- This
photographic series, produced in 2002, contains images of a parade, named
- "Las
llamadas" (the callings), which formas part of the festivities of the Uruguayan
carnival.
- "Las
llamadas de Carnaval", it is a traditional party for the Afro-Uruguayan community,
- takes place
in the road "Isla de Flores" in the suburb "Barrio Sur" (Sur quarter),
and
- originates in
the Uruguayan colonial period.
- At that time
Carnival was the only opportunity for the blacks peoples, brought from Africa as slaves,
to express themselves freely. It was thus that the blacks began to meet and beat their
"tamboriles" (drums) as a forma of ancestral "llamada" (calling),
directed toward other blacks who would come together to participate in the celebraton of
carnival.
- The echos of
those "tamboriles" have survived all these years and today "Las
llamadas", which now has multi-ethnic participation, constitutes one of Uruguay's
most important cultural expressions.