Even for those well-acquainted with Macao’s rich ties to the Portuguese-speaking world, it may come as a surprise to learn that the city plays host to multiple festivals celebrating Lusophone culture in the final months of every year. Macao is not only a natural home for this vibrant, multifaceted heritage, the city serves as a stage that enables it to shine.
Perhaps the most prominent of these celebrations is a series of concerts co-organised by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (known by its Portuguese initials IC). First held in 1998, Lusofonia Festival is always a highly anticipated fixture between late October and early November. These days, however, Lusofonia is part of an even bigger cultural extravaganza called Encounter in Macao, currently in its sixth year running. Encounter’s programme stretches on into February.
The other significant Lusophone festival that took place was the Cultural Week of China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries, which marked its 16th edition in October. Organised by the Forum for Economic and Trade Co-operation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (better known as Forum Macao), a platform established to enhance Sino-Lusophone ties, Cultural Week highlights Macao’s role as a bridge between these regions.
A rich heritage
The term ‘Luso’ relates to places and communities influenced by Portugal’s maritime explorers during the 15th and 16th centuries. It derives from the word ‘Lusitania’, which was what the Romans called the part of the Iberian Peninsula roughly corresponding to Portugal and parts of Spain. Luso culture is far from singular: it’s best described as a common vein running through countries and regions as far-flung as Angola, Brazil, Mozambique and Macao. Today, the Portuguese language continues to connect these diverse cultures, along with spices like piri-piri (from Africa) and cinnamon (from Asia) – which are fundamental to cuisines across the Lusophone world.
Macao’s own Macanese culture is a gem within that world; the result of five centuries of Portuguese influence melding with the region’s existing Chinese culture. You can see it in European-style architecture of the Historic Centre of Macao (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), taste it in the local gastronomy and hear it in patuá theatre, which is performed in the city’s Portuguese-Cantonese creole. Portuguese, meanwhile, has remained one of Macao’s two official languages.
Lusofonia Festival
Taking place outside the historic Taipa Houses, Lusofonia Festival has been attracting top musical acts from Portuguese-speaking countries for almost three decades. This year was headlined by Portuguese singer-songwriter Fernando Daniel, who performed on 26 October and snapped photographs with an excited audience before his set. The 28-year-old rose to fame after winning the fourth season of The Voice Portugal, in 2016, and is known for soulful pop hits like “Melodia da Saudade” (2019) and “Casa” (2023).
The festival’s second weekend saw Angolan kizomba sensation Yuri da Cunha hit the stage with his country’s rhythmic dance music. Kizomba – meaning ‘party’ in the Kimbundu language – originated in Luanda in the late 1970s, and is generally sung in Portuguese. The genre was officially recognised as part of Angola’s intangible cultural heritage earlier this year. Da Cunha’s electrifying performance had the Macao crowd up on their feet and dancing as he waved his country’s red and black flag with pride.
Daniel and Da Cunha were joined by the Cabo Verdean funaná group Ferro Gaita and Mozambican singer-songwriter Selma Uamusse, among other performers. Funaná is a lively style that is intimately associated with the accordion.
Taking place over six days, this was the longest Lusofonia Festival to date. IC President Leong Wai Man has said that the decision to extend the festival gave participating communities “more opportunities for cultural exchange.”
Music was not the festival’s only drawcard, however. A mouthwatering array of traditional dishes from Portuguese-speaking countries was also on offer, available at food stalls serving up everything from Cabo Verdean cachupa (a hearty stew made with corn, beans and meat) to Brazil’s beloved brigadeiro (sweet truffle-like balls that come in a multitude of flavours).
A special spotlight shone on the spice-rich cuisines of India’s Goa, Daman and Diu. Chef Vasco Alvares flew all the way from Goa to introduce Lusofonia attendees to his region’s signature dishes, including Goan-style octopus stew, chicken cafreal (which is marinated in a fragrant herb sauce), stuffed prawns and chicken xacuti (a coconut curry).
