian figure in the parade), and also a promise (by the man) of sexual abstinence, which starts a few days before Carnival.
For more info, here is a great blog (in PT) by Anna Anjos called Cocada Preta which, towards the bottom, speaks about Maracatu, including how it ties into African religions. Each post of hers is like a dissertation, and only for those who really want to dig in. Also, if you want to learn about the making of the outfit, you can check out a very small section (from 22:10 – 23:30) of this documentary (PT).
Filed under Carnival, Folklore, Music & Dance, Pernambuco
The Death and Life of Severino
“Morte e Vida Severina” (translated in part by Elizabeth Bishop as “The Death and Life of Severino”), João Cabral de Melo Neto‘s most famous work, is a very long narrative poem (in most editions over 80 pages long) that describes the life of a poor rural man in the dry northeastern part (more specifically, Pernambuco) of Brazil.
Filed under Film, Literature, People, Pernambuco
RioMar – The Walking Dead
In an effort to make this blog more real life than touristic in nature, I believe it a good idea to poke fun at certain aspects of the local culture. Call it “keeping it real”, if you will.
With the recent inauguration of Recife’s newest shopping mall, RioMar, a few people on the internet caught wind of some videos of the opening day and got creative with them. Below is one such video which, at one point, shows people being trampled on the escalator in order to feed their need to consume (this happens in the US too, principally during what is known as ‘Black Friday’, after Thanksgiving). The video reminded me of a clip from the film They Live, which I’ll post a link to below also.
Clip from They Live
Pernambucan Music Portal
As you might know, Pernambuco is full of artistic talent (though, historically I’m not sure why) and it’s what makes Recife one of Brazil’s true cultural capitals, along with Rio, São Paulo and Salvador. The state government together with Fundarpe created a cool little web portal for discovering musicians from Pernambuco. It’s simply called Música de Pernambuco. Check it out!
(Once I get audio working on my computer again, I’ll definitely have to explore this site and find some more favorite bands.)
Filed under Government, Music & Dance, Reference, Tech
Escola do Frevo – Pernambuco
Here’s a Frevo school in Pernambuco which won 2nd place at an international dance contest in New York. Excellent stuff!
Filed under Music & Dance
