Classic Meets Africa - Festival For Interculturalism. A Culture For All

Abstract

This work was developed in the scope of the curricular unit of Intercultural Studies. It consists in the analysis of an intercultural project, chosen by me, according to some concepts covered in this subject. On the past 17th January, in Auditório Municipal de Gondomar, I had the opportunity to attend a concert called Classic meets Africa, which is a festival for interculturality. Its first presentation took place at the Auditório Municipal de Gaia, on 12 December 2015. The concert was opened by the Bonjóia Youth Orchestra, to the sound of violins, violas, cellos, transverse flutes, saxophones, clarinets, trumpets, piano and percussion. Next, the Allatantou dance company came on stage, and to the sound of the djambé and other traditional African precursor instruments, they performed some African dances. The curtains closed and two microphones were placed, Ana Maria Pinto and Zé Beato, the two elements of the group Xinganje & Kaviula, started to interpret their songs with their soul.1 The show culminated with the junction of classical music and African rhythms and dances. As a spectator I can say that it is impossible to remain indifferent to the energy that this festival generates on stage. In this sense, I tried to analyse all the interculturality involved in a different and almost unthinkable project of bringing together two such disparate cultures.