Carioca Funk

I can't explain my passion for funk music from Rio de Janeiro (carioca funk) in a single post.  For now let's just say the beat is infectious, the dancing is sensual and celebratory, and the birthplace is in the slums (favelas) of Rio, the same places where samba began.  These singers are mostly untrained and, as a group, come from a background of extreme poverty and violence.  Their language is Portuguese but uses a lot of slang. Audio production values are usually very basic and on-the-fly.  The result is gritty, home-made music with bizarre sampling, crude mixing, and lyrics with often graphic references to sex and violence that leave very little to the imagination, even if you don't understand Portuguese.

Some DJs have shocked middle-class Brazilians with their misogyny and their glorification of weapons and casual sex.  And funkeiros and their fans have taken a lot of abuse from the police, because of the association of many of their parties with the drug lords and gatos who tap electric and power lines.  But as the favelas become pacified and gradually safer, many funk DJs are dissociating themselves from the gangs, and their fans are increasingly clamoring to be left alone.  Even more recently, as the Brazilian economy has prospered, many DJs are carving out decent careers for themselves, as fans willingly pay for recordings and shows.  There is even a new documentary film about carioca funk.  With all the prosperity has come a host of agents, promoters, and record companies looking to share in the success of this music and spread it around the world.

And why not?  One of my favorite MCs is a woman who calls herself Pocahontas, whose music I still cannot find anywhere on Itunes or Amazon.  (Amazon Mobile has one track.)  Her fans have made videos with her music on YouTube, many of varying quality and a few too lewd to view on any shared computer.  There are a number of MP3s available for download on Soundcloud.  Pocahontas has a beautiful, tough-girl look and a raspy hangover voice and, with song-titles like "O Malandro Broxa" ("The Playboy Loses His Hard-on"), she's clearly not afraid of giving it right back to men who insult women.

Because the lyrics are in Portuguese -- but more because they're in favela Portuguese -- I miss a lot of the meaning, but I get the energy.  I found "Casa dos Machos", one of her hits, posted by a digital radio station on SoundCloud.  Funkeiros have a habit of hurling insults at one another in response to this or that track; this is a response to Mc Luan's "Casa das Primas".  The only thing I gathered from that song is that the guy is going where all the best girls and whiskey are.  This is how she responds.  If anyone can help with a translation, I'd be very grateful!

 03 - MC POCAHONTAS - CASA DOS MACHOS