City of God, or Cidade de Deus, is a flat, sprawling favela located in the west end of Rio de Janeiro. It is perhaps best know to non-Brazilians as the setting for the hit movie of the same name, although the film was not shot in the community. To travel to City of God from the center of the city, we take a bus along the coast, past the white sand beaches and gleaming new skyscraper apartments of the Barra neighborhood. Then the bus turns north. Condominiums and shopping malls turn to roadside stalls as we cross a small, reed-lined river. When we arrive at the favela we are met by our two hosts: Mingau, a local musician and actor, and Tony Barros, the director of Lente de Sonhos, an organization which runs modeling classes for girls living in the favelas. For the next few hours Mingau and Tony show us around their community. Schools are on vacation, and it seems as though wherever we go there is a group of children at play. Please enjoy our walk through this lively destination.
City of God Sound Locations:
Location 1: Main Street
We exit the bus at a small park on Rua Edgar Werneck, a busy street that cuts through City of God. This street is a throughway to and from other parts of the city and it teems with traffic. An endless procession of city buses, each route painted in the different colours of competing bus companies, jostle with cars, taxis, and informal van-buses. The sounds are of motors, tires, and horns. Above this, you can hear the chatter of our hosts and us as we make our way along the street.
Location 2: Side Street #1
We enter the favela and turn onto a quiet side street near Tony’s house. Near his front door, two young boys are playing with a kite, a very popular activity in the favelas. They call to one another as they try to untangle the kite’s rope and send it into the air. We continue walking toward a busier street, our feet crunching on the gravel road. A woman passes us pushing an empty shopping cart that clatters and rattles loudly. As we reach the intersection of the two roads we hear music from a small café and the voices of passers-by.
Location 3: Side Street #2
We cross Rua Edgar Werneck again and enter the other side of City of God. Mingau and Tony lead us down a wide concrete street lined with stores and cafés emitting rock music and conversations. Children run along the road; one stops to make farting noises in our general direction. Buildings become sparser as we continue to walk down the street. Ahead, I can see a small river. There is a strong breeze; you can hear the wind hitting the microphone.
Location 4: Creek
The road leads us to a small, seemingly man-made creek, contained by low concrete walls. I stop to record the sound of water flowing into the egress from a rusty brown pipe. Between the concrete the water lies calm, a sickly pale grey-green. There is a strong smell of sewage. Large brown leave float past, fallen from the low trees that border the stream. Above the walls, the grass banks are strewn with plastic bags and other trash.
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Location 5: Park #1
We arrive at a fenced-in soccer pitch where a loose game is underway. Half a dozen children fight for control of two different balls, one yellow and one red. There seem to be no set teams; the players alternately pass to one another or attempt to steal the ball from another player. Every once in a while, there is a loud clink as a ball strikes the chain link fence. In the background birds chirp and a radio or television murmurs from a nearby house.
Location 6: Gas Depot
We leave the soccer field and walk down a side street, where we come upon a group of men loading gas tanks into a large red truck. The clang of the tanks against the metal sides of the truck bed, and one another, echoes for blocks.
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Location 7: Park #2
Our walk takes us to a park. Another soccer pitch sits unused at one end. Children are gathered at concrete tables or playing in a small playground area. At one end of the park there is a skateboarding ramp. A group of young children sit at the top of the ramp and take turns sliding to the bottom on flattened soda bottles. They laugh and scream in delight.
After recording the sounds of the children sliding, we walk over to the other side of the park. The children there are fascinated with our recording equipment and we let them film each other and sing into the microphone. They love to hear their voices coming out of the small speaker on my recorder as they sing. Before we leave the area, a group of four or five kids gather around the mic and sing us a song.
Location 8: Side Street #3
We begin to make our way back toward the main road. We walk down a side street and hear the animal sounds typical of many favelas: dogs barking and birds chirping. Somewhere, a television blares.
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Location 9: M.C. Mingau
Our time in City of God is drawing to a close. Mingau is due at work and my colleague Walter must rush back downtown for an afternoon meeting. Mingau, however, makes sure to send us off in style. As we are walking toward the bus we stop and he graces us with an a capella performance of his song “Rio de Janeiro.”
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