Musical presentation – Tambor de Crioula da Floresta do Mestre Apolônio

On September 7, Vale presents a musical performance by the group Tambor de Crioula da Floresta do Mestre Apolônio – Prazer de São Benedito. The event takes place from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm at Varanda Bienal, the outdoor area of Pavilhão Ciccillo Matarazzo. The performance will be followed by talks from Nadir Cruz, president of Bumba Meu Boi da Floresta (to which the Tambor de Crioula belongs), and Gabriel Gutierrez, director of the Centro Cultural Vale Maranhão.

Tambor de Crioula – Prazer de São Benedito, led by Mestre Apolônio, was founded on December 10, 1980, at its own headquarters. It is a traditional group that seeks to preserve popular culture from Maranhão, respecting the customs and values of the history of the tambor de crioula. It uses three drums called Crivador, Meião, and Tambor Grande, along with Matracas, as rustic instruments. The dance is performed by the coreiras (women), who wear wide and colorful skirts, lace blouses, multicolored necklaces, and head coverings made of the same fabric as their skirts. The coreiros (men) wear colorful shirts and are responsible for tuning the instruments over the fire and playing the drums. Today, the group has 50 members, both women and men. Mestre Apolônio’s groups are based in the Floresta neighborhood in São Luís do Maranhão, a community rich in traditional cultural expressions but lacking basic needs and increasingly affected by urban violence. The Associação Junina Turma de São João Batista carries out training work with children and teenagers, offering activities such as embroidery, dance, drum playing, and making careta de cazumba masks, hats, and percussion instruments.

Vale believes that culture transforms lives. For the fourth consecutive year, it is the largest private supporter of culture in Brazil, sponsoring and fostering projects in partnerships that promote connections among people, initiatives, and territories. Its commitment is to contribute to a culture that is increasingly accessible and diverse, while also working to strengthen the creative economy. To expand its cultural initiatives, the Vale Cultural Institute was created in 2020, and since then it has supported over a thousand projects across the country, with more than R$ 1 billion invested through Vale’s own resources and Brazil’s Federal Law for Cultural Incentives (Lei Rouanet). Among its initiatives is a network of its own cultural spaces, free to visit, each with a unique identity and vocation: Memorial Minas Gerais Vale (MG), Museu Vale (ES), Centro Cultural Vale Maranhão (MA), and Casa da Cultura de Canaã dos Carajás (PA). Learn more about Vale at vale.com.

The Centro Cultural Vale Maranhão is a dynamic, diverse, and open cultural space that offers and maintains a place of dialogue and practice for artists, cultural producers, and visitors. Its main goal is to expand access to cultural practices and assets, providing spaces for exchange, creation, and training that are inclusive and diverse. Freedom of expression, exercised responsibly, is the central axis of its mission, viewing culture and education as the foundation of experience-making. Its programming is designed with the commitment to offer the public high-quality content across the most diverse artistic languages, contributing to knowledge and the development of critical thinking. Exhibitions, open calls, concerts, popular culture presentations, theater and dance performances, courses, workshops, film screenings, and festivals are all designed to provide enriching experiences for all visitors. Moreover, CCVM recognizes and values Maranhão’s cultural wealth and acts as a beacon, placing Maranhão among the most important cultural hubs in the country, with a strong focus on popular culture and its interactions with institutional spaces. It also hosts professionals from other states and countries, fostering cultural exchange, taking Maranhão’s culture further, and contributing to local development. The Centro Cultural Vale Maranhão is maintained by the Vale Cultural Institute through the Federal Law for Cultural Incentives and is located in the heart of São Luís’ Historic Center. Alongside other cultural institutions, it contributes to the revitalization of the area and reaffirms the cultural character of the city’s historic district.

Service
Musical presentation – Tambor de Crioula da Floresta do Mestre Apolônio
36th Bienal de São Paulo – Not All Travellers Walk Roads – Of Humanity as Practice
September 7, 2025
Sunday, 11:30 am
Varanda Bienal
Ciccillo Matarazzo Pavilion
Ibirapuera Park, Gate 3
Av. Pedro Álvares Cabral, s/n
São Paulo, SP
free admission