Many festivals have flags. Not so many have flags that were drawn in pencil by audience members, taken to the other side of the world by artists, and then colored, painted and turned into silk by students and minority groups.
Our flags have already seen many hundreds of thousands of sets of eyes. As they meet yours, maybe you will think about different times and different places. Or maybe you will just enjoy the display.
Their efforts on social inclusion and community involvement gained Toozalii an audience at the UK’s 10 Downing Street. That, too was a different time and different place.
Marco Campos is a Brazilian guitarist and composer known for a multifaceted career encompassing concerts around the world. Born into the vibrant cultural tapestry of Rio de Janeiro, Campos began playing the guitar at the age of 13, leading him to enter the University of Music in Rio de Janeiro, where he honed his skills in composition from the age of 18. Launching his professional career in 1976, Campos embarked on tours across Peru and the United States, showcasing the rich diversity of Brazilian popular music.
Throughout his career, Campos has worked across genres, creating music not only for concerts but also for film, theatre, and ballet. His eclectic approach to music has taken him around the world, performing solo and with groups in numerous countries across Europe, Africa, and now, marking a significant milestone, Asia, with his debut performance at the World Music and Dance Festival (WMDF) 2024.
His participation in significant festivals such as the Bienal Internacional da Música in Brazil, Bath Fringe Festival in the UK, and Festival Culture Metisse in Mauritania, among others, underscores his status as a global ambassador of Brazilian music. Campos’s performance at WMDF will feature his instrumental solo guitar, and epitomise the rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic diversity of Brazilian music. As an inveterate collaborator, we will be hoping to also witness new partnerships with Japanese and other WMDF artists, extending our joint traditions of cross-cultural musical fusion to the blending of the sounds of Brazil with the world’s music stages.
Latin American diaspora imbues the sounds of the world
Alejandra Torres is a trailblazing Latin American violinist, who made her mark as the first female member from the region to join the prestigious Vienna Philharmonic, an ensemble celebrated for its unique sonic beauty. Torres has received widespread acclaim, including two gold medals from the Global Music Awards and a win at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards for “Outstanding Instrumental Performance.”
Torres is not only a classical musician achieving dreams, but also a visionary aiming to bridge cultures and empower women in the music industry. Her goal is to foster a dialogue of empowerment, protest, and sisterhood through an artistic tour involving Colombia, Venezuela, and Japan, spotlighting the challenges faced by women and dissident artists. Her story is intertwined with her roots in Medellín, a place of resilience and transformation known as the “city of eternal spring”, which continues to inspire her artistic and personal evolution.
Her performances alongside maestro Roberto Quintero, offer a vibrant fusion of Antonio Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” with Afro-Latin American rhythms, creating a unique dialogue between classical compositions and the rich musical traditions of Africa and Latin America. This innovative combination is achieved through the use of a Yamaha “Silent Violin” and multi-percussion, bringing both a technological and a cultural transformation to the interpretation of Vivaldi’s much-admired work.
