A gringo's eye view of music, art, culture, politics and life in general in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Expect to read about my interests (baile funk carioca, graffiti, favelas, food) as well as my general observations of life in this Cidade Maravilhosa.
Here's a tasty little edit I did of one of my favorite songs from the legendary Copa 7, one of the Black Rio movements greatest bands.
'Fofoqueira', from the groups debut album, 'Som do Copa 7', stands out a bit for it's disco boogie goes to Brazil vibe. My edit stays fairly true to the original, extending out a few sections while removing some of the more obtuse break downs.
For more information on this legendary samba/soul/funk outfit, check out what Ed Motta has to say over at Whatmusic.com. To get a sense of the time in place in which this music was made, Ed's short essay is essential reading!
Not that many people ever followed this blog, but for those who did and actually noticed my absence...sorry to leave you hangin'. I was out of the country for a few months sorting out visa issues. But the good folks at the Brazilian Consulate in DC have seen fit to allow me back in....so here we go again!
So what's been happening in Rio since we last did this thing? Well, the police are now 'permanently' occupying three favelas (including City of God) in a test of new strategy , Marcelo D2 dropped a new album (complete with a guest spot by my home girl, Zuzuka Poderosa), the cops continue to kill at will (including each other) and funk carioca still continues to blast out of Rio's 700+ favelas.
Before I went AWOL on this thing, I had promised you some video from my gig at the womans prison. In the spirit of 'better late than never', I'll leave you for now with this clip of baile funk in a womans prison.
pictured above: finalists in last years Miss Garota TB beauty pageant. photo: O Globo
Tomorrow I will be djing in front of an audience consisting of members of the international press, various Brazilian celebrities, a documentary film crew and a captive (literally) audience of very attractive Brazilian woman. Where and what is this dream gig? The Garota TB beauty pageant in the Talavera Bruce Womans Penitentiary, Gericinó Penitentiary Complex; Rio state's largest such facility.
The contest, which has taken place for the last 5 years, draws international media attention and is used a tool for empowerment and rehabilitation of the female prisoners. While I've never been big on beauty pageants (and have certainly never djed at one), this sounds like a great progressive program to support and too interesting an opportunity to pass up. Where else would I ever get the chance to see a beauty queen crowned sporting a tattoo of a machine gun on her back (see: last years winner, Dione Normando Pires)?
Updates (including video if I can get my camera in) to come!
I've fallen off hard recently on the blog updates due to other more pressing issue occupying my thoughts. But I wanted to get this out to you all, a new funk mix from my man Dj Edgar [via Z share]. Edgar is gearing up for his European tour now so if you're in Germany, Austria, Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland or Sweden, be sure to check him out.
Baile Funk has been described (by those borrowing freely from KRS One) as the CNN of the favelas. Now carioca funk and it's culture are being profiled by CNN via a new film, Favela On Blast. Whether this means anything or not to your average funkeiro, it certainly sets a new bench mark for funk's world wide acceptance.
The film, directed by Leandro HBL and Wesley "Diplo" Pentz with production support from Philly's Mad Decent Crew, saw it's international debut this past month at the Rio International Film Festival.
It's always a good day when I awake to find new tracks from DJ Edgar in my inbox. This morning's delivery brought to me two new productions he's just completed featuring up and coming Paulista funkiera, Giovanna Avino, better known as MC Gi.
Gi got peoples attention recently when she entered into the running to replace Marina from Bonde do Role. While she didn't win the coveted spot with the group, she did manage to garner props from Brazilian Rolling Stone magazine and producer Edu K.
While I don't have a whole lot more information for you right now on MC Gi, I do know she has a full length CD in the works and there is a good chance these two tracks may find there way onto it. So keep your ear out for more in the future and, until then, enjoys these cuts courtesy of Edgar.
On September 19, 2008 the rest of the world will get a chance to see the newest film from Brazilian director José Padilha, Tropa de Elite or Elite Squad as they're calling it in English. This film, originally released in Brazil in October 2007, is the gritty portrayal of Rio's favela combat unit, BOPE or Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais.
Take a look at the original trailer. It's in Portuguese but you'll get the idea.
Tropa de Elite, set in 1997, tells the story of one BOPE captain ready for retirement, as he's charged with the mission of cleaning up two favelas before a visit to Rio by the Pope. The film delves into issues of corruption, brutality and vengance among the force. It is based on the book Elite de Tropa by Luiz Eduardo Soares and two former BOPE officers, Rodrigo Pimentel and André Batista. The book was an embarrassment to the BOPE and the two contributing officers purportedly caught quite a bit of flack for revealing the dirt on their unit.
Any good story needs a protagonist as well as an antagonist and early reviews of the film have dissed it for leaving the viewer with no one left to root for. Who does one cheer on when everyone is wrong? But this is the situation that exists in Rio; the traficantes run the favelas and the police run their criminal operations on the outside and the city as a whole pays the price.
One controversial aspect of the original book was references by Pimentel and Batista to BOPE as a 'killing machine'. With a logo such as theirs it's a bit hard to think otherwise; a skull crossed with two pistols and pierced through the top with a dagger. Their armored vehicle, the caveirão,outfitted with multiple gun ports and often criticized for its indiscriminate use within the favelas, is known on the street as 'the big skull'.
The war between drug cartels and the police has been going on so long in Rio and has become so convoluted, it's become impossible to tell who's right and who's wrong and whether BOPE is dishing out justice or merely revenge. To borrow from the tittle of a documentary on the subject, it has become 'a personal war'.
One thing that is certain, however, is that the tactics employed by BOPE are severe. The following video was filmed near the entrance to Morro Donna Marta (a favela) in the Bottafogo neighborhood near my home (yet a world away). It shows the BOPE forces preparing to enter the favela for a confrontation with the traficantes. While the ensuing firefight his heard and not seen, the footage is, none the less, quite disturbing. It all kicks off around the 3:21 mark. After the confrontation, the troops withdraw. Note the paramedic strapped with a machine gun around the 4:30 mark and the 'big skull' coming into frame around the 4:45 mark.
While you will be able to glimpse a fictionalized account of this nightmare unfolding from the safety of your local theater on the 19th of September, the residence of these hill side communities have this horror show live in their living rooms (literally) on an all too frequent basis.
*UPDATE* apparently Elite Squad is already available in the US on DVD, already having scene a limited theatrical release courtesy of The Weinstein Company. It will coming to select theaters in the rest of the world this September.
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