The so-called maletas—low-fidelity, colorful suitcase speakers equipped with optional colored lights—are highly valued objects within the Cracolândia community. Worn cross-body by users moving through the territory, they broadcast funk and gospel music at high volume. Indifferent to its surroundings, Sala São Paulo—a symbol of high culture located just a few meters from the Cracolândia fluxo—asserts its architectural and cultural authority through a program dedicated to concert music, also referred to as classical or art music.

The conflict between these two sonic-social worlds is staged as a musical confrontation between the repertoires of the Craco and Sala São Paulo, under the armed surveillance of the Metropolitan Civil Guard, responsible for the daily stop-and-frisk practices imposed on users of the territory.