On stage at the Atabaque de Ouro Awards, Rômulo de Xangô spoke about his career and reaffirmed his commitment to preserving Afro-Brazilian tradition, representing Rio de Janeiro and his terreiro community. He then led a ritualistic chant dedicated to Saint Anthony, also invoking Ogum, the people of Calunga, and Exu-Pombo Gira, in a spiritual invocation marked by strength, repetition, and devotion. The performance celebrated cultural resistance, ancestry, and the communion between the sacred and the community—the very essence that sustains the festival.
