The Brazilian musical group Meninos do Morumbi is traveling to the University of Notre Dame and will do a performance/masterclass in the Ricci Band Rehearsal Hall at 8:15PM on Wednesday, October 10. The performance is free and open to the public.
The group, created by Flávio Pimenta in 1996, consists of adolescents from the city of São Paulo, Brazil, and provides an educational alternative to the drugs and juvenile delinquency prevalent in their city. The Meninos do Morumbi band has performed over 500 concerts in Brazil and in Europe, including a performance for the President of the United States.
The Morumbi students have become increasingly popular by playing, dancing, and singing in diverse styles such as samba, maracatu, funk, and Aguere among others.
Through music, the group provides an escape from hunger, exclusion, abandonment, social inequality, and to situations of personal and social risk in which they live. The formative role and transformative art emerges as a collective voice for citizenship.
During their visit to Notre Dame, Meninos do Morumbi students will participate in numerous social and cultural events on campus and in Notre Dame classrooms. The culmination of their visit is a performance with the University of Notre Dame Marching Band during halftime of the football game versus Stanford on October 13.
This is the 2nd collaboration between Meninos Do Morumbi and the University of Notre Dame Band. In May 2011, members of the Notre Dame Concert Band performed with the group in São Paulo as part of their 5-city concert tour of Brazil.
For more information on Meninos Do Morumbi go to: http://www.meninosdomorumbi.org.br/
