Resistir Para Existir: An Artistic Rebellion Unfolds in Maputo

Memory crystallizes into performance on the streets of Maputo. Until September 12th, the Mozambican capital thrums with insurgent creative energy as "Resistir Para Existir" transforms the city into a living laboratory of Lusophone artistic resistance. This isn't just another cultural residency—it's a radical act of collective remembering, a sonic and visual uprising that refuses to let the past remain silent.

Conceived by Associação Cultural Scala and Khuzula, the residency has magnetized voices from across the Portuguese-speaking world. From over a hundred applications, sixteen emerging artists from Angola, Cabo Verde, Guiné-Bissau, Moçambique, São Tomé e Príncipe, Timor-Leste and Portugal have been chosen to join Mozambican creators in what feels less like collaboration and more like conspiracy—a deliberate plot to resurrect the revolutionary spirit through art.

The roster reads like a manifesto of emerging cultural insurgents. Angola's Géssica Pedro brings two decades of dance mastery, her body serving as archive and rebellion simultaneously, while vocalist Odeth Cassilva channels five years of cultural industry expertise into raw performance power. From Cape Verde, Suaila Lima's twenty-year dance journey collides with Yacine Rosa's morna-soaked vocals, both women carrying the salt and struggle of island resistance in their movements and melodies.

Artists from across the Lusophone world converge to excavate collective memory and transform it into living.

Guinea-Bissau arrives through the multifaceted artistry of Janice Candé—dancer, actress, singer, and poet whose childhood carnival victories have evolved into international festival conquests—alongside percussionist Osvaldo Netos, whose two decades of rhythmic revolution include choreographing the legendary Grupo Cultural Netos de Bandim. Eugénia Lopes completes this triumvirate, her voice bridging traditional mandjuandade with contemporary urgency.

Portugal's contribution cuts deep with Luis Fernandes' twenty-year journey through sonic experimentation and Carolina Monteiro's theatrical precision, while percussionist Francisco Vieira brings symphonic sophistication to the revolutionary mix. Mozambique's own voices surge through Shelcia Mac's contemporary popular music fusion, Leia Nhambe's multi-platform artistry spanning television, film, and stage, each note a declaration of cultural sovereignty.

From São Tomé e Príncipe, Vanessa Faray's rap mastery and traditional fusion serves as the voice of Orquestra Rizoma, while Eduardo Lourenço's ballet-to-kuduro versatility embodies the island's creative contradictions. Timor-Leste arrives through Olga Boavida's ancient storytelling traditions and Orlanda Mendonça's vocal declarations, both women serving as bridges between ancestral wisdom and contemporary resistance.

This convergence refuses the comfort of nostalgia. When morna collides with marrabenta, when gumbé enters dialogue with semba, when ancient storytelling traditions are thrust onto theatrical stages, something volatile emerges. As one participant declares with revolutionary clarity: "It doesn't matter if it's semba, marrabenta, morna, gumbé, puxa, tebe-tebe or ballad... it's all conversation between brothers."

The residency excavates collective memory not as museum piece but as live ammunition—the anti-colonial and antifascist struggles of the past reloaded for contemporary battles. These artists don't just honor their ancestors' resistance; they interrogate its contemporary relevance with unflinching intensity, creating what organizers describe as "a critical re-reading of cultural production."

The streets of Maputo have become their canvas, but the real explosion happens September 12th when over fifty performers converge on Centro Cultural Moçambique-China. This isn't a conventional showcase but a climactic ritual—a moment when three weeks of creative fermentation transforms into something that pulses with the urgency of now. The performance gains additional gravitas through a specially commissioned anthem created by musician Stewart Sukuma and literary giant Mia Couto, while the entire spectacle unfolds according to a script conceived by Mia Couto and filmmaker Sol de Carvalho.

Every gesture will be captured, every rhythm documented, every voice archived on CASA, the digital platform that serves as a virtual sanctuary for Lusophone performing arts. This digital preservation transforms momentary performance into permanent testimony, ensuring these acts of resistance echo beyond the walls of any single venue.

Networks of Resistance

"Resistir Para Existir" operates as more than artistic residency—it's a node in a broader network of cultural insurrection. Part of the expansive "Resistência e Afirmação Cultural" project, it connects institutions from Angola's Elinga Teatro to Cape Verde's Fundação Amílcar Cabral, from Guinea-Bissau's Mandjuandade Netos de Amizade to Timor-Leste's Associação Hacktuir Ai-Knanoik. Portugal's Orfeão de Leiria and São Tomé's Roça São João complete this constellation of resistance.

What emerges from this convergence in Maputo isn't just performance—it's proof that resistance remains the most vital form of existence. In a world that often seeks to flatten cultural difference into marketable sameness, "Resistir Para Existir" stands as testament to the radical power of artistic diversity. These voices refuse to be silenced, these bodies refuse to be still, these traditions refuse to become relics.

The revolution, it turns out, has found its soundtrack—and its choreography, its poetry, its theatrical vision. What began as investigation becomes recreation, what started as memory becomes movement, what emerged as resistance becomes existence itself. In Maputo's humid air, the past breathes again, and the future takes shape through the radical act of collective creation.