Margareth Menezes enchants Livraria Lello with spoken concert

At a concert by Margareth Menezes, from Bahia, at Livraria Lello bookshop in Porto, moderated by musician Pedro Abrunhosa, the importance of culture in a country was discussed. In the section ‘Em Nome Próprio’ (In My Own Name), the Brazilian Minister of Culture reflected on freedom of expression as a requirement for artistic creation and emphasised the importance of culture having its own ministry.  

Margareth Menezes had never given a concert in a bookshop before. It was a first, and in an ‘incredible place’, as she described Livraria Lello, which was packed to see her on Tuesday, 21 October. The artist could not hide her enthusiasm: ‘I've never done this type of show in a bookshop before, so it's also a new experience for me.’

Between songs and memories, Margareth Menezes — who was invited by Lula da Silva to become Minister of Culture in 2023 — spoke with Porto musician Pedro Abrunhosa, in a new moment of affirmation for Livraria Lello as a stage for dialogue between Portugal and Brazil, sister countries in culture and who share the Portuguese language.

At this meeting of Lusophone countries, the Brazilian Minister of Culture emphasised the importance of Brazil now having a ministry exclusively dedicated to culture — and not just a secretariat of state: "We went through a very difficult period, not only because of the pandemic, but also because of the previous government, in which the Ministry [of Culture] did not exist. It was a secretariat," explained Margareth, adding that, due to the lack of a ministry dedicated to the arts, Brazil did not devote any support policies to the cultural sector during the pandemic.

Revealing his knowledge of the subject, Pedro Abrunhosa added that President Lula da Silva's first government had a Ministry of Culture, but that the former head of state, Jair Bolsonaro, reversed the decision, transforming it into a state secretariat. The artist also shared that, in his view, culture is not meant to be used as decoration or ‘to put on top of a cake’.

On a night when the chair of the board of directors of Livraria Lello, Aurora Pedro Pinto, invited the now former mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira — who, in the words of Pedro Abrunhosa, ‘greatly valued culture’ — to sign the Golden Book, Minister Margareth Menezes emphasised that ‘artists can only express themselves freely if there is democracy. It cannot be something that is monitored, because imagination, ideas and concepts are things that come from within’.

At the end of the event, the now former mayor Rui Moreira was invited to leave a message in the Golden Book of Livraria Lello, as a way of thanking him for his 12 years of work in support of culture at the helm of Porto City Council.

Brazilian musician and Minister of Culture Margareth Menezes also left kind words in the same book, dedicated to important figures who visit this century-old bookshop.

Rui Moreira escolheu agradecer à Livraria Lello na linguagem da mesma, de forma literária, através de um poema: 

«Esta é a cidade onde começa o sonho,  

Onde a maravilha vive connosco. 

Este é o Porto das gentes que cantam e choram, 

Que reclamam e gritam,  

E que tem como sobrenome LIBERDADE»