São Paulo – The Brazilian conductor, composer and pianist Francis Hime and his wife, singer Olivia Hime, Brazilian music icons, performed last Sunday (9) at Yarmouk Cultural Centre of the Dar Al-Athar Al-Islamiyyah, in Kuwait, as part of the program for the promotion of Brazilian culture “Waves of Brazil”, organized by Brazil’s embassy in the Arab country.
The couple played standards such as Garota de Ipanema, by Tom Jobim and Vinícius de Moraes, Corcovado, by Jobim, Anoiteceu, by Hime and Vinícius, Insensatez, by Tom and Vinícius, Asa Branca, by Luiz Gonzaga and Humberto Teixeira, Carinhoso, by Pixinguinha and Braguinha, Canção Moura, by Heitor Villa-Lobos and Francisco Mignone, and Vai Passar, by Hime and Chico Buarque.
As Brazil’s ambassador in Kuwait, Norton Rapesta, said to ANBA on Tuesday (11), the audience occupied 375 seats of the 400 available in the theater, among local business owners and authorities, diplomats, Brazilians living in the country “and music lovers in general.”
In addition to the concert, the musicians gave interviews to the radio program Drive Back Show, to newspaper Kuwait Times and to TV network Kuwait TV. “In all of them, they highlighted the richness and variety of Brazilian music,” said the ambassador.
According to Rapesta, the large events hosted by Brazil such as the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics Games increased the interest in the country and its culture.
“The initiative [for the concert] fulfilled its planned goals of resuming the promotion of Brazilian culture in a country lacking a strong local culture production, but which has a very cosmopolitan features and is eager to expand its knowledge for cultural expressions from other parts of the world,” underlined the diplomat.
According to him, the project “Waves of Brazil” aims to promote not only music, but also other Brazilian cultural expressions such as cuisine, visual arts and literature.
The concert was sponsored by Qatar Airways, of Burgan Bank, from Kuwait, of the Yarmouk Cultural Centre and, according to the ambassador, “from a group of friends of music.”
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani