Ismael Duarte

The role

Who holds the encounter together

A project that crosses two continents cannot rest on music alone. Someone has to open and keep the doors: speak with artists in different countries, align expectations between people who have never met in person, deal with institutions, and make sure the collaboration actually happens — with credit, with dates, with a record.

That is Ismael Duarte‘s role in Projeto Afro. While Leo Maverick signs the artistic and audiovisual direction and Kadyn handles music production, Ismael holds the intercultural direction: the articulation that turns a friendship between Brazil and Mozambique into structured work, and structured work into dialogue with diplomatic missions and cultural institutions.

In the project

What intercultural direction covers

• Relations between artistsLeading the collaboration between Brazilian and African artists, from first contact to published work, ensuring real participation and credit.
• Institutional dialoguePresenting the project to diplomatic missions and cultural institutions of Mozambique, Malawi and Nigeria, and conducting those conversations.
• MobilityEnabling the artists to travel between countries — starting with bringing Medisson Diplomata to Brazil.
• ExpansionOpening the way for the project’s next collaborations across the African continent.

Why the role exists

Exchange does not happen on its own

Projeto Afro starts from a simple premise: African music and Latin urban music share a root, and that root deserves a real encounter rather than a distant reference. But a real encounter costs organisation — time zones, languages, distance, paperwork, trust.

Separating intercultural direction from artistic direction is a deliberate choice, not a formality. It lets the music be made by those who make music, while the bridge is built and maintained by someone who takes care of it.