At age of 21, IBGE Choir promotes culture all over Brazil
January 24, 2018 09h00 AM | Last Updated: January 24, 2018 03h37 PM
Besides carrying out surveys that portray the Brazilian reality, the IBGE also promotes cultural activities, such as the performances of its choir. Nowadays, with nearly 60 members, the IBGE Choir is considered one of the oldest institutional groups in the country and has already performed around 300 times all over Brazil in the last 21 years.
With a repertoire ranging from Handel's Hallelujah and Gloria in Excelsis Deo (Latin Christian hymn) to soap opera soundtracks, popular sambas and songs by Chico Buarque, the choir has already sung its own pieces (known as suite), exclusively composed by the choir's coordinator and conductor, Márcio Carvalho. The piece was first performed in 2015, in the 27th International Cartographic Conference, held in Rio de Janeiro.
In order to do repertoire research and compose more substantial works, the maestro is allowed by the IBGE to work at home, where he can focus more and avoid distractions. There, Márcio has a very good structure, with a library and instruments of his own, in addition to a team that helps him with the musical research.
Márcio has been ahead of the choir since 1996 and holds a Bachelor's degree in Musical Composition and Conduction from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and a Master's degree in Composition; moreover, he is a professor, as well. He is responsible for the repertoire selection, and is also the technical coordinator of the more than 10 choirs of the IBGE State Branches, even appointing their conductors. He tells us how the choir implementation process took place: "At the beginning, the choir was supervised by the servants themselves, but later, it went under the institutional administration", he explains.
The choir is formed by people of several ages, and nowadays there are more women than men. The youngest member is 23 years old, whereas the oldest is 80. Maria da Penha Uchôa, who has been in the group for more than 20 years, gets moved every time she sings. "When we are about to sing, our eyes get brighter, our heartbeats accelerate with emotion and we give our best to the audience".
Altagnar Abrão Viana, who will retire in a few months, claims that the choir is an excellent therapy to alleviate post-retirement depression. "After retirement, people tend to get depressed, lonely. Many people who have retired joined the choir to pull themselves together. As a result, depression and bad humor were over. We have a lot of examples here".
With a mixed nature, the choir is formed by servants and retired servants from the Institute and by two members that are not directly related to the IBGE, but joined the choir just for the pleasure of singing. Choir's practices and preparations take place at least once a week, usually on Fridays.
There are no restrictions for those who wish to become part of the group. All you need is to release your voice: you are very much welcome!! The choir has a specific room for its practices, offered by the IBGE, and gets the support from the Marketing Department.
"The choir is important, since it represents the IBGE institutionally, associating its name with cultural activities and positive values for the Institute. Besides giving visibility to the institution, the choir's activities are relevant to the intern stakeholders, playing a motivational role and aggregating both active and inactive servants", claims the IBGE Marketing Coordinator, Izabelle de Oliveira.
For some members, being part of the group goes far beyond performing from time to time. "Being part of the IBGE Choir is simply belonging to a family", summarizes the retired servant, Joana d'Arc.
Get to know more about the IBGE Choir
