Maraká – Our Music Is Our Fight.

“For a long time, we were forced into silence, to not sing, express our culture, or ancestral traditions. Today we transform our fight into a melody. We know that our music tells our story.” – Eric Terena, artist, musician, activist, journalist and founding member of Mídia Indígena ( Indigenous communication collective ). Eric is of the Terena People, in Mato Grosso, Brazil. We recently supported Eric and other talented Indigenous musicians as they came together to perform within the If Not Us Then Who? Our Village event at New York Climate Week ( NYCW ). The music event known as – Maraká.

“Singing is our identity. Singing unites all Indigenous Peoples in one song. When they hear the call of maraca and Avai rattles, all Indigenous Peoples come together. It is when the ritual of our resistance begins.” – Djuena Tikuna

“I see Indigenous art as a powerful tool of struggle. To occupy spaces of visibility, bringing these narratives, showing the realities of different Brazilian peoples. Because we have a very large diversity and a gigantic plurality of Indigenous Peoples in Brazil. And each community brings their own narrative. The collective struggle takes place through the search for the demarcation of territories and other constitutional rights of Indigenous Peoples. But behind this great struggle, there are also the local struggles of each Indigenous People.” – Edivan Fulni-ô

“Maraká Music is the sound of our maracá. Our traditional instrument, which is used for our prayers, for our daily lives, it’s the symbol of why we are making this union happen. In the midst of differences, inequalities among ourselves, Indigenous Peoples – our realities, the invasions, our struggles, we found in music a way to come together and try to strengthen this visibility even further.” – Eric Terena

Maraká is the beginning, a vision, that Eric and all involved hope to grow, looking to be inclusive of artists from diverse Indigenous backgrounds – a powerful creative tool for the struggle.