João Gilberto, native of Bahia and pioneer of Bossa Nova, which put Brazilian popular music on record players in homes across the planet during the 1960s, has died aged 88 in his adopted Rio de Janeiro. His cultural importance to Brazil, and indeed the world, is immeasurable. We cannot think of a better tribute than […]
After 5 days of ridicule at the hands of Carnaval goers, right wing extremist President makes homophobic rant and tweets porn video to 3 million followers, including thousands of children. Brazil’s 2019 Carnaval will go down in history as one of the most politicized ever. From tributes to slain Rio de Janeiro socialist city councilwoman Marielle Franco […]
By Graham Douglas for Sounds and Colours. It was a hot day in the beautiful town of Amarante, the Portuguese base of Brazil’s MIMO festival. I’m chatting to Otto prior to his show at Parque Ribeirinho in the evening and a day after seeing him talk at a forum about the state of new Brazilian […]
First published in its original form online at Stylus Magazine in November 2005. The article has been out of print since Stylus closed up shop but is still a reference for other related articles on Wikipedia. It should be taken as a snapshot of the Baile Funk scene at that time as it was fast […]
Brasil’s Education crisis is not a crisis, it is a project. – Darcy Ribeiro. Across the political spectrum Brazilians will tell you that the principal problem in the country is education, yet who profits most from programmed, weaponised ignorance? Research, science, technology, culture, and education are not ideologies, but approaches and attitudes toward them in […]
Acclaimed music theorist and renowned author, Simon Reynolds pointed out in his article on the subject in The Village Voice, that the constant mining of Post-Punk during the noughties left slim pickings and the archivists had to go further afield to find lost and undocumented curios. The smart money would have gone to another European […]
By Andrew Cumming. Rio has Baile funk, Salvador has Axé, Belem and the Amazon have Brega, but what does the vast interior of Brazil have? That huge expanse of outback that takes in the states of Goias, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, and Minas Gerais? It has Sertanejo, which is basically Brazil’s own Country […]
By Gabriel Deslandes. Rio de Janeiro Carnaval parade groups, called Samba Schools, are preparing social and political criticism for the 2018 carnaval, with parades that will denounce politicians, social problems and recent political scandals. Of the 13 most important Samba Schools, 4 will focus on protests during their parades in the Rio Samba stadium, the […]
On 30th October 2017, there was a new escalation in a cultural conflict which is slowly cauldronizing Brazilian society. Veteran singer songwriter, Caetano Veloso, legend of the Tropicália movement which emerged in a climate of censorship and moralism during the 1960s Military Dictatorship, was prevented from performing for what he said was “the first time in the democratic […]
On January 6, 2017, the traditional Folia dos Reis festival was declared historic cultural patrimony by the Minas Gerais state government. According to their research, the city with the most number of Folia dos Reis is Uberaba, with 106 separate annual festivals. Folia dos Reis is an ostensibly Catholic festival that celebrates the Three Kings, […]