Modern Brazil - s/d

Interesting

Rob, youtube searches also turn up lots of the ‘funk putaria’ (literally ‘fornication/prostitution funk’) in addition to funk carioca

yeah I don't know a thing about "Baile de favela" or MC João, except that now that song gets in my head all the time.

cool, I guess...

No baile funk in this Brazil best album of 2015 list, but some funky stuff I think

http://beehy.pe/best-of-2015/brazil-3/

May be seeing Romulo Froes perform in a few days

He has written for Elza Soares too

Just got back from an incredible trip to Brazil (Rio and Salvador, Bahia). Alas, a connecting flight got cancelled and then our luggage got misplaced on the way there, so We missed a free Romulo Froes gig. But we did hear that MC Joao cut "Baile de favela" everywhere (that Rob mentioned upthread). Mostly a remixed version (the light remix I think its called). Thousands were chanting the words to that in a Carnival bloco parade we attended at Copocabana beach. The song certainly got stuck in our heads.

We saw a late-night Maria Rita gig, a number of bands playing Carnival gigs on various streets, the 2nd night of the Sambadrome event with samba schools composed of 1,000 or so folks, plus the amazing Salvador Campo Grande Carnaval circuit with afro-blocos like Olodum and Ilie Aiye.

I had such a great time there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej6jdAnlIq4

That was the winning performance at the Rio Sambadrome-- Manguiera paying tribute to Maria Bethania with a cast of over 4,000 people.

Carnival circuit parade in Salvador is down the street and not in a special stadium. Here's Afro-bloco Ile Aiye

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CVTTFlJzaQ

We also saw small more informal "blocos" in various streets of Rio and Salvador

Plus just hearing Brazilian sounds in shops and restaurants and in some taxis (that weren't playing American pop)was cool too

I need to catch up on years worth of Carlinhos Brown albums. I have not heard his 2010 Diminuto, a ballads project, but I did get Adobró, his funkier and more pop effort from that year. Plus I heard his songs for that animated movie Rio. He got an Oscar nomination for that, but didn't win.

Friend from Brazil made this playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/user/vanessa_tolotti/playlist/5q1BwAH8tb2hwiOAmhAJiu

Lots of baile funk which is not really my cup of tea, but it's interesting if you want to know what they listen to over there.

From that playlist here's a famous one, Anitta. I kinda love how at the beginning of the video there's a full blown commercial for tang. What's up with that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geFj_kMvasQ

This is the big hit though:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGov-KH7hkM

Sounds like the pirate version of Redfoo's red thang. Not sure if it's a sample or a steal.

So I saw Maria Rita sing in the same 2,500 person hall in Rio that baile funk DJ Marlboro was performing in the next night.

Listening now to Ava Rocha, who mixes samba with rock. She made Ben Ratliff of the NY Times top 10 album list

Others and I have also mentioned Ava upthread

Still lots of stuff for me to get hip to, or catch up on from both old and young Brasileros

http://qz.com/637282/protestors-in-brazil-plan-on-bringing-down-their-unpopular-president-with-a-choreographed-song-and-dance/

Article includes a link to a video with the song and guide to the dance steps

It's opposing the Brazilian Workers Party, the current Brazilian president and the last one, all of whom the protesters assert is corrupt. Some on the left may think this is painting with too broad a brush

I'm thinking so myself but I don't speak Portuguesee or really know the issues.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/24/arts/music/review-layers-in-tropix-from-ceu.html?ref=arts

New album from Ceu from Sao Paulo

There’s a group of broad-minded musicians at the heart of “Tropix,” and two of them were Céu’s partners in producing the album. Hervé Salters, a French keyboardist who also works under the moniker General Elektriks, is one. Pupillo, who plays drums in the superdynamic Brazilian band Nação Zumbi, is the other. Their contribution feels intuitive and deep-simmered: Even when a track flaunts its electronic timbres, as on “Rapsódia Brasilis,” there’s a tendril of folkloric imprecision. And the inverse holds true, so that a traditionally samba-esque confection, “Varanda Suspensa,” receives an underlay of contemporary rhythm programming

the political atmosphere in Brazil now--

https://theintercept.com/2016/03/18/brazil-is-engulfed-by-ruling-class-corruption-and-a-dangerous-subversion-of-democracy/

Listened to some of the new Ceu album this morning. I liked what I heard---artsy bossa nova pop, though I can some rolling their eyes at that.

Love the new Céu album

Just got back from an incredible trip to Brazil

Nice.

The Céu album sounds pretty good so far.

I like that easy-going Teresa Cristina album Ben Ratliff reviewed in the NY Times back in January.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/brazilian-politics-takes-a-satanic-turn-and-temer-is-in-hot-water/2016/05/22/723f6268-201c-11e6-b944-52f7b1793dae_story.html

On Friday singer Caetano Veloso performed a free show for thousands outside the landmark Ministry of Culture building in Rio that is occupied by protesters. The crowd turned one of his classics into a sing-along of “I hate Michel Temer.” Earlier, another crowd there sang “Temer out” to a melody from Carl Orff’s opera, “Carmina Burana” during an orchestral concert.

Other “Temer out” chants were also heard at free concerts by major Brazilian artists such as Ney Matogrosso in Sao Paulo on Saturday night, and “Temer Never” flashed on a screen during Sunday’s performance by rapper Criolo.

