Michele Mara

Michele Mara
01/03/1981
Curitiba, Brazil

I am a singer, music therapist, composer, actress, and Black activist.
I studied theology to become a pastor for children and for the church. I was a singer and choir conductor — in short, I was raised to become the successor pastor in my family’s church. But one day I found the courage to change my life and entered the Conservatório de Música de Curitiba to study popular singing. In the end, I was pushed away from the church because I had to choose: either I sang in the church or I sang for the world… I chose the world.
I studied music therapy at university because I wanted to support Black women victims of domestic violence and help in grieving processes. I carried out the first research in the world on the feelings Black women express through music therapy activities.
I am not a woman of the Black movement, but I am a Black woman in movement…
(...)
I carry my ancestry, my history, my life, my art. I carry an open mouth ready to speak, the refusal to remain silent, the fight for justice and reparation, the struggle against xenophobia, against sexism, and for change. I can no longer be a “Black Wikipedia”; people must make the effort to learn. We are not here to teach — we are here to fight…
That is what I bring: resistance, struggle, and my life to help whoever may need it.
I am an African womanist grounded on three pillars: race, class, and gender, with women at the centre of everything. It is Matriarchy.
(...)
Porto is very special because it is here that my career as an artist and entrepreneur begins again.
I had many earrings and necklaces made from cardboard and African fabrics, which I started creating during the pandemic and needed to sell. That was how the idea emerged to organise the first Afro-Entrepreneurs Fair in Porto, in 2021. From there, I made new connections that led me to participate in musicals and join the first Portuguese Creole opera, Adilson, by Dino d'Santiago.
(...)
I wish to grow old with health and quality of life. To continue working and provide for my children, not having to count coins at the end of the month. To do more musical theatre, perhaps cinema, travel, record my album…