Salgueiro will focus on the Yanomami essence and not on the tragedy, says enredista

A year ago, a series of government actions were announced to address a humanitarian tragedy that had been going on for some years in the Yanomani Indigenous Land, in the far north of Brazil. The crisis, related to the

advancement of illegal mining

in the region, it resulted in hunger, contamination and an alarming increase in different diseases, especially malaria. According to data from the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples, in 2022 alone, 99 ethnic children under the age of five died, in most cases due to malnutrition, pneumonia and diarrhea.

The repercussion of the tragedy generated national commotion and sensitized Salgueiro leaders. The samba school in Rio de Janeiro

will take to this year's Carnival parade the Hutukara plot. It will be the third group to cross Marquês de Sapucaí on Sunday, February 11th. But Igor Ricardo, Salgueiro's manager, warns: the focus will not be on the humanitarian crisis.

“We will even address the tragedy at a specific moment in the parade, but the parade is not about the tragedy. The parade is about the essence of the Yanomami people. Who truly are the Yanomani people? On television, the Yanomami only appear when they broadcast news about malaria or the impacts of mining on their lands. That is not indigenous. It is the result that the actions of miners and outsiders generate among the indigenous people. But what do these people do? What does it feed on? How do they work?”

A Yanomani Land It occupies more than 9 million hectares and extends across the states of Roraima and Amazonas. It is the largest indigenous reserve in the country. The results of the 2022 Census released by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) indicate that

more than 27 thousand indigenous people live in this area.

The main reference for the development of the plot was the book The Fall of Heaven, written by the Yanomani shaman Davi Kopenawa and the French anthropologist Bruce Albert. The work was released in France in 2010 and had its first edition translated into Portuguese in 2015.

“The Yanomami are an unknown people to us. Anyone who reads the book will discover a fantastic universe. Translating this to the parade is difficult, it was complex. Carnival already has a long tradition of talking about black people, people with African roots. And over time, we became familiar with each other. We have greater knowledge, for example, about Oxum, about Ogun. But we still lack knowledge about indigenous peoples. Developing this Salgueiro plot, I actually realized that we know almost nothing about indigenous culture”, observes Igor.

The plotter states

that, on Indian Day, celebrated annually on April 19, schools usually organize presentations by children dressed in headdresses or skirts with feathers. According to him, these representations often occur based on stereotypes. In recent years, especially on social media, there have also been heated discussions surrounding the tradition of wearing costumes with indigenous accessories during Carnival. Critics see it as disrespectful to the culture of these people, while others consider it to be a tribute.

For the plotter, one of Salgueiro's missions is to show that there is diversity among indigenous people, highlighting specificities. To achieve this, there is an effort to be as faithful as possible to the Yanomami representation. Davi Kopenawa himself was at the shed to give his opinion on the costumes.

“We are trying our best to respect the Yanomami as they are. It's their specific body paint, it's their headdress, it's the accessories they wear on their arms. Salgueiro is worrying a lot about this. We are very safe because we tried the entire time to be guided by the eyes of the Yanomami themselves. Sculptures that will be in Salgueiro’s car were referenced in images made in the village itself”, says Igor.

The parade will also present Yanomami mythology, cultural practices and daily activities. “David Kopenawa says that for you to respect a people, you need to truly know them. So it is an invitation to the world to truly get to know the Yanomami people, who have suffered so much due to the actions of the white man.”

At the end of the parade, this invitation will be extended so that the public can also try to get to know populations of other ethnicities. “These are people who fight to preserve their language, fight against deforestation, against drug trafficking, against the risk of eviction. But we seek to show each of these people through the particularities of each of them. Not because of the tragedy, but because of the unique and exclusive beauty they have.”

Igor gives an example. “The Xoklengs have appeared a lot in the media due to their leading role in the resistance against the Marco Temporal thesis. But doesn't the news highlight who the Xoklengs are? So, for example, they have a tradition of making a nettle cloak. As they are in Santa Catarina, they need a lot of protection against the cold in winter. And they produce a very characteristic mantle. And we will represent them in the parade with this mantle.”

Yanomami World

The word Hutukara, title of the plot, is translated by Igor as forest-land. He warns, however, of the complexity of the meaning of the term. In 2013, during a conference held at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) and documented in a publication by the institution, Davi Kopenawa offered a more in-depth explanation.

