Guia Cultural da Costa Verde

Paraty • Paraty

LUÍS PEREQUÊ

Preserving the region’s cultural genuineness

Renato Dutra

• 
• 

This musician, poet and musical producer takes pride in his caiçara background and is also a campaigner engaged in disclosing and preserving his people’s cultural traditions and identity. Luís Perequê has released four CDs, has behind him a number of performances and songs recorded by well-known artists, and also invests his efforts in sponsoring and leveraging other artists in the region.

He is a founder of Silo Cultural José Kleber, an enterprise managed jointly with Vanda Mota and, among other purposes, it aims to value folk culture and to disclose local talents, chiefly by means of Rede Caiçara de Cultura, which is committed to activities related with the region’s cultural scenario.

While participating in a discussion in the Flip literary festival on the Economy and Culture, Perequê posed an unusual question: “What do we know about Culture without the Economy? How do you sell a procession?” After addressing the damage caused by exposing local culture with a view only to the profit from tourism, he inquired: “Why don’t we act as in fishing, which puts in place restrictions on catches?”, suggesting the creation of a Cultural Defense, a movement intended to strengthen Paraty’s folk culture and that proposes public policies to protect the community’s religious and cultural traditions. This proposal was supported right away by all those in attendance, well-known and anonymous, such as the former minister of culture Gilberto Gil, and the idea was awarded the Prêmio da Cultura for 2012/2013 by the Government of the State of Rio de Janeiro.

One of the actions that arose from the Cultural Defense, was the creation of Caravana Paraty that takes the region’s artists and rich cultural diversity to performances in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, headed by the magnetic and creative Luís Perequê, no doubt a born leader much committed to exalting and preserving the genuineness of Paraty’s folk culture.

Information