São Paulo – The 24th edition of the traditional Immigrant Fest will feature attractions from 48 different countries, including five Arab ones. Syria, Palestine, Morocco, Iraq and Egypt will be represented at the event, with cuisine, music, dance, handicraft, workshops and storytelling. The festival will take place on June 2, 8 and 9 at the Immigration Museum in São Paulo.
This year’s theme will be “Reconnect with your Roots,” in a celebration of the knowledge and culture of the immigrant and descendant communities that help inform the State of São Paulo. The Museum’s executive director Alessandra Almeida spoke with ANBA. “We want to prompt our audience to reflect about this new migration flow, because immigrant is as relevant and current a topic as ever. Our society needs to deal with it responsibly and generously,” she said.
The event highlights not only historical migrant peoples in São Paulo, but contemporary ones as well – including Venezuelans, Syrians, Mozambicans, Bolivians and Cameroonians. “We want all peoples to feel represented in our event,” said Almeida.
To the director, Arab peoples are second to none. “The Arabs were really important when it came to building the São Paulo identity, and we will portray a bit of the plurality of cultures that made such a big contribution to the development of São Paulo,” she argued.
(Story continues after photo gallery)
Also represented in the festival will be Germany, Armenia, Bolivia, Bulgaria, China, the Republic of the Congo, Spain, Greece, India, Japan, Mexico, Poland and Russia.
And Immigrant Festival attractions cover all age brackets. “Our public is so diverse. We get families, young people, the elderly, and since last year we have embraced the culture of accessibility,” said Almeida. Translation into sign language is available for the workshops and dance lessons, and artistic performances will include audio descriptions. Folders in braille will be handed out, and a team will be available to help the hearing and visually impaired.
The Immigration Museum is run by the Secretariat for Culture and Creative Economy of the São Paulo State Government. The Festival will run from 10am to 6pm, with ticket sales available until 5:30 pm. Tickets go for BRL 10 and half-tickets cost BRL 5. In 2018 (see photo gallery), over 20,000 people attended.
Attractions from Arab countries
Arabs will be involved in various attractions during the three-day event, which will feature 58 food and 29 handicraft stalls, as well as performances by 48 artistic groups.
June 2 (Sunday) at noon, the group Ô, Minha Gente will read children’s book Layla, a Menina Síria, by Rosi Vilas Boas, Cassiana Pizaia and Rima Awada. Morocco’s Sawalef group will play a show at 6pm.
A Bibliaspa performance is slated for Saturday (8) at noon, with a dance class following at half past noon courtesy of Espaço Artístico e Terapêutico Malaika. Later on, at 3:30pm, Palestinian group Arab Productions–Canja will teach a class in Dabkeh – a folk Arab dance – and belly dancing.
On Sunday (9), Agrupamento Teatral will tell the story of the book Azzi in Between, by Sarah Garland, at noon. Cristiane Moreno will teach an Arab handicraft workshop – Vase stands in Macramé – at 2pm. Arab Productions–Canja will play a show at 2:30pm, and Salim Mhanna will teach a workshop on Arab calligraphy.
The full program is available from the Immigration Museum website.
Quick facts
24th Immigrant Fest
June 2, 8 and 9
10am-6pm (tickets available until 5:30)
BRL 5 (half-price), BRL 10 (full)
Immigration Museum
Rua Visconde de Parnaíba, 1.316
Mooca, São Paulo
Near Bresser-Mooca Metro Station
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
