25.01.2005
Walk for Peace opens V WSF

Click here to see the complete programme.

The Walk for Peace, activity which highlights the oficial V WSF opening, will start on Avenida Borges de Medeiros until Avenida Ipiranga, going through Aureliano de Figueiredo Pinto until the intersection with Augusto de Carvalho, then through Avenida Beira-Rio until amphitheatre Pôr-do-Sol, where the opening concert will take place. Participants will gather at Largo Glênio Peres, from 4 pm on.

The Pôr-do-Sol amphitheatre will be the meeting point, where the participants will play the main characters in the scene. They will deposit offers, as books (which will be aggregated to the Mosaic of books – World Social Library), flags (representing the variety of participation) and stones (symbolizing the origins which come together to build a new world). Right after the perfomances, which will celebrate the meeting of these people, movements, organizations and wishes, will start.

Representatives from Asia, America, Africa, Europe and Oceania will take part in the walk and in the concert which will highlight the beginning of the activities of the meeting. Drums for peace; Amit Heri and Rabbi Shergil; Sombrero Luminoso; Snuff Puppets and Les Diables del Forum, de Pere Ferrer ee Silvia medeiros; Luck Mervil; Qbeta; Ma'Afrika; Gilberto Gil; Bersuit
Vergarabat; La Phaze and Manu Chao have confirmed their presence.

Concerts programme
The opening concert will begin with the Indian jazz band Amit Heri and the folk-rock singer and composer Rabbi Shergil. They will represent the transition from India, where the WSF was held in 2004, to Porto Alegre. Their performance will be 50 minutes long.

Gaucho sound
After that, gauchos from Sombrero Luminoso will ake their rock cucaracha to the stage, with their lyrics in “portunhol”. Created in 2000, Sombrero Luminoso broaches love with a tenuous humour, giving the lyrics a strong latin characteristic. The band shows in its works influences by Ramones, Bob Dylan, Beatles, Charly Garcia, among others. The presentation will be 20 minutes long.

Giant dolls
The Australian dolls group Snuff Puppets will take part in the walk with their more-than-4m50cm dolls, manufactured during the workshop which was held since the 14th of January, with the Associação Gaúcha de Teatro de Bonecos partnership. The “snuffs” will also perform a presentation on the stage, which promises to amaze the public at Pôr-do-Sol.

Les Diables del Forum
The group will divide the stage with the Snuff Puppets. The Catalan Pere Ferrer (La Fura dels Baus collaborator) and the gaucha Silvia Medeiros, actress and producer are in the direction. The performance has a visual language which uses fire and pyrotechnics, mixing the Mediterranean tradition “el corre foc” with the Brazilian carnival. Gaucho actors and the group Maracatu Trovão, which make researches on Afro-brazilian rhythms, mainly the maracatu, will take part in the performance. The performance is a fraction of the spectacle All.lucenations III, which participated in the WSF 2001 opening.

Créole style
The singer, composer and actor Luck Mervil will make a presentation strongly highlighted by the créole style (typical from Antilles region, it is a result of the mixture of neger, French, European and Indian culture). Luck Mervil is Haitian and lives in Montreal (Canada). His music talks about life, love and routine and nowadays he is one of the most important artistis of the French language. It will be a 20 minutes presentation.

Sicilian Dialect
The Italian group Qbeta will present their peculiar style, which mixes the athentic Sicilian sound, the Balcanic rhythm, the Mediterranean luminosity and contemporary rhythms, like funk and pop. Native from Ragusa, Sicilia, Qbeta carreer has already 14 years and four records, the last done in 2004, “Indígeno”. The group production is based on the local culture, and its compositions are written in Sicilian dialet. Their rhythm is cheerful, while fast and contemplative, typical from Mediterranean people. Qbeta brings a balance between the Sicilian tradition and the tradicional Italian music, what results in compositions which brings a little bit of everything, pop, ska and funk jazz. This heteregeinety, however, is not a restriction to its production, but exactly its strenght. A 50 minutes presentation.

Ma'Afrika
Recognized by its liric and educative style, it has three records released and a video with its four best songs, and also a DVD. The band is composed by 12 people, one of them is Kushaba Miriam – singer and leader – who turned the group into the most known in Uganda, making the group able to participate in a lot of festivals, for instance the Pearl of Africa Music. The show match tradicional music and dance from Uganda.

Gilberto Gil
Born in Salvador (Bahia), in 1942. In 1962, he records a music for the first time: “Bem devagar”. On the TV, in the beggining of 1966, he becomes famous in “O Fino da Bossa”, a TV Record program, which consagrates his composition “Louvação”. From then on he has consolidated partnerships with the biggest names of the MPB, particularly with Caetano Veloso. With the Tropicalism, they have revolutionized the hole Brazilian popular music, with more compromised and politic compositions. This musical and political journey ended in a paralel to all his career, culminating with his nomination as the Culture Minister of Lula Government, in 2003.

Rock Platino
Elected as the best contemporary Argentinean band in a research promoted by Clarín newspaper, Bersuit Vergarabat calls millions of fans where she goes. She will present her performance, consolidated in 15 years, based on good music, critical position in the face of the political and social conjuncture and a lot of sense of humor. Her concerts turns to big popular parties. The presentation will take 50 minutes long.

La Phaze
Created in 1999, the French band La Phaze mixes ragga-rock with drum&bass beats, in an energetic presentation. The trio gets its energy and criativity from its multiples influences, as the punk energy. The band has already interpreted Asian Doub Foundation, Mano Chao, Atari Teenage Riot, Brooklyn Funk Allstars, Burning Heads, Death in Vegas, among others. Presentation will take 40 minutes long.

Manu Chao
The French-Spanish Manu Chao has already worked with a lot of Latin-American artists, as the Brazilians Skank, Carlinhos Brown and Circo da Madrugada, the Argentinean Todos Tus Muertos and the Mexican Tijuanano. Manu records albuns in handicraft studios and alternate the solo career with the company of some bands. Presentation will take 40 minutes long.