…their music would sound like that:
Mozart’s “Eine kleine Nachtmusik” by Unidos da Tijuca escola de samba and Petrobrás Symphonic Orchestra with conductor Isaac Karabtchevsky.
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Conceived by architect Oscar Niemeyer and urbanist Lúcio Costa to host the Brazilian federal government, Brasília was custom made to fulfill president Juscelino Kubitschek’s utopia. He dreamed of a modernist city right in the middle of the country, many hundreds of kilometers away from the coast and any major city. It was meant to integrate and develop areas that were scarcely occupied and also to remove the high bureaucracy from Rio, the former capital, a city full of distractions. To Brasília converge not only all the power, but also all of those prone to mysticism. Many believe the city has a special energy, whatever that means. This legend began with Dom Bosco, the Italian saint that founded the Salesian order in the 19th century. In a vision, he saw a promised land of immense riches that would be the epicenter of a new civilization. It would be built in the next four generations and would be roughly located where Brasília was established. Many Brazilienses believe the capital materializes that vision. Several esoteric groups congregate in the capital. The most famous is Vale do Amanhecer (Dawn Valley), that believes that we descend from extraterrestrials that colonized the planet 32,000 years ago. These revelations were made by the group’s main founder, known as Tia Neiva, who believed she was the reincarnation of Cleopatra and Nefertiti. Vale do Amanhecer mixes spiritualism, Christian concepts, plus African, Mayan and Roma traditions. In the following video, a cool summary of the pioneering years of this very peculiar city:  Meneghetti desguised By Regina Scharf Brazilians have a somewhat disturbing tenderness for certain types of criminals. Let me drop some names that will prove my point: Meneghetti, Adhemar de Barros, Lampião and your generic malandro. Take, for instance, the figure of Gino Meneghetti. Born in Pisa, Italy, in 1870, he became a huge celebrity in São Paulo, between 1914 and the sixties. He was known as the “good thief”, “the greatest criminal of Latin America” and the “roof cat”, due to his ability of jumping from one house to another to deceive the police. The public passion for Meneghetti florished thanks to the massive media coverage of his feats and the fact that he never hurt anybody, only stole from the rich and performed spectacular escapes. The second name in our list: coffee producer and politician Adhemar de Barros, the very popular governor that ruled over São Paulo state during part of the forties, the fifties and the sixties. One of his mottos, of striking candor, is still remembered by those who distrust politicians: “Roubo, mas faço” (I steal, but I also build). Indeed, he was very hard working and left a legacy of power dams, roads, schools and hospitals. But his government was also marked by several corruption episodes. Till today you can find elder adhemaristas that still long for those days.  "Letter from Satan to Roberto Carlos", a cordel litterature book by Enéias Tavares Santos Brazil is a monarchy ruled by a few kings. If you ask anyone on the streets, he/she will probably name three: soccer genius Pelé, Formula 1 mega-champion Ayrton Senna (promoted to god-status thanks to his early death, at 34), and pop singer and composer Roberto Carlos. Portrayed today by The New York Times , Roberto has been a major success for 50 years. Very ecclectic, he debuted as a heartthrob with early-Beatles-like songs, then became a major romantic reference and, later in life, developed a taste for religious themes. His songbook goes from the sexually graphic songs (“Concave and Convex”) to the mystical experiences (“Jesus Cristo”, where he shouts, “JC, I am here!”). To understand what this is all about, check this three highlights of his career: “Que Vá Tudo para o Inferno” (1965), “De Tanto Amor” (1971) and “O Portão” (1974).
Paulo Szot has it all. The Brazilian baritone is starring “South Pacific”, the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that returned to Broadway after half a century. He got a Tony Award for his performance and tons of good press. And, since the last month, he has the main part in Dmitri Shostakovich’s “The Nose” at the Metropolitan (the second Brazilian to sing there, after Bidu Sayão, in the 30s). Szot was also hired by the Met for the future seasons of “Carmen” and “Manon Lescaut”. Check his great performance singing Ravel’s “Don Quichotte à Dulcinée”, in 2005, and in a scene of “South Pacific”.
But the fact that one in two foreigners asks me if I am “the” garota de Ipanema or sings it to me to show he/she belongs to the inner circle of Brazilian culture is a little tiring. I bet I am not the only expatriate Brazilian afflicted by Garota-de-Ipanematis. The song has been used to sell everything you can name, from plastic sandals to fried snacks.It is muzak, played inside an elevator, in a scene of the “Blues Brothers” movie. It has a guest appearance at Brangelina’s “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” feature and Paul Newman/Tom Cruise’s “The Color of Money”. It is in a Monty Python’s sketch and in one of “The Simpsons” episodes. It inspired the New Wave rock band B-52, becoming “Girl from Ipanema goes to Greenland” and mega-stage composer Stephen Sondheim in his “The Boy from…” So, allow me some personal exorcism. Here goes a selection of peculiar versions of the song I hate to love. The first one is a chiropercussion performance (the body is used to produce the rhythm). The second is a hilarious 1964 Astrud Gilberto performance, with snow, pinetrees and high hairdos. And, finally, Old Blue Eyes Sinatra smokes and sings with an adorable Jobim.
by Eloisa Aquino, guest writer* If you’ve had your share of Bossa Nova, if you feel that you already know all the Tropicália big shots well, if you’re tired of samba, if you already listened all that matter from Clube da Esquina, or if funk ball is not your cup of tea, but you still want Brazilian sounds to rock your life, here are some picks of great musicians who deserve your attention. Not famous outside of Brazil, from different genres and generations, these guys made my life happier many a time. Enjoy.
Check this hit parade:
You’ve got the spirit. You don’t have to have a PhD in Psychology to realize you might want to keep your kids away from this songs. Instead, look for Paulo Tatit’s brilliant work – such as “Palavra Cantada” and “Pé com Pé“. Or maybe, go for Chico Buarque de Hollanda’s “Os Saltimbancos”. Also, check the Cocoricó TV program soundtrack. This (low quality) video of a Cocoricó’s sketch shows some of the main characters, chickens, singing their omnipresence and offering translations of “hen” in different languages.
Only two Brazilian rock bands really made it abroad. Heavy-metal Sepultura and psychedelic Os Mutantes. Os Mutantes’s success is peculiar in the fact that the band had its heyday in the late sixties and early seventies, when it was instrumental in shaping counterculture in Brazil. It was dismantled for decades, till the nineties, when it was progressively brought back to life, championed by Kurt Cobain, Beck and David Byrne. Initially formed by brothers Arnaldo Baptista and Sérgio Brito, and red-haired-enfant terrible singer Rita Lee, it blew the country’s mind with its experimentalism and funny, surreal performances, that mixed bridal dresses and Napoleon outfits. Their free and crazy attitude was particularly striking in the tense period of censorship and political restrictions the country faced at the time. Keep reading Brazil is mourning – well, those that have some musical memory are – the passing of Pena Branca. For almost five decades he partnered with his brother Xavantinho in a duo essential to the national country music. Even after Xavantinho’s death, 11 years ago, Pena Branca pursued a solo career that led to a Latin Grammy, in 2001, awarded to “Semente Caipira”.
Pena Branca and Xavantinho authored some great música caipira (melancholic songs inspired by rural life, played with acustic guitars and normally sang by a couple of contrasting voices). The duo was one of the last successful representatives of a musical form that is slowly fading out, substituted by música sertaneja, the highly commercial Brazilian copy of American country music. |
    
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