As Palavras de Rubel | The Words of Rubel

Brazilian singer-songwriter Rubel (https://open.spotify.com/artist/0slVGXBggrLglTLNKbeEyW), a nominee for the 24th Annual Latin Grammy Awards for his album As Palavras (The Words), will perform live at Brown University in collaboration with the Symbolic Reparations Project, a Digital Humanities initiative hosted by the Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice. The event features a performance of Rubel’s most popular songs and a Q&A session on his creative process, followed by a reception.One of Rubel’s standout works is his song “Torto Arado,” inspired by Itamar Vieira Junior’s award-winning Afro-Brazilian novel Torto Arado (2019). The novel’s English translation, Crooked Plow (2023), has been longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2024. Through a collaboration with Karyn Mota, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies, who created and developed the Symbolic Reparations Project, the song “Torto Arado” was translated by both Karyn and Rubel into English, bringing this musical adaptation to a wider audience.As part of the Symbolic Reparations Project’s creative pilot, Brown University students, faculty, and members of the Providence community, along with special guests, will participate in the professional recording of the English version of Rubel’s song while he is in Providence.Presented by Brown University’s Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice, John Nicholas Brown Center for Advanced Studies and Department of Africana Studies/Rites and Reason Theatre.