The international Marimba project is already taking its first steps, the result of applications to PROCULTURA, an action under the PALOP-TL and EU program, financed by the European Union, co-financed and managed by Camões – Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua, from Portugal.

This unprecedented initiative between Portuguese-speaking countries is based on the premise that innovation and artistic creation are based on intangible heritage, and that its knowledge and dissemination promote the artistic, cultural and socioeconomic development of nations.

According to the press release sent to Moz Entretenimento, the main applicant for the project is the Portuguese music producer and agency Soundsgood, based in Lisbon, and with extensive experience in the work of valuing artists from the PALOP-TL (African Countries of Official Portuguese Speaking and East Timor) and Brazil in international markets.

The project also has the active support of a group of internationally recognized artists who represent the musical expressions of the various participating partner countries.

These “ambassadors” will have the main function of encouraging and motivating the participation of young artists, as unifying and motivating elements, also acting as faces of the Marimba project among the media and the general public: Paulo Flores (Angola), Nástio Mosquito (Angola), Manecas Costa (Guinea-Bissau), Stewart Sukuma (Mozambique) and Etson Caminha (Timor-Leste).

The partners involved result from the ability, in recent decades, to have contributed to the transformation of the sociocultural dynamics of the countries where they carry out their activities. In addition, they will be the local and network promoters of the project's philosophy and values.

At the end of the project, the aim is to create jobs with a focus on female entrepreneurs, in order to correct gender imbalances in the musical field of these countries.

The project will act in an integrated manner across all links in the music sector's value chain, as a socio-economic intervention project in the musical field, from training to the internationalization of musical products

Focusing primarily on the area of ​​music, the project aims to promote knowledge and appreciation of the musical heritage of the participating countries, in the most varied areas: its research into pre-existing musical collections – in particular those produced in the period between 1945 and 1986 – whether in field recordings, or the digitization of national collections, their promotion and international distribution, obeying all rules related to the rights of authors and financial promotion of artists, communities and individuals.

Taking into account the state of conservation and preservation of the musical collections of these very different countries, two approaches are important here:

In Angola and Mozambique, extensive research will be carried out on existing archives in State institutions, such as national radio stations and private archives; in Guinea-Bissau and Timor-Leste there will be more intensive research work in collecting musical sounds in the field (field recordings), with the contribution of technical experts linked to the academia of these countries and international experts, especially in the areas of anthropology and ethnomusicology.

Marimba also aims to encourage contemporary artistic creation by young musicians from participating countries, in order to contribute to the recovery of their cultural identities, the dignification of their artistic status, the dissemination of their works and the promotion of their careers on an international scale, promoting in particular the access of young women from participating countries to professionalization in creative sectors. This project will therefore pay special attention to gender imbalances in the musical field, aiming to create jobs for young women, historically excluded from musical production.