“We, the Yanomami people, have known for many years, more than five hundred years, what our father called Hutukara. Hutukara is a land, the white man calls it 'world', others speak the word 'universe'. This is how white people talk, white people say the world is round. For us, indigenous people here in Brazil, other indigenous peoples, each one calls it different: some call it Hutukara, others call it Tupã, others call it different, but it's the same. It
's just one Hutukara. And we are sitting here in the belly of our motherland. Hutukara is together with the stone, earth, sand, river, sea, sun, rain and wind. Hutukara is a body, a body that is united, it cannot be separated”, said the shaman.

To portray the Yanomami world in a more reliable way, language has been Salgueiro's focus. The plot synopsis makes use of several words from the Yanomami language, many of which were also used in samba-enredo.

Ya fear xoa! Hey, hey! Ya fear xoa! Hey, hey!.

A

music

is signed by eight composers. “There are people who have an easier time working with melody, others have an easier time with poetry. But everyone does a little bit of everything. Our partnership, thank God, is well served by both poets and musicians”, explains one of them, Marcelo Motta.

In his view, the composition sounds like a manifesto. “We can no longer accept that human beings are victims of exploitation on their lands, causing damage to their lives and their families. The message is a true manifesto in favor of the original peoples and against the greed of the white man, against destructive mining, against the exploitation of the lands that belong to those people”, he says.

According to Marcelo Motta, the samba-enredo production process involved immersion in the Yanomami world. “Each of the composers went deeper individually as well. I watched documentaries, interviews with Davi Kopenawa on social media. And then we held meetings where everyone brought their ideas.”

The result pleased the plotter Igor. “The Yanomami don’t speak Portuguese in the village. The Yanomami have their own language. And the samba-enredo was very happy to bring Yanomami expressions that very few people know. And due to the visibility that carnival has, it will generate interest in this language”, he assesses.

Parade

Igor highlights that this research work was embraced with enthusiasm by everyone involved in the construction of this year's parade. Although the book A Queda do Céu was its main guide, other content also became a reference for preparing the plot synopsis.

He claims to have already read 15 works and five articles, in addition to having watched several videos. Igor needs to deliver the defense of the plot to the panel of judges and, therefore, continues reading other materials to support his arguments.

“Today I consider that I can understand, that I can talk to people about Yanomami culture. It was an intense process of research and study because everything was very new. And we will show it. It will be a tour through the Yanomami universe, which has a very rich mythology. The parade begins by showing Omama, who is the God of creation”, he says.

Salgueiro will also highlight the importance of fishing and hunting as daily practices, as well as the work of women in the fields and harvesting fruits and especially peach palm, which is characteristic of the Amazon. “We are going to portray the Puninha Festival. But it is important to highlight that we will show the daily life of a village, the largest in Yanomani Land. Because there are more than 200 villages spread throughout the territory”, highlights Igor Ricardo.

The arrival of mining and the desire for precious metals will be represented in a specific sector. The way the Yanomami see this situation, based on their mythology, will also be presented. “If there is the God of creation who is Omama, they believe in the God of destruction who is Yoasi”, explains the plotter.

Relevant facts related to the history and culture of these people will also be presented to the public. Reference will be made to Yanomami visual artists who are exhibiting outside Brazil, in different European countries and also in China and the United States. There will also be mention of the book Ana Mopö: Cogumelos Yanomanis, the result of work by indigenous and non-indigenous researchers. The work was awarded in 2017 at the 59th edition of the Jabuti Literature Prize, in the Gastronomy category. “It gave them a lot of pride. But it received little attention. Was it news? He was. But not with as much repercussion as the humanitarian tragedy”, highlights Igor.

The parade will also reserve space to pay homage to indigenous man Bruno Pereira and British reporter Dom Phillips,

dead in the year 2022

in an ambush in the Javari Valley, in Amazonas. “As Davi Kopenawa says, it’s not that white people can’t truly know indigenous people. It's just that we don't really know. But there are some white people who understand who indigenous people truly are. And Bruno and Dom were two of them. They got to know deeply the Matis people who live in the Javari Valley. And Salgueiro is now making this movement: it is a non-indigenous samba school that is trying to understand who indigenous people are.”