In Salvador, most of the population live in favelas, communities of shacks which often lack basic services such as electricity, running water, and plumbing and are generally fraught with unemployment and crime. In 1994, Brazilian pop artist and icon Carlinhos Brown established the Pracatum School in Candeal Pequeno, the favela neighborhood where Brown was raised. The School offers instruction in percussion, piano, voice, and composition, and also provides a recording studio, classrooms, a library, a cafeteria and instruments. The school’s teaching methods draw from cultural practices relevant to the students’ lives and encourage growth, values, and the transformation of behavior. Since the Pracatum’s establishment, Candeal Pequeno has undergone enormous changes.
We spent an evening at the Pracatum School, exchanging performances with the students on the streets of Candeal Pequeno. The event served to broaden the musical community by expanding the knowledge of our respective musical cultures.
