There are favela slums in Belém too – as marginalised and close-knit as those in Rio or Recife. And the music of the Belém favelas is equally dynamic and militant - but with a quite different sound to Nação Zumbi or Afro Reggae. Bands like Coletivo Rádio Cipó fuse local carimbó rhythms with Hip Hop, reggae and Amazon guitar to produce a sound that explodes out of the speakers like a rat-a-tat of gunfire and pounds with rhythm as energising as an intravenous shot of Guaraná. Lyrics denounce corruption, violence and complacence. ( Mondomix )
Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to a family deeply rooted in the samba tradition, Paulinho met and befriended much of Rio's samba elite as a child. His father was a guitar player and musicians like Pixinguinha and Jacob do Bandolim would often come to his house for rehearsals, which Paulinho watched for hours on end. After the rehearsals, Paulinho would pick up his father's guitar and strum the few chords he knew. Later, as a teenager, he was frequently seen at jams at Jacob do Bandolim's house, quietly and attentively observing the older, more experienced musicians. He began writing his own songs as a teenager, but never considered a career as a professional musician until he met poet Hermínio Bello de Carvalho in 1964. By then, Paulinho was working as a teller at a bank in Rio de Janeiro, and recognised Hermínio from the jam sessions at Jacob do Bandolim's house. The two became close friends and soon began writing music together. The first song they wrote together was Duvide-o-dó, recorded by singer Isaurinha Garcia. He then began performing his own songs at a restaurant in Rio, owned by samba legend Cartola and his wife.
He got his famous nickname in 1965, when he was a member of the samba group A Voz do Morro (the voice of the hills), alongside Zé Keti and Oscar Bigode. After their first recording session, a publicist from the record label reportedly told him "'Paulo César' is not a samba name!". Zé Keti and journalist Sérgio Cabral eventually came up with the nickname "Paulinho da Viola" (something to the lines of "Guitar Paul").
By the 1970s, Paulinho was at the most prolific stage of his career, releasing an average of one album per year. He was already a household name in samba, choro and MPB circles and broadened his audience by touring all over Brazil and also playing at festivals in Europe and the US. His productivity and popularity had waned by the mid-80s, when he decided to focus more on his songwriting. In 1996 he regained notoriety after releasing the much-acclaimed album Bebadosamba, in which he once again joined forces with Hermínio Bello de Carvalho and Elton Medeiros, his early songwriting partners. ( Discogs.com ) . Posted by "pugaman77".
Luísa Maita & Dr Morris Live at the SESC POMPÉIA ,16/03/2010 .
..." Luísa's started working at her uncle Benjamin Taubkin's record label, helping to sell CDs at concerts and generally learning the ropes of the music business. It was at her uncle's office that she met producer and musician Morris Picciotto (who now goes by the name Dr. Morris) and after taking some guitar lessons with him they began to perform together in local bars. Another uncle, Daniel Taubkin, invited Luísa to sing with his group, and Luísa was also making an impression as the vocalist for the group Urbanda, who released an album in 2003.
In 2006, the Brazilian singer Virginia Rosa recorded two of Luísa's compositions, and in 2009 popular singer Mariana Aydar's version of a song co-written by Luísa and frequent collaborator Rodrigo Campos was selected as "Song of the Year" by Rolling Stone Brazil magazine. Luísa was also the featured vocalist on a widely-viewed promotional video directed by acclaimed filmmaker Fernando Meirelles (City of God) that was used in Rio's successful bid for the 2016 Olympics. While these projects kept her active and greatly expanded her profile on the national scene, Luísa was still seeking her own voice..." ( More, ArtistData.com )
Guitarist Luiz Bonfa (1922-2001) gained international fame in 1959 as his acoustic samba instrumental, "Manha De Carnaval," echoed worldwide through the minds of moviegoers who had seen the French film, Black Orpheus. Although he was linked to the birth of bossa nova through this famous film, Bonfa had worked on the earlier stageplay version, and helped compose and record the earlier version of the soundtrack, and, starting in the 1940s, had a long career as a radio performer in the decade before. Riding the bossa wave of fame, Bonfa left Brazil for the United States and shifted towards a more overtly jazz and pop direction. Many of his records released in the US and Europe have not been issued in Brazil itself; likewise, many of his older Brazilian albums remain out of print as well. ( Slipcue.com ). Uploaded by "samix23" .
