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CULTURE MUSIC

Lost Sambista – 8 Essential Tom Jobim Moments

Brasil’s most iconic songwriter Antônio Carlos Jobim died this week 20 years ago. Lost Sambista Richard Klein picks his favourite moments from the web. Richard’s new book Lost Samba is serialised and available for free on Brasil Wire.

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64-85 DICTATORSHIP CULTURE MUSIC UNDERSTANDING BRASIL

Nara Leão – The Music of Protest

Podem me prender, podem me bater / Podem até deixar-me sem comer / Que eu não mudo de opinião They could arrest me, they could beat me / They could even leave me starving / I wouldn’t change my opinion Opinião – Nara Leão 1964 In March 2014 a group of students at the School […]

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CULTURE MUSIC

Metá-Metá

São Paulo trio Metá-Metá synthesise punk, jazz, samba and candomblé into a coherent, visceral whole, whilst maintaining traditions of Brazilian song and folklore. Their first release, simply called Metá-Metá, was a stunning debut, a modern take on the Afro-Sambas of Vinicius de Morais and Baden Powell and their mixing of Afro-Brazilian traditions and samba rhythms. […]

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ARTS CITIES CULTURE SÃO PAULO SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Reclaiming the Jungle

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64-85 DICTATORSHIP CULTURE FILM FOOTBALL HISTORY POLITICS

Democracy in Black and White – Football and the Fight Against Dictatorship

The role of the Corinthians’ Democracy in Brasil’s re-democratization: Director Pedro Asbeg discusses Democracy in Black & White Fear of police, social tyranny and a highly repressive government once marked everyday life in Brasil. In the Pedro Asbeg directed documentary Black and White Democracy (Democracia em Preto e Branco), Asbeg spotlights an exceptional period in Brazilian […]

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ARCHITECTURE ARTS CULTURE NORTH EAST SÃO PAULO UNDERSTANDING BRASIL

Lina Bo Bardi – 100 Years

Lina Bo Bardi is revered in Brasil as one of the country’s greatest architects and December sees the 100th anniversary of her birth. Her work and ideas even transcend the shadow of Brasil’s titan of Modernism, Oscar Niemeyer; she is truly an architect’s architect. Yet the greatest oddity in a country often criticised for being […]

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MUSIC

Lost Sambista – the instrumental wave of 70’s and 80’s Brasil

In the late 1970’s there was a surge of instrumental music, not only in Brazil, and a lot of amazing talent appeared filling up concert venues and shining a completely new light on Brazilian music or giving a local taste to foreign genres. Here is a list of eight bands and musicians that were part […]

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ENVIRONMENT UNDERSTANDING BRASIL

The Green Giant?

When people think of Brasil and the environment the first thing that will spring to mind is the Amazon, specifically deforestation. What is lost in the noise is that Brasil and the Brazilian economy are amongst the greenest on the planet and that levels of deforestation have actually plummeted in the past ten years. Brasil has the […]

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CULTURE FILM UNDERSTANDING BRASIL

9 Essential Brazilian films of 2014

Accompanying an unprecedented level of national attention, Brazil’s always vibrant cinema community has had a number of international festival successes this year, exploring themes and diverse realities that break from what the world usually sees of the country. This is a selection of Brazilian cinema’s 2014 highlights. Praia do futuro Getúlio Casa Grande O Lobo atrás da […]

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PHOTOGRAPHY UNDERSTANDING BRASIL

René Burri’s Brasil

  Swiss Photographer René Burri (9 April 1933 – 20 October 2014) was renowned for his iconic photographs of major political, historical and cultural events and key figures of the second half of the 20th century. Amongst his most celebrated work such as portraits of Che Guevara and Pablo Picasso he spent much time in Brasil, taking iconic pictures […]