Afro-Brazilian songs and Black Feminism

Alba Cristina Soares, a black woman, daughter, mother, actress and Ialorixá, was born on August 20, 1963 in Itabuna, Bahia. For more than thirty years, the actress Alba Cristina, our Ya Darabi, has occupied a prominent place among the great names of the culture of the South of Bahia, as a living sign of artistic resistance and religious leadership. On stage, she worked with important personalities of the Bahian cultural scene, and for a time under the direction of the legendary director, actor and choreographer Mário Gusmão. In cinema, Alba Darabi acted in the film "A Coleção Invisível" - a work by Bernard Attal and winner of the 2013 Gramado Festival - and appeared in the soap opera "Velho Chico" (2016) on Rede Globo. She acted in the feature film "Palavra e Utopia" (2000) by Manoel de Oliveira and in the documentary "Alba Darabi in Candomblé" (2021) by Everton Barreiro, as well as in the short film "O Abebé Ancestral" by Paulo Ferreira. She is currently directing the 16-episode series "Pelos Caminhos dos Orixás" with filmmaker Betse de Paula. Recently she acted in "A Matriarca" - directed by Lula Oliveira, "A Mensagem" - directed by Cláudio Marques and "Beijaflor da Capoeira" - directed by Eric Belhassen. Ya Darabi is the Ialorixá of Terreiro Ilê Axé Odé Omopondá Aladê based at the Banco da Vitória in Ilhéus, Bahia, Brazil.

Ana Graça Correia Wittkowski was born in Salvador da Bahia, the fifth of eight children, and has lived in Germany since 1993. Studied Portuguese language and literature at the Federal University UFBa in Brazil. Later postgraduate studies in Modern Brazilian Literature at the UEFS Bahia. Studied Ethnology and Lusitanian Studies at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz. Educator, cultural scientist, parent counselor, author, speaker on the Afro-Brazilian diaspora, daycare center specialist for diversity, founder of the German-Brazilian cultural association BrasilNilê e.V. 

Bárbara Luci Carvalho ( she/her ) is an interdisciplinary performance maker and educator working in line with decolonial and migrant perspectives, especially in theatre and dance. Since 2010 she has been working in Frankfurt am Main in collaboration with the international ensemble antagon TheaterAKTion. Previously, she completed her education in theater pedagogy at the Federal University of Bahia in Brazil and is currently a student in the M.A. program in choreography and performance at the Institute for Applied Theater Studies at the Justus Liebig University in Gießen. Her artistic and pedagogical work is grounded in afro-diasporic contemporary dance, physical theatre and feminist theatre of the oppressed, theatre anthropology, butoh dance, body awareness and somatic education.

Betânia Ramos Schröder is a single mother, sociologist at the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco in Recife (Brazil) and at the University of Hamburg, author, transnational activist and daughter of Oxum as well as a lecturer on anti-racism, political participation and social movements in Brazil. She works as a consultant for project monitoring and implementation in the field of international cooperation. In addition, she is active in various initiatives such as the AfroBras Initiative and the association BrasilNilê e.V. and is involved in various writing projects with feminist, Afro-diasporic women.

Tainá Correia Wittkowski is an actress of Afro-Brazilian descent and a student of Cultural Studies currently living in Berlin.