Neguinho do Samba

When I think about projects in the world that are really doing serious good work for poor people who don't necessarily get great opportunities in life, one of the groups that comes to mind first is the Didá Project, which was started by Neguinho do Samba (the better known nickname for Antonio Luiz Alves de Souza.) You can see him in the first photo showing a kid how to play drums, which is the way he has had enormous impact on the world.

Neguinho has helped start and develop several key music groups in Salvador, Bahia that have a common theme: using music, particularly percussion and drumming, to help Afro-Brazilian people become more confident and proud of who they are, which is crucial to helping them get ahead in life. Neguinho said recently, "I can take the biggest thief in the world, put him behind a drum, and he will probably become a better person." That might seem like hyperbole, but I have seen with my own eyes, watching some of the people in Salvador that he has worked with, that there is something almost magical about how drumming, in a group where pride in being Black is a major theme, can help a person get organized and feel empowered to do more with themselves.

Neguinho helped start Ilê-Ayê, the first major Afro-centric music group in Salvador and worked with them for 11 years, then Olodum for 16 years, where he was one of the founding directors, the drum builder and drum teacher. He ended up recording and touring with Paul Simon on the "Rhythm of the Saints" album. He earned enough from that to buy a building in Salvador's old downtown, Pelourinho area, and start a music school and performing group for women and girls. When asked why, he says that he has several daughters and many sisters, who have not had the same opportunities he did, and he saw that as a big area of need. In fact, he turned down another opportunity to tour with Simon and make more money, to do that.

A quote on a website about Didá says Neguinho is considered by Carlinhos Brown, another very well known Salvador percussionist to be the "God of Percussion." (http://www.iei.net/~pwagner/gooddeeds/dida.htm)

Viviam Caroline de Jesus Queiros was one of the first girls to go through the school and was one of their best drummers and performers. You can see Viviam in the second picture. Coming from a very poor family, Didá has enabled her to get through secondary school, do a BA in journalism and now work on an MA in cultural production.

Viviam is Projeto Didá's Executive Director and Neguinho do Samba is Artistic Director. They are the leaders of the Didá Project, which has the school, a small stage performance group, larger marching performance group, and a huge carnival group for women and girls. You can see some of the main performers in the third picture.

She and Neguinho are visiting UT this week, on a trip organized by several people in Latin American Studies and Performing Arts at UT (Nathalie Arsenault, Jennifer Potter and Joe Randal).

I have worked with the Didá people for several years, taking study abroad groups in Salvador to meet with them, helping them get equipment like computers, and helping students from the U.S. intern with them, which is one of their major sources of teachers for things like English and computer skills. They are an amazing group of people, doing work with very deep impact on the girls they work with. I hope a lot of people get to meet them at UT and elsewhere on their swing through the U.S.

One of the most amazing things I have seen in my whole life is how Neguinho could take my study abroad group of 15 mostly drum skill free students, give each of them a drum, give them each a small part, and have the whole thing add up to a complex samba reggae rhythm. He will be doing that at several workshops in the USA.

You can find more info and a schedule for UT at http://www.utexas.edu/cola/insts/llilas/news/current/dida/