Brasil Summerfest 2013!

Brazilian music lovers in New York City wait all year for the weeklong series of shows known as Brasil Summerfest. Now in its third year, the festival features both established names and artists relatively unknown in New York, with a goal of exposing Americans to a variety of styles not always associated with Brazilian music.  The 2013 series launched on Saturday, with a free concert at Central Park Summerstage featuring three bands:  Emicida, Gaby Amarantos, and Planet Hemp.


Emicida is a rapper from Sao Paolo, whose initial attempts at self-distribution and promotion were a smashing success, and who has since become one of the best-known voices in Brazilian hip-hop.  Brazilian rap contests, where rappers create impromptu verses in competition, are part of the hip-hop scene in Brazil.  Emicida has won many of these.  Although this was not his first performance in the United States -- he appeared at the 2011 Coachella Music Festival in Southern California -- this was our first exposure to him for many of us New Yorkers.  His energy and his delivery suggest a smart, passionate, and talented artist with origins in a poor family, who cares deeply about his country.


Gaby Amarantos is a pioneer in a style she calls "tecnobrega". Brega (usually translated as "cheesy" or "corny") has been long known in Brazil for its romanticism and sentimentality. Although it has followers all over Brazil, it hasn't engaged a large following outside Brazil. Gaby Amanrantos takes things to a whole other level with her addition of electronica sounds and reggaeton rhythms. Her over-the-top singing, her sequined outfit, and a tiara spelling out her name in shiny silver letters immediately invites comparisons to Liberace. I am not sure what Clara Nunes and Antonio Carlos Jobim, if they were alive today, would have thought of her renditions of "Canto das Tres Raças" and "Waters of March".  The rest of her set was equal parts soulful passion, expansive joy, and histrionics. Here's a video of her performing on TV Pará.  Loved or hated, Gaby Amarantos certainly cannot be ignored.

Planet Hemp was formed by Brazilian rapper Marcelo D2 and Skunk, and is a raucous mixture of psychedelic rock and hardcore.  If Dream Syndicate, the Misfits, and Green Day were to collaborate, the result might sound something like this.  The singing is in Portuguese, and so I missed a lot of the meaning, but was mostly about "maconha" (marijuana) as far as I could tell. Their show was accompanied by videos of people smoking pot in various ways.  Near the front, a mosh pit formed where a bunch of guys were slam-dancing -- which struck me as curious, given the calming effects of the drug the band was promoting.  

In the end, as much as I wanted to hate Planet Hemp, I just couldn't.  They are sincere people and good musicians.  The riffing between slow, almost atmospheric psychedelia and the jarring double-time of hardcore was like a shot of adrenaline, and the slam dancing brought back fond memories for me of punk shows in the East Village in the 1980s, where guys with spiked wristbands aggressively thrashed their arms around during edgy and energetic shows.  The video below captures something of the energy of this performance.  My cell phone camera compressed the sound as best as it could -- it was very loud up close. 

It was a great start to Summerfest.  I am going to try to write about other shows as they come up, though they're scheduled in rapid succession.  Next up will be Casuarina, who took the nightclub S.O.B.'s by storm that same evening, and who played in other venues the rest of the weekend. 

A Tale of Two Nations

New York's love affair with northeastern Brazilian rhythms is breaking new ground this month, with an appearance at Lincoln Center Out of Doors by Nation Beat and Maracatu Estrelha Brilhante.  Estrelha Brilhante is one of the oldest and largest representatives of the maracatu percussion style -- the infectious, syncopated rhythm from the northeastern state of Pernambuco.  Nation Beat is the performance group within the American percussion school Maracatu New York.  It's headed by Scott Kettner, who has imported these patterns and brought them to American audiences for the past ten years.  The two bands are scheduled to go on the road in the U.S., touring Los Angeles, Miami, Albuquerque, and other locations in a show billed as A Tale of Two Nations, with a full complement of 13 traditional drummers and dancers from Recife (Pernambuco's capitol).  This will be, by all accounts, the first time a maracatu band has toured the United States.  The show, however, is facing some challenges, and will need immediate public support in order to succeed.