Oh no, forgot Ceu is in DC tomorrow night and have other plans I can't get out of.

https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/2016/06/15/for-brazilian-singersongwriter-ceu-the-skys-the-limit/

a band called Fellini namedropped by Ceu

her rousing interpretation of “Chico Buarque Song,” a song by the cult post-punk São Paulo band Fellini that honors Buarque, a legendary songwriter, musician and man of letters. Describing her teenage love of the Velvet Underground and Joy Division, she decided to bring some of that post-punk aesthetic into Tropix via Fellini.

“When I heard [Fellini] I fell in love with their sound,” she says. “It was so raw and interesting. It talks about what I was trying to do with Tropix: a very dark way of being in Brazil, which is so colorful. I liked the whole album, and I choose this song because I like the melody and it’s so wonderfully strange to have Chico Buarque, such an important and brilliant composer, in this post-punk song.”

From the Olympic opening ceremony with Anitta, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil and more

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euyRPBqZNYM

Video is gone. Anyone have a complete list of the musicians who performed? I missed a chunk of it, heard Gil was in the hospital for kidney issues recently, wasn't sure he was going to be there.

Wish I had noticed when it was up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_K9j3fb8Es

By the way, NYT did a good job in this playlist http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/03/arts/music/brazilian-music-playlist.html

Yeah, I was hesitant to read at first but it turned out to be decent, they covered a lot of ground.

Glad they mentioned Chico Science & Nacão Zumbi. Would have also been nice to see Lenine and Moreno+2 in there.

NY Times music crits Ratliff and Pareles have both been to Brazil multiple times and been writing about it for awhile, so its not too surprising that its a good job. Ratliff is now leaving the NY Times to teach at NYU, so I wonder if Pareles will be able to pick up from him on the Brazilian music coverage. Ratliff covered more obscure artists than Pareles.

More discussion and stuff for opening ceremony here:

Caetano Veloso S and D

Ava Rocha Tour USA is coming!

August 5th – Joe’s Pub (New York) 9:30 pm - $ 15
425 Lafayette St, New York, NY
http://www.songkick.com/artists/8814094-ava- rocha

August 6th – Nublu (New York) - 11 pm - $10
Brasil Summerfest’s Closing Party
62 Avenue C, New York, NY (East Village)
http://www.nublu.net/

August 9th – Trans-Pecos Brooklyn (New York)
915 Wycoff Av, Ridgewood, Queens, NY
8:00 pm - concert Marcos Campello+ Steve Dalachinsky
8:30 pm - Nigth - film by Paula Gaitán
10:00 pm - concert Ava Rocha

August 12th – Tropicalia (Washington) - 11 pm
2001 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20009
http://www.tropicaliadc.com/

August 13th – Nublu (New York) - 10 pm - special guest Gui Amabis
151, Avenue C, between 9/10th Streets , East Village
http://www.nublu.net/

***

Ava Rocha launches her first tour in the United States

Saw a pic of Caetano around the Olympics on Instagram holding a sign in Portuguese saying that their interim President must go

Was out of town for weekend and sadly missed Ava Rocha's only non-NYC gig on her short debut US tour of a week

Carnival portion of Olympics closing ceremony is great

DJs played lively music and some spectators got out of out their seats to dance — and do the “wave.”

The crowd also got to see performers shake it to frevo, a frenetic dance that, if it’s even possible, makes samba seem like a staid ballroom affair. Holding a small umbrella, the dancers jumped up and down, seeming to march and incorporate acrobatics at the same time.

They shook it to “Vassourinhas,” which means “small brooms,” a popular song that was also the name of a famous club in the northeastern city of Recife.

During Sunday’s closing ceremony, singer Mariene de Castro was showered water that resembled rain, which put out the Olympic cauldron’s flames.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/the-latest-athletes-crowd-dance-to-djs-at-closing-ceremony/2016/08/21/88a06f10-67fd-11e6-91cb-ecb5418830e9_story.html

Elza Soares who was mentioned upthread has a Pitchfork best album. Just noticed Sherburne's end of July review

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/22173-a-mulher-do-fim-do-mundo-the-woman-at-the-end-of-the-world/

That's the same album curmudgeon and I were praising in 2015.

11 hours ago, Kiko Dinucci, the guitarist on the Soares, released a third album with Metá Metá (which includes Jucara Marcal): MM3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNXUOGdNmSk

Oops, just noticed your byline, curmudgeon.

Anyway, the full Metá Metá album on spotify

https://gomagringa.bandcamp.com/

Just saw Andy Beta's September Pitchfork review of a Goma Gringa label compilation called "desconstrucao" (as opposed to the Portuguese singer who moved to Sao Paulo Eugenia Melo E Castro album of the same name)

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/22238-desconstrucao/

the musicians clustered around São Paulo’s current “samba sujo” (dirty samba) scene relish their hometown’s pallor. For those struck by the sound of Elza Soares’ A Mulher do Fim do Mundo from a few months ago, this twelve-track comp culled from the early days of the Goma Gringa Discos label is the next logical step in exploring modern Brazilian music. It features a similar cast of players and musicians from Soares’ album, including saxophonist/arranger Thiago França and Rodrigo Campos.

...Most acts rotate through a stable of players, be they Juçara Marçal, Kiko Dinucci, Marcelo Cabral, Romulo Fróes, Sérgio Machado, Campos, or França, which the press release states “are not a movement, [but] togetherness in motion, always linked from one project to the next.” Almost any selection here contains strands of native samba, post-punk’s rumble, Afrobeat’s driving rhythm, blats of avant-jazz that seem to dilate space, as well as flashbacks to ’60s Tropicália, itself a mutation of Brazilian pop music interacting with outside influences.