Wanderlust of a Flâneur: Conservatória (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

Brasão de conservat´ria - coat of arms of conservatória - Valença, Rio de Janeiro

The coat of arms of Conservatória, in Valença (Rio de Janeiro) is not official and was developed by "Wanderlust of a Flâneur" just for illustration. It presents the coat of arms of the Empire of Brazil considering Conservatória was important on that time and it also presents a folk guitar, as Conservatória is known as the town of the Seresta (folk-romantic music style popular in there)

District: Conservatória

City: Valença

State: Rio de Janeiro

Country: Brazil

GPS Coordinates

My Commentary: Conservatória is a hidden town in the country-side of Rio de Janeiro, it maintains the aspect of old town and is a very inviting place for a stroll. At the evening during the weekends it's possible to see the presentation of the local folk-guitar players (seresteiros) playing Seresta.

Links:

Conservatória on Facebook

Conservatória Virtual

Interesting Facts:

- Conservatória is known as "the town of the Serestas" and "The Worldwide Capital of Serestas"

- Being a musical town, Conservatória has weekly programs for presentations of local music, for the whole year.

- The first name of Conservatória was Santo Antônio do Rio Bonito

- Seresta is a music style that is historically derivative from a mix of Portuguese Fado, Classical music, Crioulo music and Caipira music. This style of music is called Seresta when played indoors and Serenata when played outdoors (usually by a lady's window or at a park)

- It's popularly said that it's possible to see UFOs from Serra da Beleza, in Conservatória

History of Conservatória: Before the arrival of European explorers, the area where today is Conservatória was known as "Conservatory of the indians" because the native indians of the Ariri tribe used to go there to recover from diseases that used to annihilate them. With time they ended up settling the place. After the colonization of the place, the period of rise was during the coffee cultivation using black slaves. Many vestiges of the work of the African people are still visible on the town, which had the name of Santo Antônio do Rio Bonito (in a tribute to the Patron Saint and the river), but at the end the name established was Conservatória. At the end of the 1980's, the local economy declined, but the town kept its most important symbols: The bucolic ambient, the steam locomotive and the train station (inaugurated by Pedro I Emperor of Brazil), the Seresta music (an unique tradition in this style of music) and some other historical aspects, as the resistance to modernization.

Anthem of Conservatória:

As Conservatória has no official anthem, this video has the song "Lua Branca" (White Moon) of Chiquinha Gonzaga, played by the local Seresteiros of Conservatória.

My Pictures in Conservatória

Conservatória Rio de Janeiro Brazil seresta serenata folk music coat of arms

My Trip To Conservatória in October 2012

My Commentary: Going to Conservatória was initially an idea of my mother. Going to Rio's territory is never my deal. But knowing a little more about the town's story, I got interested. Conservatória has a folk music tradition (serestas and serenatas) also it salutes the Imperial times when it was somehow important.