Scene from the documentary "Ginga no Asfalto" from Germano Mathias, produced and directed by Guilherme Vergueiro and André Rosa.Posted by "gvergueiro" .
"Long before his 30th birthday, Lucas Santtana had absorbed more music than most professionals would encounter in their lifetimes, having traveled around the world with the biggest names in Brazilian Tropicalia. The sheer volume of influences, including Afro-Brazilian rhythms, Motown funk, Brazilian metal (à la Sepultura), and European electronica would allow him to conceive of sonic textures later that no one else would even consider. More amazing, though, is that he originally came to prominence as a mere flautist.
The young man from Bahia was first introduced in his early twenties, when he was discovered by Brazilian super-heavyweights Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso. After playing on both Gil's resurgent Acoustic and Veloso's controversial Tropicalia 2 in 1994, he was invited to join them on a tour of Europe. When he returned, he would work alongside Chico Science, another adventurous group of radical Brazilians, and spend time in the studio recording other artists' projects, including Arto Lindsay." ...( Kieran McCarthy, All Music Guide )
" In 1992, in the Bar de Dona Edna, in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil, the musician and cultural agitator Francisco de Assis França announced to his friends, “I mixed a hip-hop beat with a maracatu groove and it turned out awesome. I’ll call it mangue.” ‘Mangue’ means ‘wetlands,’ a type of landscape common in Recife, where lots of people take their livelihood from, especially catching crab. França, a.k.a. Chico Science, was surrounded by the central figures of a cultural movement that would become the most important engine of innovation in Brazilian popular music for the following 20 years, Mangue Beat. They had a few more beers to discuss the concept, and off they went, for the following months, to write manifestoes in Ecology, Music, Art, and Technology.
The movement was finally named “Mangue Beat.” Chico Science and his loose crew also wrote songs. When they recorded those songs, it was like a revelation for many: nothing in Brazilian music sounded like that before, and yet it was utterly familiar: hip-hop beats, heavy metal guitars, punk rock, funk, and the folk music of the Northeast, a region often seen as the cultural heart of Brazil.
The local rhythms of maracatu, coco, samba de roda, and ciranda were neglected by the urban youth, and yet for many playing rock didn’t feel authentic. For that generation Tropicalia sounded stale and too hippie and joyful. That 1970s mix of samba, bossa nova, forró and psychodelia was a marriage made in heaven. Mangue Beat’s hardcore rock anger and energy from the maracatu drums is a marriage made in hell ".... ( Eloisa Aquino, soundsandcolours.com )
" Baixada Fluminense is the birthplace of this samba-reggae band. Reggae was the main music you heard in this rather aggressive neighborhood. Cidade Negra was one of the many bands exploring that music. Their lyrics didn't lie about life in the baixada, something that wasn't always appreciated by radio stations and record labels. The group adjusted a little to that and got a record deal with Sony. Their records were a huge success, even more after lead vocalist Ras Bernardo was replaced by Toni Garrido. The group immediately sounded more polished, both in music and lyrics. Now they're one of the main bands in Brazil with their mix of pop, reggae and soul. Critics love referring to Cidade Negra as far too soft, nothing compared to the original reggae. Nevertheless the band's appearance at the Sunsplash festival in Jamaica was a big success. Their danceable reggae with definite Brazilian accents is a joy to listen to. Toni Garrido's charismatic stage appearance and voice may be the band's main attraction" ... ( Musicabrasileiro.org )
