Sacy Perere (1984)

SACY PERERE is the name of a group of Brazilian musicians, emigrants who met in Paris. Through their music the four musicians and a singer slough off all European influences and focus on the tradition of Brazilian music, especially the Samba, the roots of which can be found in Africa. Improvising and blending together traditional and modern music, the group explore and question their own history, development and identity. Through their songs we learn that it is not only poverty, hunger and disease that subjects the majority of this vast country to lives of suffering and despair, it is also cultural aggression, educational colonization and the massive, even brutal attempts to kill off all forms of popular culture. The rage and eloquence are plain but so is the hope and the excitement. "All of us left Brazil for personal reasons, but especially to evade the social and cultural control - censorship. We wanted to escape the destruction which is taking place, subconsciously, through catholicism, Europeanization and the lack of schools. To be black is dirty, it is necessary to have a 'white' soul. Our life style has been transformed and we are trying to find ourselves again through this music. Music is an examination of ourselves".