MIMOSA
Luiz Felipe Lucas
(2011)
MIMOSA is music, but it goes beyond. Anthropology and musical archaeology rescue the sound and movement of black Brazilian bodies, their rhythms and multiple languages. The project's debut album united artists Mbé, Leyblack Beats, and Luiz Felipe Lucas. The result is a manifesto album on Afro-Brazilian power rhythms, from terreiro to samba, including hip hop, drum'n' bass and the various aspects of Brazilian funk.
The criminalization of funk is the starting point of the research that led the artists to address the historical oppression of Afro-descendant artistic expressions in Brazil. From institutional prejudices — such as an anti-vagrancy law that actually resulted in the illegality of capoeira and other cultural manifestations — they tell a story of silencing. MIMOSA is a project that celebrates the creativity resistance of black music.
MIMOSA is a release by the QTV label, available on the leading platforms.
“Samba was treated as synonymous with vagrancy until the Getúlio Vargas government (1930’s). At that time, carrying a pandeiro (Brazilian tambourine) or any other percussion instrument could lead to up to 30 days in jail. In MIMOSA we found a direct connection with the current funk criminalization and the history of oppression at artistic manifestations of Brazilian African descents”.