{"id":124798,"date":"2023-06-29T17:45:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-29T15:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/?p=124798"},"modified":"2023-06-29T17:44:41","modified_gmt":"2023-06-29T15:44:41","slug":"lucas-santtana-paradise-its-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/lucas-santtana-paradise-its-here\/","title":{"rendered":"PAM presents a new film: Lucas Santtana, paradise (it\u2019s already here)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignfull has-black-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Lucas Santtana, le paradis (c&#039;est ici)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HdVfF2Q_Olk?feature=oembed&#038;autoplay=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"has-white-color has-text-color wp-block-heading\" id=\"block-716087ed-d05f-4855-8cc7-305254a4bdd0\">PAM presents a new film: <em>Lucas Santtana, paradise (it\u2019s already here)<\/em><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"has-white-color has-text-color wp-block-heading\" id=\"block-3360c699-cb3a-498d-97f4-5c504d8f598d\">In an emotional trip to the artist&#8217;s homeland, Brazilian singer Lucas Santtana explores the history of carnival\u2019s Bloco Afros, the condition of Brazilian Black and indigenous population and the region\u2019s candombl\u00e9 spiritual fusion on the eve of the country\u2019s historic elections.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap has-white-color has-text-color\" id=\"block-ded513e1-fbe5-4067-9828-bccadde7d1e9\">Directed by Vladimir Cagnolari and produced by Ol\u00e9o &amp; No Format, <em>Lucas Santtana, paradise (it\u2019s already here)<\/em> is an exploration of the Brazilian singer\u2019s homeland, through the lens of his most recent album <em>O Para\u00edso<\/em>. The 10 track project released on No Format! asks listeners to rethink the notion of paradise by taking notice of the natural beauty that\u2019s around us and which is slowly disappearing. Now a resident of Montpellier, Lucas makes this trip on the eve of Brazil\u2019s historic presidential election. During president Jair Bolsonaro\u2019s mandate, which lasted from January 2019 to December 2022, the former military captain\u2019s conservative legislation cracked down on social aid and reduced environmental protections. The backdrop to the film, the election is a flashpoint for democracy, environmentalism, nationalism and how we choose to preserve and protect our paradise on Earth.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1010\" height=\"519\" src=\"https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-29-at-10.59.22.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-124725\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-29-at-10.59.22.png 1010w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-29-at-10.59.22-759x390.png 759w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-29-at-10.59.22-661x340.png 661w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-29-at-10.59.22-465x239.png 465w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-29-at-10.59.22-375x193.png 375w\" sizes=\"(min-width:1010px) 759px,100vw\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-white-color has-text-color\" id=\"block-26442d61-431e-40ba-81c4-410219ddf803\">Lucas Santtana was born in Salvador, the capital of the northeastern state of Bahia. A beautiful coastal town, known worldwide for its legendary carnival celebrations, it is also a place with a long and complicated history. Built on the back of slaves brought over by Portuguese colonists, the realities of this legacy echo into today; in politics, in music and in conversation. As we follow Lucas around his home state, the conversation takes many forms. Sometimes it is written beneath the sprawling skyscrapers towering over homeless encampments with graffiti reading, \u201cBolsonaro killed my daughter\u201d. Others it is between two old friends, as with Quito Ribeiro, the only black student at Lucas\u2019 school as a child. As the two wander into the Pelourinho neighborhood, a forbidden yet alluring place for Lucas and Quito as children, due to its primarily black population, now a tourist hub for its rumbling carnival music, the two see how much has changed.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-white-color has-text-color\" id=\"block-722bb41d-2fab-4ffd-a046-bc5d5d5adbcf\">Though some things haven\u2019t. Like the Castro Alves theater, a beautiful winding building where Lucas\u2019 mother taught dance, and a 12 year old Santtana saw Fafa de Belem play flute for the first time. Or as Lucas puts it, the realization that it\u2019s the \u201c<em>sounds of Africa that are at the heart of Bahian identity<\/em>\u201d. A sentiment that is nowhere more evident than with Alberto Pita and the Cortejo Afro, a carnival collective pregnant with song and symbol. Carrying tradition onward and preserving candombl\u00e9 knowledge in book and on garb, Alberto Pita likes to say that his work is a \u201cmeeting of illiterates\u201d. Those who cannot read the complex iconography of his blocos\u2019 past, and those who didn\u2019t receive a \u201cformal\u201d education to read and write.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignfull size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-29-at-10.58.04-2-2.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-124757\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-white-color has-text-color\" id=\"block-d9449b7f-8c45-4473-90ba-12fbef591853\">Alberto Pita makes a clever commentary on our brash judgements, our hierarchy of values. Something Lucas does in his music, reminding us that paradise is not in a faraway ether, awaiting us in some esoteric afterlife. Rather, it is here on Earth. It is in the trees and under the concrete. Lucas also makes reference to Ailton Krenak, an inspiration for this conscious expansion. A political activist and voice for the indigenous people of Brazil, Krenak said in his book, <em>Life is not useful<\/em>, \u201c<em>Life is fruition, it&#8217;s a dance, but it&#8217;s a cosmic dance, and we want to reduce it to a ridiculous and utilitarian choreography.