São Paulo – If you happen to be in Rio de Janeiro from March 10th to 12th, you can have a closer look at Lebanese art and cuisine. The Brazil-Lebanon Culture Institute (ICBL), in partnership with the Lebanese League in Brazil, will hold the event “Se Liga no Líbano” (Get Hip to Lebanon, in a free translation), a three-day program featuring photo exhibits, workshops on cuisine, music and dance, debates, films and other activities and services.
“It’s a set of manifestations designed to retrieve, revalue, spread the values and tradition of Lebanese cuisine and art in Brazil,” said ICBL vice president and cultural director Katia Chalita.
The director claimed that today in Brazil, there are two Lebanons’ worth of Lebanese people, and the event will revive the tradition and symbology of the Arab country, which some of the descendants lose touch with as time goes by. “The second and third generations have little to no contact with their ancestors’ culture,” she says.
The event opens in the late afternoon on Thursday (10th) with ICBL president Nelson Mufarrej Filho, and the president of the Lebanese League in Brazil, Roger Hanna Bassil, plus the opening of the photo exhibition “Mahjar – Lebanese Immigration in Brazil,” by the writer and researcher Roberto Khatlab, featuring images of immigrants upon arrival and after settling in Brazilian cities.
The following two days will feature cuisine workshops with chef Nicolas Habre of the Amir restaurant, a folk dance workshop with Gaby Shiba and a folk music workshop with Jaffer Swamani and Ruda Brauns. The workshops will be coordinated by Nami Hanna, the vice president for Culture of the Lebanese League in Brazil.
The schedule also includes screenings of Lebanese films like Caramel, by Nadine Labaki. Cultural director Chalita says the titles were chosen on the basis of awards won or good public acceptance, and that films are a path to learning about a foreign culture. Only one film, Ziad Doueiri’s West Beirut, will be subtitled in English. The others will feature Portuguese subtitles.
Saturday will feature an ecumenical benediction in Aramaic, Greek, Portuguese and Arabic, by Maronite, Orthodox, Melkite and Muslim priests, followed by a breakfast. Later that day, a typical Lebanese lunch will be served. Both meals are for guests and workshop enrollees. The workshops are the event’s only paid activity.
Besides the films and workshops, on Saturday there will be a roundtable discussion on the legacy of Lebanese people in Brazil, their culture and the perspectives for descendants. The speakers will be Muna Omran, a Language professor at the Fluminense Federal University, Murilo Meihy, a History professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and Katia Chalita, plus the moderator Nami Hanna.
A closing cocktail party for guests and workshop enrollees will be held on Saturday at 6pm. Throughout the event, the Consulate General of Lebanon to Rio de Janeiro will be answering questions regarding nationality and other topics. Books for children, teens and adults by the Lebanese publisher Hachette Antoine will be available from a stand, in Arabic and other languages, including French.
All activities will take place at the headquarters of the Lebanese League in Brazil, a traditional organization representing Lebanese culture in the country, especially in Rio de Janeiro. According to Katia Chalita, 200 to 300 people are expected to attend.
Event Se Liga no Líbano
From March 10th to 12th, 2016 at the Lebanese League in Brazil
Av. Melo Matos, 29 – Tijuca – Rio de Janeiro – RJ
Additional information: http://www.icbl.com.br/seliganolibano/ (in Portuguese)
Free of charge (except workshops)
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