It's been a busy year for Scott and his group.  They're releasing a CD in a couple of weeks, titled "Baque do Brooklyn".  An instructional book, co-authored with his wife Michelle Nascimento-Kettner and Aaron Shafer-Haiss, which is the first book in English about maracatu, has also just come out.  This past Sunday, Maracatu New York opened their studios to the public, offering a free lesson and a slideshow to discuss the project.  Everyone was very excited about the prospect of maracatu music being in the American spotlight for the first time.  However, in spite of grants from the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation and American Airlines, other important grant money failed to materialize, and Maracatu New York is appealing to the public through a Kickstarter campaign to make up the shortfall.  (Click here to watch the Kickstarter video.)

Please support this groundbreaking musical endeavor.  As of this writing, A Tale of Two Nations is funded at 60% but only has about another 60 hours left.  As with all Kickstarter fundraisers, if funding doesn't reach 100%, there is no funding from Kickstarter at all.  Estrelha Brilhante will still come to the U.S., but without the full complement of dancers and drummers.  Funds are needed to cover the cost of domestic airline flights, artist fees, hotels, meals, visas, and other incidentals.  There are few things New Yorkers haven't seen before.  A full maracatu band from Northeastern Brazil will undoubtedly be one of them.

Click here to become a supporter.

Unity with the people of Brazil

Rise like lions after slumber
in unvanquishable number.
Shake your chains to earth like dew,
which in sleep hath fallen on you.
Ye are many, they are few...

Let a vast assembly be,
and with great solemnity
declare with measured words that ye
are as God hath made thee -- free.
                                 -- Shelley

Eliane Elias: "I Thought About You: A Tribute to Chet Baker"

Eliane Elias has been known until recently as a Brazilian singer who has done a few marvelous interpretations of American standards, such as "Baubles, Bangles, and Beads", and "Take Five".  But I suspect that's about to change.  Her new album, I Thought About You:  A Tribute to Chet Baker, was released today, on the first of a five-night run at Birdland Jazz Club in New York City.  It's dedicated wholly to American music, specifically to the music of the late icon of the Cool Jazz movement.

Eliane has long been considered one of the most versatile and expressive jazz vocalists on the scene right now.  Born in São Paolo, she's equally at home with samba and swing, with ballads and bossa nova, and with so many of the other Brazilian grooves, such as baião and afoxé, that are gradually becoming part of the repertoire of the music of the world.  Eliane is also an accomplished classical and jazz pianist with a distinctive style of jazz improvisation:  her piano riffs are immediately recognizable as hers and hers alone.  She came onto the scene at age 17, performing onstage with Brazilian heavy-hitters Vinicius de Moraes and Toquinho.  Since  then, her career has been on a quiet, upward trajectory that has gained her fans on every continent.  I came to her music late, in 2008, after hearing her second appearance on Marian McPartland's public radio show Piano Jazz, and  immediately fell in love with the way her vocal lines, like those of the truly great bossa singers, drift in and out of the beat, swaying with the rhythm but not rigidly tied to it.  Her 2011 album "Light My Fire" was a masterpiece.  She switches effortlessly between English and Portuguese on a couple of tracks.  Her piano playing is flawless, and her singing has a way of giving a listener the impression of singing for you, and for you alone.  She also has some of the best musicians working today on that album, such as Oscar Castro-Neves,  Romero Lumbambo, and Marivaldo Santos, to name but a few.

Eliane Elias' love of Chet Baker and his music is understandable:  both artists share a certain romantic and lyrical sensibility.  But she manages to bring a fresh voice to many of these standards, preserving their romanticism without lapsing into sentimentality.  She does this, as this review in AllAboutJazz.com says, by singing the music "straight and uncomplicated".  Add the genius of her piano, her distinctively, outrageously sexy Brazilian accent, the easy transition between samba and swing -- in one case, on the same track -- and you've got music that will drive a listener slowly, delightfully crazy.

Eliane is assisted this time by Steve Cardenas (electric guitar), husband Marc Johnson (bass), Randy Brecker (trumpet), Oscar Castro-Neves (acoustic guitar), Victor Lewis and Rafael Barata (drums), and Marivaldo dos Santos (percussion).  It is a wonderful interpretation of this portion of the American songbook.