<\/em>\u201d Who is savage and who is saintly? What is progress and what is folly?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left has-white-color has-text-color\" id=\"block-9d3c76d8-7839-4e80-a694-184a217f7678\">From the city we travel by boat to Ilha da Mar\u00e9, the \u201cblackest community\u201d in Salvador, says Eliette Paraguassu, a local activist. It\u2019s a place where escaped slaves, or maroons, lived and formed communities called quilombos. Today, the island is home to many petrochemical plants. While acetone, butane and a variety of other industrial waste leaks into the communities\u2019 water, the residents receive no profit, nor public services from their presence. For those who live from tourism, fishing, agriculture and artisanal crafts, pollution is a sanitary and economic catastrophe. But not only. Eliette Paraguassu, who also runs for local representative, makes the rounds of the island passing out flyers and garnering votes. She speaks of the high rates of cancer in the local population, the destruction of the natural resources, but also the spiritual harm. \u201c<em>The mangrove is a woman,<\/em>\u201d&nbsp; Paraguassu explains, \u201c<em>who protects and heals and carries the history and leads the future.<\/em>\u201d Here Lucas makes a chilling point; \u201c<em>the first victims of consumer society are those who consume the least.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-white-color has-text-color\">In a final stop Lucas travels to the church of Sao Lazaro, a catholic patron saint, but also a candombl\u00e9 figure named Obaluaie. Obaluaie is the son of the goddess of the sea, a force of nature, like the orishas of Africa. Candombl\u00e9 practices are a syncretism between traditional religions of West Africa and Roman Catholic and Christian practices of European colonists. As Lucas says of Obaluaie, \u201c<em>he can heal, but he can also kill.<\/em>\u201d A fitting metaphor for the natural order and the world around us. Or, on a lighter note, \u201cno leaf no life\u201d. In front of a bright yellow cathedral, Lucas is blessed with the orisha\u2019s favorite snack, popcorn.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-white-color has-text-color\">In the end Lucas returns back to his home in Montpellier to await the results of the election. Lula defeats Bolsonaro with 50.9% of the votes. A \u201cwin for democracy\u201d announces the radio presenter from Lucas\u2019 apartment. It\u2019s a sigh of relief. A victory, for now. Until then, as Lucas sings on \u201cLa Biosph\u00e8re\u201d; \u201c<em>Don&#8217;t dry up your fountain, listen to the shamans\u2026nature, our only paradise.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-white-color has-text-color\"><meta charset=\"utf-8\"><em>O Para\u00edso<\/em>\u00a0by Lucas Santtana is available\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/idol-io.link\/OParaiso\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a> via N\u00f8 Format!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1010\" height=\"521\" src=\"https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-29-at-12.40.41.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-124764\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-29-at-12.40.41.png 1010w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-29-at-12.40.41-759x392.png 759w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-29-at-12.40.41-661x341.png 661w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-29-at-12.40.41-465x240.png 465w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-29-at-12.40.41-375x193.png 375w\" sizes=\"(min-width:1010px) 759px,100vw\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1010\" height=\"524\" src=\"https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-29-at-12.41.45.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-124765\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-29-at-12.41.45.png 1010w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-29-at-12.41.45-759x394.png 759w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-29-at-12.41.45-661x343.png 661w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-29-at-12.41.45-465x241.png 465w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-29-at-12.41.45-375x195.png 375w\" sizes=\"(min-width:1010px) 759px,100vw\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1009\" height=\"530\" src=\"https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-29-at-12.43.35.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-124766\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-29-at-12.43.35.png 1009w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-29-at-12.43.35-759x399.png 759w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-29-at-12.43.35-661x347.png 661w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-29-at-12.43.35-465x244.png 465w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Screenshot-2023-06-29-at-12.43.35-375x197.png 375w\" sizes=\"(min-width:1010px) 759px,100vw\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In an emotional trip to the artist&#8217;s homeland, Brazilian singer Lucas Santtana explores the history of carnival\u2019s Bloco Afros, the condition of Brazilian Black and indigenous population and the region\u2019s candombl\u00e9 spiritual fusion on the eve of the country\u2019s historic elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":124804,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7833,9402,9403],"tags":[35361],"location":[7902],"yst_prominent_words":[8414,8933,9163,29446,23483,8435,35009,13395,8543,8438],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124798"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124798"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=124798"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=124798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}