Just a few days from now, on Sunday, 21 July (from 9.00 pm), the Križanke Summer Theatre will be filled with the sounds of the modern Brazilian popular music known as música popular brasileira or MPB. The concert Música popular brasileira – Brazilian Afropop/Bahia at the 72nd Ljubljana Festival is a co-production with Brane Rončel. The main guest will be MPB legend Margareth Menezes.

The Bahia-born musician has blazed a trail for a new generation of Brazilian artists. She was the voice of the first samba-reggae recorded in Brazil, the iconic song “Faraó – Divindade do Egito”, which sold more than 100,000 copies and launched her career. In her songs, which often address the subject of the Black woman’s Blackness and strength, she remains faithful to her roots and combines elements of African, Brazilian and pop music to create an attractive mixture known as Brazilian afropop.

She has recorded eight albums to date. Her third studio album Kindala also broke through in the USA. Her 1989 album Elegibô topped Billboard’s Top World Albums chart and in 2006 she was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Brazilian Contemporary Pop Album category. Her latest album, Autêntica, was nominated for a Latin Grammy in 2020.

She has brought her unique brand of Brazilian afropop to more than 40 countries on four continents. In addition to her successful world tours, she has performed at events such as the Final Draw for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil and festivals including the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, Rock in Rio and Brazilian Day in New York. Her first appearance in Slovenia was at a concert at Cankarjev Dom in 1991, three years after the momentous concert at Križanke by the celebrated Brazilian musician Gilberto Gil.

Maga, as she is known, has never been an artist to shy away from debate. As a Black woman, artist and politician, she has long fought to give a voice to her own and other minorities. In 2021 she was named one of the 100 most influential Black personalities in the world. Appointed minister of culture by new Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, she heads a department that was abolished by the Bolsonaro government.

Maga will shortly be bringing her unique brand of afropop to the Križanke stage, where she will be joined by Raoní Lima Maciel (guitar), Caio Felipe Ferreira Nascimento (keyboards), Nelmário Marques Cerqueira (bass), Caio Oliveira Dos Santos (percussion) and Joilson Dias Dos Santos (drums). Her powerful voice and infectious, rhythmic, unstoppably danceable music are sure to get your toes tapping, so come and join the dance!