Event will feature the participation of the Inclusive Drum Kit and samba schools from the Special and Access I Groups
The City Hall of São Paulo, through the Municipal Secretariat for Persons with Disabilities (SMPED) and in partnership with the São Paulo Samba School League (Liga-SP), is launching next Monday (05) the 8th edition of Samba com as Mãos, at Praça das Artes, located at Av. São João, 281 – Historic Center of São Paulo, starting at 6:00 PM.
Upon arrival, the audience will be welcomed by the Inclusive Drum Corps, consisting of a master drummer, 10 percussionists, a singer, two samba dancers, and a flag bearer, all of whom have disabilities. The group participates in the São Paulo carnival with various samba schools and made its debut at the Brazilian Paralympic House during the Parapan American Games in Santiago, Chile, in November 2023, honoring the athletes.
The samba schools from the Special Group and Access Group I, which participate in Samba com as Mãos, will be present and will receive the tribute “Samba School Partner of Inclusion,” which is presented by SMPED to the schools that are partners of the project every year.
The closing act will be led by one of the most expressive and festive names in today's pagode scene, Inimigos da HP. Formed by Sebá (vocals), Tocha (tantam), Cebola (pandeiro), Gui (cavaquinho), and Alemão (surdo and percussion) in the 1990s, the band has amassed hits such as Toca Um Samba Aí, Bons Momentos, Musa da Praia, and Nosso Filme.
The band's name is a playful tribute to the famous calculator (HP), one of the main working tools for engineers. Since most of the members practiced this profession, when they were having fun playing music, they considered themselves enemies of the calculator and then turned this joke into the group Inimigos da HP.
The event will feature an audio description booth—an accessibility feature intended for visually impaired and blind individuals—and sign language interpreters.
About the project
According to the 2010 Brazilian Census, revised by the IBGE at the end of 2017, the city of São Paulo has 120,660 people with hearing impairments. For this type of disability, communication is carried out through the Brazilian Sign Language, better known as Libras. The way of communicating goes far beyond the hands; facial expressions and body gestures are essential for understanding and conversation.
Samba com as Mãos, created in 2017, provides videos with Libras interpretation of samba-enredo songs from the schools belonging to the Special Group and Access Group I — the latter included since the 2023 Carnival, thereby promoting communicative accessibility for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals.
The recordings made in December of last year at the Fábrica do Samba had the support of members from the samba schools, Libras interpreters, and deaf individuals. In total, 22 samba plots were interpreted.
In order to have the translation, specific research, study, and efforts are required, since samba lyrics often use words of African origin and popular sayings. The Libras interpreter works together with the composer so that nothing is lost and the context is maintained. In addition, the project relies on the support of hearing-impaired individuals for validation.
The videos with the interpretations are being published on SMPED's social media (YouTube, Instagram, Facebook). The publications follow the order of the parades at the Anhembi Sambadrome, which will take place on February 9, 10, and 11. The goal is for the deaf community to have access to all content by the day of the parades.
Source: City Hall of São Paulo
