In 2018 and 2019, I visited two villages of the Yawanawá people in Acre. In the first year, during the Mariri Festival, I documented the traditional games, music, dances, and festive life in the village. The Mariri symbolizes, among other things, the cultural and spiritual rebirth of this people, who joyfully celebrate life and the spirits of the forest for seven days every year.
In my second year, in the Sacred Village, I immersed myself in a deeper experience, alongside a group of very dear people, who traveled up and down the same river towards the village, a river full of branches and trunks that made us stop and push the canoe to continue the journey, but also full of breathtaking beauty.
Together we spent a week camped inside a large indigenous hut, where I watched Arnaldo Antunes compose and rehearse a beautiful and joyful song about the days in the village. During one of the ceremonial nights, around the campfire, a large part of the group gathered and sang the song Arnaldo had recently composed, under the full moon, to the sound of the Yawanawá drums, rehearsing and making mistakes, while I, unable to get up from the ground, listened from my place. I wanted to be there singing, but I'm more of a recorder.
I hope that this song, which brings me so much joy, will also bring joy to other people during these difficult times.

São Paulo, April 2021