Eliane Elias will be at Birdland Jazz Club nightly through June 1, playing sets at 8:30 and 11:00  

And here she is discussing the new album:  

Batala NYC at the 2013 New York City Dance Parade

The 7th annual New York City Dance Parade was a great success this year.  Brazilian music and dance groups were beautifully represented, with performances by Capoeira Brasil, Samba New York, Inner Spirit Dance Company, and my favorite, Batala New York.

Here is a short video of Batala moving down East 8th Street, towards the end of the parade route:

Bossabrasil Festival 2013 with Dori Caymmi and Joyce

I've made the annual pilgrimage to Birdland for the Bossabrasil Festival for five out of the eight years it's been running.  Every Spring, producers Pat Philips and Ettore Stratta bring bossa nova musicians from Brazil to play at this legendary New York City jazz club that is not strongly associated with Brazilian music.  The event has produced some memorable shows with artists such as Emilio Santiago, Marcos Valle, Paula Morelenbaum, and Wanda Sá.  This year's event took place last week, and saw the return of Dori Caymmi to the stage, along with singer and composer Joyce Moreno (formerly known to the world simply as "Joyce") as special guest.

Dori Caymmi is the son of the late Dorival Caymmi, who would have turned 99 years old this year, and whose composition "O que é o que a bahiana tem?" helped launch the career of luminary Carmen Miranda. Dori, who also played the festival in 2009, has produced eighteen albums, and has worked with many other artists, including Quincy Jones, Sarah Vaughn, and Tom Jobim, the man who co-created bossa nova with Joao Gilberto.  Joyce is a Brazilian MPB singer-songwriter, composer, and arranger who got her start in the late 1960s, but whose career really took off in 1980 with the release of her album "Feminina".  Two of the tracks from that album were highly successful commercial hits, and put her on the map internationally.

Caymmi and Joyce were accompanied by Rodolfo Stroeter on bass, Dario Eskenazi on piano, and Joyce's husband and collaborator Tutty Moreno on drums.  It was a delightful mix of original music and beloved standards by Jobim, the elder Caymmi, Noel Rosa, and others.  Caymmi started off the evening with two of his father's compositions, "Voçê já foi a Bahia?" and "Lá vem a bahiana".  Joyce then took the stage to do "O que é o que a bahiana tem?", and from there they moved into a series of duets and solos.  There were a few surprises, such as an unannounced appearance by jazz harmonica player Hendrik Meurkens, who sat in on several numbers, and a medley that combined "Desafinado" with the famous Ary Barroso tune "Aquarela do Brasil".  Joyce also sang "Puro Ouro" an original tune that pays homage to the younger generation of samba musicians.  Other highlights included Caymmi's performance, in English, of "O Cantador", known in English as "Like A Lover", and a cover of Baden Powell's "Berimbau".

It was a great show that brought us all closer to the work of these two very talented bossa artists, and left us all looking forward to what lies in store next year.

Ailton Nunes, director of the Mangueira samba school, tours the U.S.

Ailton Nunes, the director of Rio's oldest samba school still in competition, Mangueira, is touring the U.S. as a guest instructor, bringing Mangueira's style of samba to percussion schools in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, among other places. This is the first time these cities have had a visit from a samba instructor of his stature visiting in this capacity; samba enthusiasts therefore consider his visit a milestone in the States.  He was part of the faculty at last year's Brazil Camp California, where for two one-week sessions he taught Mangueira's rhythms and breaks to a highly advanced group of samba percussionists.  The subsequent performance of the Advanced Bateria class was phenomenal. 

Advanced Bateria class with Ailton Nunes - California Brazil Camp 2012, Week #1

Ailton's stop in New York City is being hosted by Samba New York, and is almost sold out even though it's still almost two weeks away.  The fact that there are enough advanced players in the U.S. to fill up master classes in more than three cities speaks to the vitality and maturity of the samba percussion scene in this country.  Even though samba is not an instrinsic part of the culture here the way it is in Brazil, it's a scene that, while still small, has clearly come a long way.  This workshop tour by such a high-profile director will further strengthen this small but very active and vibrant community.

