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!