Maracatu Mar Aberto

Maracatu Mar Aberto is the sound of the “Open Sea” – the rhythm of oars and song carried over the ocean, a little game they play with drums, voice and dance.With its roots in Brazil’s maracatu de baque virado, Maracatu Mar Aberto is a workshop and performance group that performs and studies that northern Brazilian genre from Recife. Their style is traced through the lineage of Maracatu Estrela Brilhante do Recife and Mestre Walter de França, Trovão das Minas and Maracatu Nunca Antes. It’s a living tradition of maracatu developed collectively in a local context. Not simply miming an old folkloric tradition Maracatu Mar Aberto is growing in its new Canadian home.Like their name, they play with the influences that have traveled from Africa to Brazil and onwards to Toronto and beyond.Their show is pure rhythm, emotion, movement and excitement.NOW magazine listed Maracatu Mar Aberto’s show at Uma Nota as a show that “rocked Toronto” with “their thundrous drums and soulful vocals.”They closed the first Fedora Upside down Festival last year and are regulars at Toronto’s Pedestrian Sundays in Kensington market. They have collaborated with Richard Underhill and the Heavyweights Brass Band.