I did not hear back from Ailton in time to include his comments in this piece -- he just finished his class at the Samba da Mudança school in L.A., and is probably really busy -- but Mangueira is a highly respected part of the Grupo Especial, the elite group of samba schools at the forefront of Rio's Carnaval.  Based in the heart of Rio's working-class North Zone, Mangueira is known for a lot of "firsts".  Their full, official name, "Estação Primeira de Mangueira" refers to the neighborhood of Mangueira's place as the first stop on the railroad, right after Central Station.  But they were also the first to win a Carnaval championship, the first to use a surdo in the bateria, and the first to create a theme or "enredo" around their parade.  They are also, now, the first to send a high-level instructor on a workshop tour to the United States. 

Mestre Ailton Nunes will be in Chicago on April 6, and in New York City on April 14.  Places in the New York City workshop are limited, mostly because physical space is limited.  Anyone interested is encouraged to contact Philip Galinsky immediately at Samba New York at info@sambanewyork.com.

Remembering Emilio Santiago

Emilio Santiago has died from complications of a stroke that left him hospitalized in Rio de Janeiro for almost two weeks.  The singer, who some in the United States nicknamed "the Brazilian Nat King Cole", had a silky baritone voice that charmed audiences all over Brazil and around the world.  He was 66. 

Santiago recorded his self-titled first album in 1975, on the CID record label, with a collection of little-known songs by famous composers.  The following year he signed a contract with Phillips-Polydor, with whom he remained until 1984, recording ten albums.  But his big break came in 1988, with his inclusion in the Aquarela Brasileira collection, a seven-volume set by Som Livre dedicated to the Brazilian repertoire.  Santiago was the featured artist in disc #4 in the series, and sales exceeded all expectations.  He went on to gain both national and international attention, both as a soloist and a collaborator.  He worked with some of the greatest names in Brazilian music:  Dick Farney, João Donato, Caetano Veloso, and more recently Bossacucanova and Marcos Valle, among others.  Here he is onstage with Leny Andrade, performing "Uma Batida Diferente":

And here he is singing "Saigon", one of his best-loved signature hits:

Santiago came to New York in 2009 and 2010 as part of Birdland's Bossa Brasil Fest, where I had the privilege to hear him alongside the likes of Sergio Brandão, Marcos Valle, and Cidhinho Texeira.  Those were two magical evenings.  He had a way of doing a ritardo at the end of a song or phrase that just brought all the sadness and beauty of existence together into one moment, and gave new meaning to the phrase "making time stand still".

I was also surprised and delighted to hear Santiago's voice on one of the tracks of Bossacucanova's new album, "Nossa Onda é Essa!", released in December 2012.  He sings João Gilberto's tune "É Preciso Perdoar".  As far as I know it's the last song he ever recorded:

 Definitely, we will never hear a voice like that again in this world.  Rest in peace, Emilio Santiago.

R.I.P. Chorão

The Brazilian music scene was saddened this week by the news that Alexandre Magno Abrão, fondly known as Chorão, was found dead in his São Paolo apartment on Monday.  He was 42.  Chorão (literally "big cry") was an original member of the band Charlie Brown Jr., a Brazilian rock band heavily influenced by alternative rock.  They've been compared with Coldplay, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and other punk-influenced bands on independent record labels that had their heyday in the 1990s.  The story goes that Chorão originally took to the stage in a São Paolo rock club during another singer's bathroom breaks, attracted the notice of other musicians in the audience, and soon found himself frontlining his own band.    When Chorão crashed his car into a coconut stand named Charlie Brown, the band got its name.  Their first album, Transpiração Continua Prolongada, was very successful, and won the band a Brazilian MTV music video award.

Charlie Brown Jr. is an example of the way many Brazilian musicians can take foreign influences and make them their own.  The lyrics are in Portuguese, but the music is heavily influenced by American styles and culture.  Chorão himself loved skateboarding -- he sometimes performed onstage with his skateboard, and his forearms were tatooed with slogans reflecting his obsession with the sport.  

