HEAVY BAILE: Noturno 150 from Mah Ferraz on Vimeo.
I just found out about Brazilian funk music collective Heavy Baile thanks to this video (I know I’m late…). More importantly, this video is fun and original, showcasing one of the collective’s members, Ronald Sheick, jumping into the Metropolitan Museum’s classical art collection and at one point battling himself. #Decolonization always makes me smile :).
I just realized my recent posts all have Cabo Verde in common…hmmm!
Horace Silver’s dad was Cape Verdean, and the melody for his well-known “Song for My Father,” was inspired by Cape Verdean folk music. This live performance by the quintet in Copenhagen in 1968 is beautiful — Horace Silver dripping sweat onto the piano keys, the musicians’ masterful solos, the drummer in the pocket expressing pure joy and reaching freedom within the song, and everyone’s perfect chemistry. It’s around 18 minutes long and absolutely worth the watch.
Havaianas
Whether you’re a Brazilophile or not, you probably own a pair of Havaianas sandals by now. The name means “Hawaiians” in Portuguese. I remember the first pair I ever bought: they were purple, size 39, and I got them for around $10 or $15 at a surfshop in Venice Beach, California, circa 2003. I guess at that point there was a buzz about Havaianas among the beach/surfing crowd and stateside coastal dwellers in CA, but the brand hadn’t yet become as big and mainstream as it is today.
They’ve come a long way since first starting in Brazil in 1962! The brand is now in over 80 countries all over the world. Havaianas set foot in the U.S. for good in 2007, and stores like Bloomingdale’s and Saks Fifth Avenue sell them. Everyone’s got at least one pair. You can even customize them at Havaianas.com. I love the slim look, more feminine.
Buy a pair: Havaianas Slim Sandals (Grey Silver) – Women’s Sandals – 19.0 OT
Found this on baixafunda, an excellent music blog (in Portuguese)
Brazilian rhythms meet afrobeat, funk, & soul! (I only had time to put a few of my favorite tracks up so far).
“Exploding out of the rich cultural melting-pot of London’s underground music scene comes the half-Brazilian, half-British, Afro-Brazilian Funk sound of Saravah Soul.”
The album is on the London-based TruThoughts label.
My friend and dance partner Larisa introduced me to a Brazilian street vendor from Cachoeira, Bahia up in Harlem near the Apollo Theater on Sunday. He recommended a greatest hits compilation containing songs by one of his favorite Brazilian vocalists, Clara Nunes. I included links to some of my favorite tracks on the album below (click on song title to listen):
Juizo Final
Canto das Tres Raças
Tudo é Ilusão
Portela na Avenida
(Tracks from Clara Nunes Raizes do Samba series, Label: Msi Music/Super D, 2002)
Clara Nunes was a factory worker when she decided to compete in a music contest, placing third at the finals held in São Paulo in 1959. She got a day-job at a radio station in Belo Horizonte (capital of Minas Gerais, Southeast Brazil), and sang in nightclubs.
In 1965, Clara moved to Rio de Janeiro, recording boleros (Spanish music made for dancing) and samba songs on her first album. After a few LPs featuring assorted styles, she signed her name as a samba vocalist in the 70s. In 1974, her album sold approximately 300,000 copies, thanks to the hit samba “Conto de Areia” (Romildo/ Toninho). It was a remarkable number then, helping put down the common idea that women weren’t big record sellers and stimulating the companies to invest in other female samba musicians, like Alcione, who made her first album in ’75, and Beth Carvalho, hired by RCA in ’76.
The following albums transformed her into one of the three samba queens of the ’80s, along with the two above-mentioned musicians. In the second half of the decade, she would release one album every year, all of them selling well and featuring historic tracks like “Juízo Final” (Nelson Cavaquinho/ Élcio Soares), “Coração Leviano” (Paulinho da Viola) and “Morena de Angola” (Chico Buarque).
Clara was also famous for songs crafted upon the rhythms of Candomblé, her African-Brazilian religion, and for her typical costumes, as she always dressed in white and wore lots of necklaces and African beads. She died prematurely, after a botched surgery, causing a popular outcry.
(Source: National Geographic Music, http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/view/page.basic/artist/content.artist/clara_nunes_16312/en_US)
The big day is coming….Brazilian Day NYC 2010!
Catch me in the official opening procession for Brazilian Day, the Lavagem da Rua 46 this Saturday September 4th. Hint: I’ll be in the Rio de Janeiro section wearing a Carmen Miranda outfit…
LAVAGEM DA RUA 46 (official Brazilian Day opening parade & cultural festival)
Saturday 9/4
Parade:
10am to 12pm
from 44th St & 6th Ave to 46th St and Madison Ave
Rain or shine
Free & open to public
BRAZILIAN DAY
Sunday 9/5
11am to 7pm
43rd St to 57th St
between Madison & 8th Aves
Main stage at 43th Street and 6th Avenue
Second stage 46th Street between 5th and Madison
Rain or shine
Free & open to public
Another case of the Brazilian musical influence!
Samba & Brazilian-style melody with electronic/deep house:
“Belo Horizonti (Brix Edit)” by The Heartists (a Basement Jaxx alias).
From the 1994 – 1997 compilation Atlantic Jaxx Recordings: a Compilation.
Thanks to Armando for putting me on to the track!
