Brô MC´s and Wera MC, Brazil

The Guaraní rappers sang live at the Weltkulturen Museum during the Frankfurt Museums‘ Night and on two extra occasions in May 2018.

Brô MC´s
Bruno Veron started rapping in 2006, while still at school. In 2008 he founded the Brô MC’s, together with his brother Clemerson as well as the brothers Charlie and Kelvin Peixoto. The group’s name reflects them being two pairs of brothers. By means of the medium of hip hop, they seek to raise awareness for the situation of the indigenous peoples in Brazil and to combat stereotypes. Their songs tell of the reality the Guaraní have to face every day in Mato Grosso do Sul: land conflicts, evictions, teenage suicide, murder of political leaders by hired gunmen of the white landowners, and being ignored by the national media. At the same time, they are ambitious to convey their culture and its value to the non-indigenous public.

At the beginning, they faced prejudice from two sides: Non-indigenous Brazilians found it unfitting for indigenous people to use this kind of music, while the village elders did not approve of youngsters wanting to play the music of “the others”. By now, they have gained the respect of both parties and are seen as young leaders in their village.

Since 2009, they have engaged in hip hop courses in their reservation, seeking to convince other young Guaranís of their own culture’s value and to offer them an alternative to drug and alcohol addiction. In 2016, Bruno Veron was invited by Nissan to carry the Olympic Torch in their hometown of Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul. A Brô MC’s Song was part of the soundtrack to the movie „Em Busca da Terra Sem Males“ (Searching for the Land Without Evil) which was shown at the Berlinale Film Festival in 2017.

Wera MC

Wera MC lives in the village Tekoha Pyau, located in Brazil’s smallest indigenous reservation right in between the public park Pico do Jaraguá, that suffers from growing privatization, and one of São Paulo’s biggest highways, ironically named after the bandeirantes, colonial slave hunters that originally drove the Guaraní out of this area. The problems are legion: accidents involving the ever racing cars and trucks, huge numbers of abandoned dogs invading the village, the severely restricted living space (700 people on three hectares of land)…

Although this territory was officially declared Terra Indígena (Indigenous Land), there have frequently been attempts to drive the inhabitants out, often via police force. This is due to plans to create a hotel complex where the indigenous villages are located. The inhabitants, especially children and youth, are victims of perpetuate discrimination in schools and at work.

This is what Wera MC speaks about in his lyrics: “We tell about our reality. Many people come here and feel sorry for us when they see the state of our village, which is really precarious. We want to change that. We want them to know that our people has a lot to say, that many things that have happened here have been explained badly. We’re here to tell the truth.”

click here to watch the film