Felippe Moraes
Não Deixe o Samba Morrer (Don’t Let the Samba Die), 2021
Wood, aluminum, resin, steel and laser engraving
Ed. 12 + 4 AP
62.6 × 35.8 × 24.4 cm
Created in 2021, the year Carnival was interrupted by the pandemic, the interactive sound sculpture Não Deixe o Samba Morrer, by Felippe Moraes, emerges as a reliquary dedicated to the memory of samba. While it holds the evocation of this musical tradition, the work depends on the visitor’s action for the music to manifest itself.
The object takes the form of a small instrument: by striking the seven marimba keys with the red-tipped mallet, the audience activates the melody of the song “Não Deixe o Samba Morrer,” composed by Edson Conceição and Aloísio Silva and immortalized in Alcione’s voice in 1975.
Like the title of the work, the song itself addresses the listener directly. The gesture of playing the instrument calls on the visitor to take part in this appeal, putting samba back into circulation — whether through sound, memory, or the desire to sing and dance.
The chords evoke the song’s following verses, widely recognized in Brazilian culture, which speak of samba’s origins and its power to reinvent life even in contexts of hardship.
The work develops from research into samba and Carnival as cultural and affective phenomena. Through a design conceived with poetic aims, the object proposes synesthetic and bodily experiences that emerge from direct interaction with the public.
Built to play only one specific fragment of a song, the instrument turns the sculpture into a device of memory. Each touch reiterates the urgency inscribed in the work’s own title: don’t let the samba die, don’t let the samba end.