His voice  sounds to me like a Brazilian Kurt Cobain or Anthony Kiedis, and is perhaps at its best here:

Meanwhile, the distinctively Brazilian qualities of some of Charlie Brown Jr's music can be found here:

The cause of Chorão's death is not yet known, but drugs were suspected.  More will likely be known in the next few days.

Carnaval events in New York

New York City is cold at this time of year, with snow on the ground as I write, and with temperatures in the mid-20s.  The real New York City Carnaval, as everyone who lives here knows, takes place in October at the West Village Halloween Parade, where there is a better-than-fair representation of Brazilian samba musicians, dancers, and capoeiristas.  Pre-Lenten Carnaval here is an indoor, much more low-key affair that happens in a variety of Brazil-themed parties across the city.  Some of them are small and relatively quiet, others happen at loud, large nightclubs with hefty cover charges and hordes of percussionists, musicians, Carnaval dancers, and burlesque performers. Not all events fall strictly within the Carnaval period of February 8-12 -- some occur before Shrove Tuesday, and others well after Ash Wednesday.

The problem with these events is that, even though they're spread out over a period of over two weeks, a few of them still occur on the same night, and it just isn't possible to attend them all.  To get things started, this Thursday Feb. 7th, DJ True and Miller Cruz will take over the Sullivan Room to present the last in their series of very successful "Alma" parties, which they describe as "Neo-Brazilian fusion".  Then Friday Feb. 8th there's Ciranda: Carnaval Edition at Monika's Cafe Bar in Astoria.  Lilliana Araujo and Johnson do Cavaco will be doing forró, the dance music from Northeastern Brazil that is currently in the midst of a small but very active and vibrant wave in New York.  There are also two events on Saturday, February 9:  PhillyBloco and Mais Um at DROM, and Matuto at SOB's.  PhillyBloco is a Philadelphia-based batucada band that does Rio-style Carnaval samba.  They'll be joined by their friends Mais Um, a fine group of young percussionists from Brazil and around the world that plays and sings a variety of styles from Rio and other parts of Brazil.  Matuto is a project with Rob Curto and Zé Mauricio that combines Northeastern Brazilian music -- specifically forró -- with Appalachian bluegrass.  I don't know their music well, but I've looked at some of their videos, and the odd combination of infectious baião rhythm, English lyrics, and steel-stringed country twang seems to work.

The Regional de New York will be hosting roda de choro at Beco Bar on Sunday the 10th

Rob Curto will also be a special guest at Beco Bar on Sunday the 10th from 5:00 - 9:00 for Regional de New York's twice-monthly roda de choro.  Though this is a regularly scheduled event that has nothing to do with Carnaval, it's a great way to see Rob in a more intimate setting.  There is no cover charge -- the tip jar goes around at the end of every set.  Please support these fabulous musicians.

Another great-sounding event next week, though it's being billed as a Mardi Gras and not a Carnaval event, is Batala New York's appearance at Element Nightclub on Tuesday of next week.  Batala NYC is a wonderful all-women's samba-reggae project that is quickly picking up steam.  When I interviewed their director last year, she talked about expanding the band's presence to go beyond strictly Brazilian events and music.  They are making good on that promise with an appearance at a party with DJs spinning music of all different kinds, from reggae and soca, to salsa and samba.

Justin Justin will be turning his regular party at Cielo nightclub into a combined Carnaval / Valentine's Day celebration with Red Carnaval on Friday, Feb. 15.  These shows feature a combination of live drumming with his "Ale Ale" percussion ensemble, tech house music, samba dancers, facepainting, and burlesque.  Wear an outrageous red costume, and bring a date.

Festivities will continue all the way through to Sunday February 17 at SOB's, with capoeirista Kiki da Bahia presenting a Salvador-themed President's Day Carnaval show.  Four days after Ash Wednesday is pretty late to be presenting Carnaval, but it still looks like a lot of fun.  I don't know who the musicians are -- the web site doesn't say -- but the venue is an established one that typically chooses the best local Brazilian musicians around.

