MMF remains in Porto Covo because advantages overcome constraints

Athe end of Friday afternoon no one would risk predicting the flood that from a few hours ago would lottery Largo Marquis de Pombal, to see start another edition of the MMF, with a concert by Bruno Pernadas, happy with the “crowd” that awaited him.

“I felt that people were very receptive and were waiting for the festival to begin”, described, at the end of the concert, who watched people who already knew his music, but also an audience he did not know.

It was not his debut at the MMF, but a decade later, Bruno Pernadas played for the first time in Porto Covo and did not hesitate to say that “there should be more” festivals like this.

” I remember that when I started playing at festivals, I was 17, there were many festivals of music in the world, which were dissipating, which were ending some, due to lack of support from local authorities, but fortunately the Festival Músicas do Mundo continues to exist”, he highlights, complaining “larger clubs” and “other times” for national musicians, “because it helps the internationalization and expansion of Portuguese groups”.

And it is not that he can complain: he will perform at the Kalorama festival in Lisbon, “on a good day, before Lauryn Hill”, and then he will proceed to Stockholm and London, before playing again in Portugal.

Bruno Pernadas and the group that accompanied him played when Lusa talked to Álvaro Beijinha, a regular spectator of the festival, but debuting as president of the chamber that finances him, that of Sines.

Assuming that an “event with this magnitude” always leads to “constraints” and “some inconvenience” for residents, the president elected by the CDU in the last elections pointed out that “the advantages are immensely greater”.

The territories — highlighted — “can be promoted in various ways,” one of which through culture.

Now, the MMF brings “something absolutely fundamental” to Porto Covo, that says goodbye on Sunday, and to Sines, where it moves from Monday until the next weekend: music from all continents.

Still, the executive led by Álvaro Beijinha wanted to listen to local businessmen about the impact of the MMF on the village “small” and “very touristic” of Porto Covo, to realize “whether or not it made sense to continue investing” in the three festival days that are held there several editions.

” We are in the middle of July, we have all the hotels full, the whole restoration and this naturally creates some embarrassment,” he explained, soon adding: “After listening to people, we made the decision to keep the format in both parishes.”

That doesn’t mean keeping everything as it is, because now you have responsibilities of mayor and see “the festival in a different way”.

Little kiss promises to “hear” all the parties involved, but is committed to reducing costs and, to that end, to “make some changes”.

Last year, the MMF had an investment of over EUR 2.1 million, with a revenue of 800,000. This “deficit” of 1.3 million is a “significant” investment for “a municipality that has for investment a year in the order of 12 million,” he says.

The effort in this 26th edition “is to reduce 400,000 euros [and] try to maintain the same revenue”, points out, moving away from programming: “The reduction is not about the quality of the festival, quite the contrary, (…) the festival in terms of quality is untouchable.”

“We don’t have to change much, but we can always perfect and feel what may not be so good,” he anticipates.

Natural to the neighboring municipality of Santiago do Cacém (where he was mayor until he exhausted the legal limit of mandates), Álvaro Beijinha keeps “naturally” many memories of the MMF.

He was in the first edition, “at the time a young man”, and remembers “perfectly” the performances of the Gipsy Kins and the Gogol Bordello, which he had to see through the giant screens that lead to the exterior, given that the castle of Sines was crowded.

“It’s a very diverse song, it’s a festival indeed with very ‘sui generis’ characteristics, very own”, he admits.

“Very consumer” of music, is expected to listen to Legendary Tigerman, who performs for the first time at the FMM Sunday night (22:30), closing the poster of Porto Covo, and also the “icónico Vitorino”, who has already had “the privilege” to see several times.

Ever since the Festival Músicas do Mundo is not only made of music, offering a varied list of parallel activities, among which the protection of the environment has been a constant.

” At this point, it’s always a little more problematic. We let people enjoy it and, after the festival, we do a general collection [of garbage] to help our parish council,” says Eurico Nunes, a professor who created a tourism and nature company.

This morning, Eurico Nunes led a group through the cliffs of the Porto Covo Plateau, with one goal: to pick up garbage.

This activity is called “plogging” and adds to the defense of the environment physical exercise, with proven mental benefits, asserts the guide, author of a thesis on the subject.

Over the next eight kilometres of the route, participants fill garbage bags with waste that they find along the way and collect with the help of clamps.

“There is already some environmental awareness, although much more is needed,” notes Eurico Nunes, observing: “There are cases where I think we are going back, with so much information (…), propaganda, awareness.”

The strategy must be to confront people with the amount of garbage.

“We have to battle and focus a lot on awareness and better awareness is this type of activity, it is to take them to the ground, which is to realize that there is actually a lot of garbage and that we can do more and better,” he says.

Along the way, discover a hidden beach, for gaudio of the group, and leave his motto: “You can be and make a difference, so no matter how small that contribution is, it’s a big help.”