Encounter in Macao
Beyond Lusofonia Festival, Encounter in Macao offered a rich programme of more than 70 events including a Sino-Portuguese arts exhibition, traditional music and dance performances and a film festival.
A concert by one of Cabo Verde’s most celebrated musicians, Tito Paris, drew an enthusiastic crowd on 15 November at the Macao Cultural Centre’s Grand Auditorium. This Encounter event was a cross-cultural collaboration with the celebrated Macao Chinese Orchestra. Paris, with more than four decades of musicianship under his belt, integrates the traditional Cabo Verdean genres morna and funaná into his performances. Inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, morna is a sorrowful musical genre incorporating voice, poetry and dance, often accompanied by violins or guitars.
The Macao Art Museum and the Taipa Houses’ Exhibition Gallery are jointly hosting “Memories, Legacies, Mutations”, which features over 130 contemporary works by artists hailing from the mainland, Macao and Portuguese-speaking countries. In addition, the celebrated Brazilian street artist Eduardo Kobra is creating a public artwork live at Rua da Felicidade – a historic street and tourism hotspot in the city’s historic centre. Kobra, famed for his massive, colourful murals that adorn the sides of buildings, holds the Guinness World Record for the ‘largest spray paint mural by a team’ for his work on a chocolate factory in São Paulo, Brazil.
According to IC, the ambitious exhibition aims to “inspire viewers to reflect on the continuity and diversity of cultures.” Other featured artists include João Alexandrino (known as JAS), Manuela Pimentel and Pedro Luz, representing Portugal’s buzzing contemporary art scene.
Then there’s Encounter’s China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries Film Festival, which is screening around 30 films at cinemas and outdoor venues around the city. The historical drama Grand Tour, by Portuguese director Miguel Gomes, is set to close the festival this month. Gomes earned the coveted Best Director award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for the film, which tells the story of a British civil servant who abandons his fiancée on their wedding day to embark on a journey across Asia.
Cultural Week
Forum Macao’s Cultural Week also delivered on the music front, with performances by the China Broadcasting Performing Arts Troupe, Equatorial Guinean rapper Negro Bey and Mozambican singer Neyma – who brought groovy marrabenta rhythms to Macao. Portuguese pop-and-soul singer Mimicat, who was chosen to represent Portugal in last year’s Eurovision contest, also performed two concerts at Fisherman’s Wharf on the peninsula.
In addition to the concerts, Cultural Week showcased handicrafts and culinary delights from nine of the forum’s member countries: Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, China, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Timor-Leste. It saw chefs from around the world travel to Macao for the occasion, to prepare their countries’ signature dishes at Vic’s Portuguese Restaurant in Rocks Hotel.
The Angolan chef Nario Tala prepared his take on chicken muamba, a comforting stew loved for its aromatic sauce, for diners; São Tomé and Príncipe’s Maria das Dores whipped up an equally delicious fish stew, called moqueca the evening prior. While Macao’s famed restaurant scene offers plenty of opportunities to sample Portuguese and Macanese cuisines, African food is harder to find – making this part of Cultural Week an exciting treat for the city’s adventurous foodies.
The “Lusophone Polychromies” art exhibition, held at the Complex of Commerce and Trade Co-operation Platform for China and Portuguese-speaking Countries, was another highlight. Featuring works by Timor-Leste-born artist Maria Madeira, Brazilian photographer Luiz Bhering and local artist Lam Chi Ian, the exhibition explored themes of identity, culture and heritage.
Through work from her series “Kiss and Don’t Tell”, Timor Leste-born Madeira – who currently lives in Australia – shone light on the struggles of voiceless women during the Indonesian occupation of Timor-Leste. Madeira’s Cultural Week exhibition came as her work was being featured in the 2024 Venice Biennale, in Italy. She is the first person from her young country to see their art included in the prestigious international showcase.
Bhering’s photographs captured the vibrancy of life in his homeland through images showing crowded Rio de Janeiro beaches and their rolling waves, seemingly frozen in time. Lam’s evocative watercolours, meanwhile, added a local touch to the exhibition, bridging Macao with the wider Lusophone world.
