The Brazil-Lebanon Cultural Center and the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce have the pleasure to invite you to an online talk and live music, with the winner of the 2019 UNESCO-Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture Silvia Antibas, historian, curator & Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce Cultural director; featuring the Brazilian musician Valtinho Cayuella.

Silvia is going to talk about the influence of Arab culture in the formation of Brazilian music. This Arab influence reached Brazil long before the first waves of Syrian-Lebanese immigrants to Brazil, in the 19th century. At first, in the 16th century, the Iberians (Portuguese and Spanish) took their music to America, with Moorish sounds and tones, already impregnated in their songs. Subsequently, the slaves - many of them Muslims (mainly males) - prayed and sang in Arabic. This mix of African music with Arab influence, with specific instruments, definitely shaped Brazilian rhythms, the most typical being samba, among others. Finally, with the arrival of immigrants from the Middle East in the 19th century, this symbiosis happened naturally. Fully integrated into Brazilian society, the Arabs and their descendants are present all over the country and in typical Brazilian rhythms or in other genres: carnival marchinhas, samba, bossa nova, classical, jazz, opera, sertanejo, rock, MPB, etc...