The first day of Virada Cultural in São Paulo this Saturday was marked by protests against President Jair Bolsonaro of the PL and concerts by Margareth Menezes, Gloria Groove and Criolo.
The bitter campaign between Bolsonaro and the PT’s Lula has heated up some of the concerts at the event. Planalto’s denial about the pandemic and vaccination has also drawn criticism from singers and the public.
On the Praça das Artes, in the center of the city, rapper Don L said this was the “Virada da Vacina”. At the end of the song “Éldwood,” the rapper asked the audience to make an “L” with their hand in reference to his name, a gesture that can also be taken as a mention of Lula, and then declared, “Sure, if not, if we had a genocidal president, there would be a lot more people here with us.”
Other themes emerged throughout the night. For example, violence against women has been cited by Margareth Menezes and Sidney Magal.
“It is not common in a society to kill as many women as in our country,” said the singer. “And it’s not poverty. There are places where there is poverty, but people don’t kill each other like in Brazil. We have to solve this problem. It is not only a question of politics, but also of social behavior. Let’s respect each other.” . change.”
Menezes put on one of the best shows this Saturday, turning the Viaduto do Chá stage, the main stage of Virada Cultural in downtown São Paulo, into a carnival.
Some brawls, muggings and cell phone thefts broke out in the areas near the stage. But despite the focus of confusion, the general mood of the show was calm.
She performed hits like “Faraó”, “Me Abraça e Me Beija”, “Frevo Mulher” and made the audience jump to the sounds of “Dandalunda”, a composition by Carlinhos Brown that is one of the classics of her repertoire.
When he indicated that he was closing the show, the audience shouted “One more” in sheer glee.
On stage in Itaquera, east, Gloria Groove mixed the funk that made her a rock star, a fusion she knew right there, on the streets of Vila Formosa, where she grew up and still lives today.
The performance culminated with “Vermelho,” produced from a chorus of “Mina de Vermelho,” by MC Daleste, who was shot dead in 2013.
Gloria Groove, or GG, as the drag queen singer is called in the audience, also played her first hits like “Bumbum de Ouro”. The 2017 song began her process of breaking the LGBTQIA+ bubble to embrace all pillars of pop culture, including open television, where the singer won “Show dos Famosos” in December.
However, not everyone in the audience was able to see and hear the entire performance. The deep tone was only fully heard from the first 50 meters in front of the stage, which was less than a third of the audience.
And the steep terrain of the Praça Brasil where the stage was installed created hordes of hundreds of people, one blocking the view of the other. Some climbed onto their boyfriend’s shoulders, others climbed the trees, and there were even those who stopped watching the show.
Closing the night on the Parada Inglesa stage in the North Zone, Criolo started the show almost an hour late, during which the audience yelled at Bolsonaro.
A crowd awaited the singer, who opened the show with “Blacks Gaining Money Bothers Too Much,” along with DJ DanDan, with whom he sang along on most of the songs.
Right at the beginning of the show, Criolo took part in a political demonstration, in a speech full of sarcasm and against the Virada’s own organization. “If you can get on the priest’s Instagram [Júlio] Lancellotti, it’s going to be so interesting,” he said, referring to the allegations made by the religious against the city of São Paulo.
According to Lancellotti, the organization offered homeless people a lunch box and R$60 for 12 hours of work setting up the stages for the event. Criolo repeated the line and asked his show’s Libras performer to emphasize the message well. The city denies wrongdoing.
The political atmosphere was also present among the public, who more than once chanted “Hey Bolsonaro, go, take your ass” and “olê, olê, olá, lula, lula” in unison.
Released earlier this month, Sobre Viver, an album that marks Criolo’s return to rap after years in the MPB scene composed the setlist with songs like “Diário do Kaos”, “Aprendendo a Sobreviver”, “Moleques São Boys, there are children too” and “Anyone who plants love here will die”.