Murah Soares

Murah Soares (born May 24, 1962 in São Paulo , Brazil ) is an Afro-Brazilian dancer and choreographer . He works u. a. for the Afoxé Loni group and for the Murah Soares Ensemble in Berlin . He is also the founder of the intercultural Forum Brasil eV as well as the founder and Babalorixá (supreme spiritual leader and leadership figure in Candomblé) Mura Lecimbe des Ilê Obá Sileké - the first Candomblé temple in Germany - in Berlin.

Life

Murah Soares was born in São Paulo, Brazil. He grew up in Salvador with his grandmother in a temple of Candomblé - religion , characterized it was very early initiated into the ritual songs and dances of Afro-Brazilian culture. First Murah Soares received training in Afro-Brazilian dance in the Grupo de Danca do Ballet Castro Alves in Salvador da Bahia . Between 1983 and 1989 he studied classical ballet , modern dance , afro-jazz and jazz dance at the Escola de Danca "Ausi Ballet", the Escola Ruth Rachou and the Escola de Danca Renata Prado Cheidde, all in São Paulo, Brazil.

After studying dance, Murah Soares devoted himself to further training as a lecturer in yoga and Ayurvedic nutrition at the Instituto de Yoga. After his training, he worked in numerous productions of various dance groups in Brazil, especially in the field of modern dance . In addition to his activity as a dancer, he also began teaching himself. From then on he established himself at various academies in São Paulo not only as a dancer, but also increasingly as a choreographer and lecturer in Afro-Brazilian dance, the so-called Brazilian-Afro-Dance. At the invitation of Tanzfabrik Berlin , he came to Germany for the first time in 1990, where he has been producing his own music and dance productions since then. He developed many of them in collaboration with other well-known artists, such as the master percussionist Eduardo Tucci da Silva, in short: Dudu Tucci , Parana Bomfim, Leila El-Jarad.

In Berlin he became one of the initiators of the Berlin Carnival of Cultures in 1996 and on this occasion founded the Brazilian-German music and dance group Afoxé Loni together with Dudu Tucci . Murah Soares (choreography) is still the artistic director of Afoxé Loni with Dudu Tucci (percussion). The group follows the tradition of Brazilian Afoxé-Blocos, with Brazilian rhythms and compositions being played. Traditionally, the group of over 200 members, Afoxé Loni, opens the Carnival of Cultures in Berlin with their characteristic white and golden yellow costumes of the Bloco with a great cleansing ritual in the tradition of the Afoxés and leads the parade. In 2001 the Afoxé Loni project was invited to international festivals such as the “Streets Ahead Festival” in Manchester (England), the “Joy Parade” in Dublin (Ireland) and the “Fête de la Musique” in Milan ( Italy ).

The dance percussion projects by Murah Soares and Dudu Tucci "Obaluaiyé" (1993) and "Dance of the Elements" (1997) premiered in the House of World Cultures in Berlin. Invitations followed and a. to Manchester , Dublin , Oslo , Milan , so that the 1998 production "Rhythm of the gods" was continued in 1999 with a tour of England and Scotland . Murah Soares then developed four dance-theater pieces with live music and visuals with the Palestinian dancer Leila El-Jarad. In 2012 he founded the "Murah Soares Ensemble", with which he staged the play "Ossayin's Liebeszauber" in Berlin, in which the myths of the Afro-Brazilian pantheon of Orixa were combined with the transversal human cultural heritage of myths and legends become.

Head of the intercultural Forum Brasil eV

In February 2007 Murah Soares opened the intercultural center Forum Brasil in Berlin-Kreuzberg with Martin Titzck and many supporters . The Forum Brasil is a German-Brazilian cultural and social center for international understanding, intercultural dialogue and social engagement, in whose rooms the Ilê Obá Silekê is also located.

Dancer and choreographer

Since 2007 Murah Soares has been teaching Brazilian Afro Dance at the Forum Brasil in Berlin. In addition to the regular dance lessons, Murah Soares also leads workshops and the like. a. in Cologne , Rome and Milan , in Basel and Manchester as well as at the international "Festival Afrocaribé" in Veracruz (Mexico). The peculiarity of Murah Soares' workshops results from the combination of dance sequences and choreographies on dance, culture and rhythms of the Afro-Brazilian religion of Candomblé.

Babalorixá Muralesimbe des Ilê Obá Sileké

In addition to his artistic and dance work in his worldly life, Murah Soares devoted himself spiritually to the Afro-Brazilian religion of Candomblés as Babalorixá Muralesimbe des Ilê Obá Sileké in Berlin. The Ilê Obá Sileké is the first Candomblé temple in Germany, which was consecrated in the summer of 2008 by the spiritual leader of the Candomblé, a so-called Yalorixá and renowned human rights activist, Mãe Beata from Rio de Janeiro as the direct representative of her temple in Germany. His initiation at Candomblé took place in the Candomblé temple Apó Axé Ala Nan Muji, by the late Babá Badu de Oxosse in Salvador de Bahia. Today he is Candomblé-son of Yá Beata de Iemanjá, Beatriz Moreira Costa, from the Ilê Omi Ojú Arô - House of the Water of the Eyes Oxossis - from Rio de Janeiro.

For almost 30 years he was ordained to Babalorixá (highest spiritual leader and leadership figure of Candomblé) through the various stages of initiation , whereby it is the average career of Babalorixá (female: Yalorixá ) to only reach this highest level after 21 years of initiation . In the Candomblé there are different levels of initiation and not every initiate is given the honor of becoming Babalorixá. The main task of the Babalorixás / Yalorixás is to ensure the ritual and organizational processes in the Candomblé Temple. Seen in this way, the Babalorixá is the spiritual father for the members (filhos) of the Candomblé community. a. the preservation and further development of the Orixá tradition, which includes initiation and training as well as the healing work of all Filhos.

literature

• Workshop of Cultures (Ed.): World Religions in Berlin. Berlin 1993.
• Kerstin Frei: Those who mask themselves will be integrated. The Carnival of Cultures in Berlin. Schiler Verlag, Berlin 2003 ISBN 3-899-30008-4 .
• Yolanda Sol Montoya Bonilla: Fazendo, Olhando, Adaptando. Ilê Obá Silekê: Candomblé brasilero en Berlin. (Curupira Workshop, 4). Friends of "Ethnology in Marburg" e. V. Marburg, Marburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-8185-0487-8 .
• Ana Lichtwer, Anna Schroll, Cornelia Temesvári: Kreuzberg cooks. Portraits - interviews - recipes. Edition Berliner Büchertisch (Ed.), Berlin 2011, pp. 254–259.
• Stefanie Peter: Neukölln shaman drums on elk skin. in: The world. - Article of April 20, 2012, features section, p. 25.
• Haraldo Costa: Mãe Beata de Yemonjá - guia, cidadã, guerreira. Rio de Janeiro 2012, pp. 65-68.
• Glória Maria Santiago Pereira, José de Ribamar Sousa Pereira (eds.): De Miguel Couto a Berlin. A presença do candomblé em terras alemãs. Prof. Dr. Joana Bahia. In: MIGRAÇÃO E GLOBALIZA. - To olhar interdisciplinar, Lisbon 2011, ISBN 978-85-8042-294-8 .

Web links

• candomble-berlin.de
• murah-soares-dance.com
• artem-berlin.de
• afoxe-loni.de
• Interview on werkstatt-der-kulturen.de (PDF; 2.5 MB)