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Image: Casa Independente Lisboa
Azagaia, the “People’s Rapper”, will be honoured for the second time in Lisbon on Friday, through a celebration of his art at Casa Independente, journalist Magda Burity, one of the event’s curators, told Lusa.
According to the anthropologist and journalist, “the purpose of this event is to perpetuate Azagaia’s legacy and make it known to the Portuguese people, and to all those in the Portuguese-speaking world, since Azagaia sang the work he did from a decolonial point of view in Portuguese”.
According to the journalist, Azagaia’s work “remains contemporary, is current and is Hip Hop”, the musical genre through which “he managed to change mentalities, both in Mozambique and around the world”.
“It is coincidental that this second edition [of the tribute] is on the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April, and on the 49th anniversary of independence, so it is very interesting that we are organizing this event and also our debates around the theme ‘Azagaia: The word as heritage transversal to decolonial thinking’,” Burity told Lusa.
For Burity, the messages of the “Rapper do Povo” intersect with a Portuguese reality in which anti-racist movements fight for greater representation of black people.
According to rapper Valete, another event curator, the idea is to keep alive the legacy of Azagaia, “a very rare rapper, who is probably one of the most important political and artistic figures in the history of Mozambique, and even of Africa”.
The team preparing this second edition of the tribute to the rapper is “multidisciplinary”, with important industry names including the artist’s manager Magda Burity herself, musician and activist Flávio Almada and Inês Valdez, who was manager of the Buraka Som Sistema project and is the owner of Casa Independente.
The tribute, which is curated by rapper Valete, businesswoman Inês Valdez, musician Milton Gulli, journalist Magda Burity and businesswoman Lídia Amões, will feature performances by Coca o FSM & Mano António, Huca, Michel William, Indi Mateta, Libra, Matti Jasse, Muleca XIII, Nayr Faquira, Remna, Sam The Kid, Sir Scratch, LBC Soldjah, Schmith and Yeri and Yenin.
“This year we have a wider range of women playing, especially because Azagaia was a person who supported women,” Burity commented.
However, this will possibly be the last tribute paid to the artist, as his family “fails to understand the concept” of the event and demands that the proceeds be handed over to them.
The proceeds from the first tribute, held last year, were given to the rapper’s family, but this year’s objective is to deliver the amount to a Mozambican non-governmental organization, Plataforma Makobo, which supports children and disadvantaged older people.
“We are under great pressure from the family to hand the amount over to them, but a tribute is responsible for a legacy of intellectual heritage, not for the family” of the artist, Burity points out.
Azagaia, stage name of Edson da Luz, died on March 9, 2023, victim of illness, after a career of almost 20 years dedicated to rap music.
Also known as the “People’s Rapper”, he became famous for his open criticism of governance, to such an extent that, in 2008, following three days of violent demonstrations that paralyzed the capital, he was summoned by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) after releasing the theme “People in Power”, a song recorded a few hours after the episodes, warning of the possibility of a general strike in response to the rising price of basic products in the country.
The event will take place on Friday, June 28, from 5:00 pm to 3:00 am, at Casa Independente in Lisbon.
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