What is Projeto Kirimurê

History

In the tongue of the Tupinambás, the first native Brazilians to inhabit the area surrounding the Bay of All Saints in Bahia, KIRIMURÊ means “interior sea”, a fitting name for a geographic feature of vital importance to them and all the future inhabitants of Salvador, Bahia. Kirimurê had an abundance of fish and was the maritime pathway for the small sail boats called saveiros to transport food and goods to the littoral cities of the bay. The area of Itapuã used to be a secluded fisherman’s village that become a busy neigborhood of Salvador. “Itapuã” in Tupinambá language means “rock that roars”, named so because of a rock that loudly projects its “voice” produced by the waves and winds of the South Atlantic.

The Projeto Kirimurê began as a dream of biologist Virginia Almeida who wanted to promote socio-educational activities to help preserve the environment and rich popular culture of Itapuã, as well as to contribute in a positive way to improve the lives of a small group of children belonging to its disadvantaged community.

This dream became a reality when Mestre Acordeon--a capoeira teacher of international reputation and brother of Virginia Almeida--embraced this project with the intention, in his own words, “to return to the people who gave me capoeira a little bit of what this art form has given to me “.

Every time Mestre Acordeon and students have visited his house in Itapuã, the kids showed an active interest in their activities and clearly wanted to learn capoeira and to participate in the action. Every day they would see if the door was open and then would come in and pick up a pandeiro (tambourine) or other instrument and immediately begin playing to the beat of the music. It was a natural transition to open the doors for them to fully participate in the Project Kirimurê.

We are more than pleased with our young project. Initially we were hoping to help about 20 children. In little more than a year of actual operation we now have 100 kids participating and a long waiting list. We are grateful to all those who believed in our project and who continue to support it in one way or another. Let’s keep the positive momentum flowing into this new project.