festival 2023
Thinking Inside the Box: 1973
Events
Concert 'Oratorio a Los Mártires del 23 de Julio'
A short greeting and introduction by Carlos Mejía Godoy, Nicaraguan singer and songwriter.
Join the European premiere of Oratorio a los Mártires del 23 de julio (Oratory to the Martyrs of July 23rd), an unpublished work composed by Nicaraguan musician Carlos Mejia Godoy and performed by King’s Brazil Ensemble.
Nicaragua’s contention with dictatorial rule dates back further than most of Latin America’s. The Somoza family imposed a civil dictatorship on the country in the 1930s, which lasted four decades. This time was characterised by growing wealth inequality, misuse of public funds, and suppression of public dissent.
On 23rd of July, 1959, the soldiers of the Nicaraguan Guardia Nacional (National Guard) opened fire on a parade organised by the students of Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua (Autonomous University of Nicaragua). With four dead and sixty injured, 23rd July came to mark a dark day in Nicaragua’s history, one that continues to haunt the public consciousness to this day.
Carlos Mejia Godoy, one of Nueva Cancion’s foremost proponents, composed an ode to the lives lost on 23rd July in the form of Oratorio a Los Mártires del 23 de Julio, exhibiting the perfect harmony with which his work as a musician and a revolutionary co-exist. This concert will showcase an arrangement of this piece specially written for the King’s Brazil Ensemble by Stefan Metzger, in addition to pieces from Chile.
The concert is part of Thinking Inside The Box: 1973, a student-led archive analysis and curatorial project that has culminated in a month-long exhibition and roster of events. Read on to learn more about the project, and follow us for future event updates.
About King’s Brazil Ensemble:
King’s Brazil Ensemble is dedicated to the study and practice of Brazilian and Latin American repertoire for string orchestra, accompanied by soloists and guest musicians. The Ensemble was created in 2015 and since then has performed in several venues in the UK. The members of the ensemble comprise King’s students and alumni, staff, and young musicians interested in Brazilian repertoire.
Violin: Rita Fernandes, Levent Altuntas, Alex Seow, Toby Scadding, Alina Khmelevskaya, Antonius Achtner
Violas: Samuel Chadwick, Jocelyn Coates
Cello: Sam Whitby, Jaeho Bae
Bass: Luiz Moretto
Flute: Emily McHarg
Clarinet: Suzannah Letts
Guitar: Alexandre Pereira
Singers: Jocelyn Coates – Soprano; Stefan Metzger – Baritone
Direction: Vinicius Mariano de Carvalho
BOOK LAUNCH: BRAZIL AND TRANSNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS
As part of the Thinking Inside the Box: 1973, we invite Anna Grimaldi to discuss her recently published book, Brazil and the Transnational Human Rights Movement, 1964-1985. This event explores how solidarity for Brazil contributed to the global human rights movement of the 1970s. Inspired by the theme of hope and solidarity, Anna presents a range of protests, petitions, posters, and other cultural, artistic, and media-based campaigns to understand how the language of human rights shaped and was shaped by solidarity for Brazil. She argues that by prompting the international community to join the fight against dictatorship, solidarity for Brazil reframed the debate on human rights itself, stretching the concept beyond mainstream interpretations to centre on a series of hopes: hopes for social, economic and cultural rights; equality; education and healthcare; the rights of marginalised groups; land redistribution; resource sovereignty, working conditions; and autonomous development. Anna shows how these hopes and struggles were disseminated through networks of exiles, catholic activists, journalists and academics between Brazil and Western Europe, who drew from the Latin American experience to challenge mainstream narratives of human rights from below.
Register for the event here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/book-launch-brazil-and-the-transnational-human-rights-movement-tickets-614360457667
Guest Lecture from Prof. Rodrigo Patto Sá MottA
In this guest lecture, Prof. Rodrigo Patto Sá Motta offers an assessment of the year of 1973 in the context of Latin America by exploring the commonalities and particularities among different southern cone military dictatorships. Taking 1973 as a landmark, this guest lecture analyses the objectives and interests that led certain social groups to support the dictatorships and their tools of repression, as well as the impact these authoritarian regimes had on regional and global history. Now that fifty years have passed, can we consider that democracy in the region is durable? Have the structural and contextual elements that gave rise to the authoritarian wave of the 1960s-70s now been overcome?
Find out more and book your ticket here! https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1973-a-critical-year-in-latin-america-tickets-598378354767
HOPE STRUGGLE AND SOLIDARITY @ THE UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS
Our main, month-long exhibition at the University of Leeds. Launch date, 18th April.
Echoes of 1973: Revisiting the Memories of Latin America
Join us for the exciting launch of the "Echoes of 1973: Revisiting the Memories of Latin America” exhibition on April 17 at King’s College London. Meet the students and academics driving the project and learn about the inspiration behind their work and the socio-political influences that have shaped modern-day Latin America. This event is also an opportunity to network with history and political art enthusiasts over refreshments.
For more information and to book a space: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/exhibition-launch-echoes-of-1973-revisiting-the-memories-of-latin-america-tickets-611529098997
political POSTER-MAKING Drop in
Political poster-making drop in at Hyde Park Book Club, 13th April from 4.30-9pm.
Exhibition: Hope Struggle and Solidarity
A parallel to our main exhibition to be launched at Left Bank. Come along to see a taster selection of our main artworks and learn more about our journey on this project. A poster-making drop-in session will be held to open the month-long exhibition on 5th April, 6.30pm.
TITB Presents: LA HISTORIA OFICIAL
Kicking off a month-long festival of events, the screening of ‘La Historia Oficial’ marked the inaugural step of Thinking Inside The Box: 1973. Organised by a subset of the London team, the event sought to investigate the role of memory in the search for truth and justice in Argentina.