Bia Ferreira Preaches for the Lesbitarian Church

Her journey from a religious environment to creating her own Lesbitarian church speaks volumes about her resilience and determination. With a vision for a better world, Bia envisions a future where her music brings light to the triumphs over adversity, celebrating the empowerment of all marginalized voices.

Morgane Marchon: How do you feel performing here in Switzerland, at Paléo Festival? First time here?

Bia Ferreira: It’s my first time in Switzerland and I'm really happy to be here. I feel so good because this is a big festival and a lot of my favorite artists played here. Being here and performing here is a dream because it shows that we're in the right way. We're stepping into the same places that the guys I admire. So I'm feeling very good.

M: So can you tell us what is behind your latest album « Faminta »? Why that name, do you feel hungry?

B: My latest album, the name « Faminta » means hungry. I'm hungry for a lot of things. I'm hungry for knowledge. I'm hungry for information. I'm hungry for love. I'm hungry for justice. I'm hungry for art. So when I chose to do this album, I separate it into two parts. So the first part is only about love because we believe that love is a tool of survival technology in Brazil. And I live in Brazil. Brazil is the killer number one queer community around the world. So if you have love to survive, it's like technology to be alive. And I wrote everything as a lesbian love, from a black girl to another black girl. Because in Brazil, we don't have a lot of black girls loving. We have hypersexuality around our bodies and all of us are sexual and it's not about love. So when we talk about love, it's revolutionary. 

And the second part, I'm hungry for justice, of information. I'm telling about the last four years in Brazil with Bolsonaro and what they made with us and why there are 40 million people that don't know what they will eat tomorrow in Brazil. We are back to the hungry map, you know. So I'm talking about this kind of hungry, the hungry for food. There are 40 million people in Brazil that don't know what they will eat tomorrow!!! And we need to talk about that. It's someone's fault. So the second part is more rap and trap. I'm making music to tell them.

M: You are an artist who faced canceled tours and threats from the police due to your outspokenness under the presidency of Bolsonaro. How does this experience influence your artistic approach?

B: Well, I just listened about that in 1964. It was the way that the army took power in Brazil and my mother was a child and I never imagined that it will happen again in Brazil. And then when Bolsonaro became president of Brazil, the worst things the history went back again. So they legalized racism and death politics from the police in Brazil. Every 23 minutes, a black guy is shot by the police in Brazil right now. It's a legal thing. He gave guns to the population. So it was a death political. People that don't think, don't make revolution. So when I'm singing about that, they just cut my voice. They’re like «You won't have a concert, you won't sing here, you can't sing here ». So it was very impressive for me. But I was very powerful because when they wanna silence us, I just wanna talk. And there is a writer in Brazil, she has a phrase that I love a lot, It’s like « when you speak, you broke the silent masks ». And then as a black girl in Brazil, they have a lot of silent masks for us. And when my grandchildren will see me singing and talking in the time of Bolsonaro, they will think «My grandma was not silent ». It’s for this kind of thing that I work. I want my grandchildren to be proud of their grandma because I was talking while they want us silent.

M: I’d like to ask you one question about religion and queerness. How was it growing up in a religious environment, discovering your queerness?

B: It was terrible. The church was my only place to socialize. All my friends, lovers and circle were there. So, when I realize that I was a lesbian girl, I was feeling like I don't belong there. And then they told me I wasn't welcome. So I lost my only circle, I was alone. Even Jesus makes me feel like he hated me, that I’ll go to hell. So it was scary and I was only 13. So I had a little break in my mind and my life. And then I wrote my first song and it's about asking God to not be a lesbian girl. I was like « Please God, I don't wanna be a lesbian girl. I don't wanna live like that. I don't wanna lose my friends. » And then God was on vacation! (laughs). He don't listen to me and I'm right here, but it was very difficult… And then I realized that they were wrong, not me. Love doesn't deserve to be criminalized. It's not a sin to love. I'm not a sinner because I love differently. So I made my own church, the Lesbitarian church. Amen (laughs). And if you believe in the love, political and social emancipation, the love emancipation, the political emancipation of lesbian people, you make part of this church. I don't care if you're black or white, if you're Christian or Buddhist, Catholic, or Heterosexual. I wanna know if you wanna fight for queer emancipation all around the world. If you believe that's the way to go to a better world, so you can make part of our church.

M: What are your hopes and goals for the future as an artist and activist? How do you envision your music making a lasting impact?

B: Well, I believe that things that we don't dream of will never happen. They can only happen if you imagine, you know. So I imagine a lot of things. I'm writing the Bible because I'm a little bit crazy! I hope in the future, I hope to sing about things that are not bad things, like racism, you know But we need to fight to end racism. I wanna talk about how I wanna have my Children, how to have a nice life, how to travel. I have 45 concerts in 12 countries this year. I wanna talk about this. I wanna talk about how is living as a black and poor girl in Brazil, living on the streets and now I'm in Switzerland, at Paléo festival! So in the future, I wanna talk about things that are more relaxed and I want to see more girls like me singing about how is to live better, how it is amazing to be a lesbian black girl. We want to sing about how we won against homophobia and racism!

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Image courtesy of Camila Tuon