Margareth Menezes Talks July 2024 London Show, Musical Memories And More

Jul 11, 2024 | Interviews

Words by Glenn Sargeant

Photo Credit: José de Holanda

Margareth Menezes –One of the most powerful voices in Brazilian music – teams up with Ilê Aiyê for a special night celebrating Afro-Brazilian music and culture at London’s Barbican on Friday 26th July 2024. She very graciously spoke to JLTT about the show, her musical memories and more:

You will join Ilê Aiyê for a special night celebrating Afro-Brazilian music and culture at the Barbican in London on Friday, July 26, 2024. How did this opportunity come about, and how do you feel about the show?

Margareth Menezes – First of all, I want to say that it will be great to return to London. It’s been many years since the last time I performed there, so my anticipation is immense. Regarding Ilê Aiyê, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, it was the first Afro-Brazilian carnival group in Bahia. As a contemporary Bahian singer, I have known Ilê Aiyê’s work for a long time; we have had many encounters on stage, including outside of Brazil. This time, there will be two shows, and each group will perform their own set, but it’s always great to be alongside Ilê Aiyê.

When and how did you first encounter Ilê Aiyê?

As I mentioned, I am a Bahian singer with 37 years of career, so I know how influential the work of Ilê Aiyê and other Afro-Brazilian carnival groups in Bahia has been, inspiring a whole generation of artists and other contemporary Afro-Brazilian groups. I have had the opportunity to record songs that have been themes for Ilê Aiyê, as well as participate in their shows at the Cultural Center Senzala do Barro Preto, which is Ilê Aiyê’s home in Salvador.

You are also the Minister of Culture of Brazil, having joined the Lula administration on January 1, 2023. What does your work involve, and what are some cultural recommendations for visitors to Brazil?

I feel immensely honored to be part of the democratic reconstruction of Brazil at this moment. Just like the rest of the world, we are in a fierce battle to preserve democracy in our country. The tour happens during my ministerial holidays. Right now, I am very focused on music. It has been a rare moment for me to be able to perform, but I cannot abandon my career and everything I have built through singing. When I am performing, I don’t mix other matters.

Regarding recommendations, Brazil has many beautiful places and incredible cultural diversity. In all Brazilian regions, you can experience very rich cultural manifestations. Nowadays, we see many series produced in Brazil, with Brazilian themes, that have delighted people on entertainment channels. Also in literature, both classical and modern, Brazilian culture always has and will always have its prominence, precisely because of its wonderful diversity, full of mysteries, humor, dramas, social conflicts, natural beauties, and a very friendly people.

How would you describe your musical style and when did you start playing it?

The music I create is contemporary Afro-Brazilian music, which carries my percussive roots and all the influence of modern expression, urban music from the Tropicália generation, the music of the native Afro-indigenous keys of Bahia. Bahia, the place where I was born, is a true cultural melting pot of an immense range of intersecting rhythmic keys. This diversity naturally permeates our expression. If you open yourself within this artistic context and connect with this flow, you absorb everything that is possible in this rich environment. It’s not simple, but if you are born an artist in Bahia, you understand the opportunity of living in a place that expands our perception, our talent. This is because it offers an immense variety of possibilities for expressing music in its rhythmic and thematic forms. For a performer, this expands our delivery. “My home is Bahia, but the world is my place,” “I may even change the world, but I can’t change myself,” that is, Bahia lives in me, so wherever I go, my expression is genuine from my land. Regardless of the music I sing, it carries the mark of my Afro-Bahian identity, and I am very proud of that.

What is your oldest musical memory?

The oldest musical memory is something very ancestral to me; my way of relating to life is not restricted to just this time. I have learned that within me, I can access expansion. I think we waste a lot of time when we are absolutely stuck in the present, in material aspects. Understanding that we have the power to find answers within us, in places we can access from our memories, is a fantastic gift. Memory belongs to the spirit; it is a condition that travels through time with each of us. So I have given myself the opportunity to exercise, to want to enter into contact, to stimulate this contact in myself. That’s why for me, it’s very difficult to speak about music in terms of choosing something about it. I look, listen, and contemplate life, seeking to go beyond this moment. The dynamics that art has and brings to me are timeless and at the same time, ancestral and futuristic. But what is futuristic for me may not be for you. So, my reference to the future, my expectation, is that we can return to a healthier, more fraternal, and more humane relationship. Therefore, everything that talks about rebuilding, reuniting, rescuing, forgiving, restarting, reconstructing, reviewing, reliving, reflecting, interests me greatly. As humans, we need to have the courage to admit that we make mistakes and get things right, and that we can also correct our course.

How do you take care of your voice?

Lately, I have been singing less and have not been giving as much attention to my vocal care as it deserves. I am aware that my voice is my treasure, and I am very thankful to God for that.

Do you have recent release plans and what are the other scheduled live shows?

This tour is very special! We will have seven shows in six European countries from July 21 to July 30, and besides London, we will visit Slovenia, Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium. As for releases, we are preparing a new EP that is expected to be released later this year, focusing on the summer of 2025.

What makes Margareth Menezes happy, and what makes you unhappy?

MM – The feeling I carry with me that always makes me very happy is the pursuit of peace! I suffer in seeing the suffering of other people, the lack of love and fraternity, the lack of sensitivity, pity for people who are suffering all over the world. In Brazil, we have a serious issue of racism that kills thousands of young Black people in the peripheries. Indigenous peoples are still violently persecuted. There is a worldwide insensitivity to human life, an insane war. Nowadays, with screens, in many moments, human life has simply become a way to increase interaction. I think that those who can genuinely, through words, promote powerful reflections to truly transform the being, are superior. The level of power that when accessed is like rain on dry land, makes hope reverberate in the heart, like the blooming of a flower in the desert. The power of words and art does this. The word has the key to open hearts, and in art, music is one of these conduits. However, for this to happen, we must be open to living these new positive experiences, propose to understand that deep down, very deep down, every human being, or at least the majority of us, are born with the same expectations to live, and we have many more possibilities to find happiness by changing how we see life — this makes a huge difference.