Tragedy in Santa Maria

Many of us in the United States were saddened to read about the nightclub fire in Santa Maria that took the lives of, at this writing, 237 Brazilians, mostly young people.  Many of the horrific details, including the barricades set up to prevent people from entering without paying, reminded me a lot of the fire -- many years ago by now -- in the Happy Land social club that claimed the lives of 87 people in the Bronx.  Brazil's tragedy was on a much larger scale, however, and coming as it does so close to Carnaval, triggered a three-day national period of mourning.  Facebook was also immediately filled with exhortations, such as this one, to respect the victims by not posting pictures of the dead or injured.

There will be many calls to honor the memory of those killed by enacting better nightclub regulations, to limit overcrowding, to have lit exit signs, etc.  Those are good things to have in place and worth fighting for.  Celebrating life is another good means of doing so.  The victims were nighttime revelers out celebrating, to move their bodies, to enjoy each other's company, and share the pure joy of being alive.  Let this tragedy heighten our appreciation for the preciousness and fragility of life and love!

Nossa Onda é Essa!

Fourteen years ago, Bossacucanova came out with its first album of bossa nova interpretations, breathing new life into an old form, and effectively creating the genre of electro-bossa or Brazilian lounge.  The music press found the album, "Revisited Classics", to be remarkably respectful of the bossa nova traditions themselves, even while incorporating electronics and sampling into the music.  This shouldn't have been so surprising -- after all, one member of the trio, Marcio Menescal, is the son of a well-known icon of the bossa genre, Roberto Menescal.  The fact that he's in a band that utilizes loops, synthesizers, and sophisticated mixing techniques that weren't available when his father composed and recorded just means that this music is evolving, as it should be.  It's an extension of an organic, living tradition that began with Tom Jobim and João Gilberto, and that continues on with the likes of Bebel Gilberto, Eliane Elias, and others.

I listened to "Uma Batida Diferente" (2004) over and over again when I first got it.  It took some of the old compositions and gave them a contemporary voice.  I thought, "This is what Jobim would have wanted his music to sound like, if he were recording today."  It's dreamy and sexy and very chill, and the electronics are such an integral part of the music you don't even think about them.

This latest album, released last month, mostly presents a return to samba, with mixtures of electronica, rock, and funk.  If "Uma Batida Diferente" is a quiet day at the beach, "Nossa Onda é Essa" ("This is Our Wave") is a rowdy Carnaval party that's been crashed by a wild-eyed controllerist.  There is enough to keep a diehard bossa lover like me happy -- two of the tracks, "Adeus America", and "E Preciso Perdoar", are João Gilberto's compositions --  but the direction is definintely more towards good-time, syncopated party music than the complex, subtle harmonies of the bossa nova.  The electronics still are in a supporting role to the music, however -- this isn't house music with a few acoustic bits thrown in.  These guys have a solid understanding of both the music of their country and of electronics, and have produced some beautiful music, even if I can't tell you exactly what instruments each of them plays.

The band has continued to bring in a lot of guest vocalists, this time for every track, and the lineup is a delightful mixture of old and new.  We've got established artists such as Elsa Soares and Emilio Santiago alongside Teresa Cristina, a singer from Rio who has been making the circuit in the large Brazilian cities for a long time, but who is still relatively unknown outside the country.  She sings Cartola's tune "Deixa Pra Lá".  Two of the other tracks feature Wilson Simoninha, another child of an artist of the last era, Wilson Simonal. Then there is Maria Rita, daughter of the late bossa legend Elis Regina, singing "Deixa a Menina" by Chico Barque.  There's also Marcela Mangabeira, probably my favorite among the younger, newer bossa nova voices in Brazil, and Cris Delanno, who with her brightly colored orange hair can often be found performing onstage with the band.  The last track, "Tô Voltando" features members of Monobloco, one of the newer samba percussion schools in Rio that has taken credit for inspiring new interest in batucada (Brazilian street percussion) among young people.

With so many featured performers who are children of great stars, it's clear that Bossacucanova is laying claim to their time -- their wave -- with a sound and a style that's all their own, and done their part to save bossa nova from being relegated to the vintage rack in the used record store.  I love this album.  

Here's a live clip of the band featuring Wilson Simoninha singing his father's composition, "Balança Zona Sul":

Listen online to the new album here.