Rio hilltop soccer

New York Times obsession with Brazil continues. This time, it's a video essay on an informal soccer pitch.

http://www.nytimes.com/video/sports/soccer/100000002504736/rio-soccer-reaches-new-heights.html

Next time, stay in Rocinha!

An American so in love with Rio he starts a service to help tourists and foreign students stay in the world's largest favela. Genius or madman?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/annefield/2013/10/13/helping-tourists-go-native-in-brazil/

NYTimes hits Centro district in Rio

Is it just me or does the frequency of writeups in NYTimes on Brazil seem to accellerate every year? The Olympics? The new economic powerhouse reputation? In any case, choro is described so it's an improvement on some other recent efforts!

http://travel.nytimes.com/2013/09/15/travel/out-of-the-past-in-lively-old-rio.html

Now they just need decent salsa.

Story on a Californeiro who's making and selling tortillas nationwide in Brazil:

http://riotimesonline.com/brazil-news/rio-business/garytos-and-the-tortilla-business-in-brazil/

NYT Photo Gallery: Street Art in Brazil

I've been a fan of graffiti in Brazil for some time. So much great public expression!

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/08/11/magazine/Look_Brazil.html

Five dozen Brazilian music documentaries online!

Pedro Consorte has collected links to a great trove of interesting films available online. Worth a look or several:

http://pedroconsortebr.wordpress.com/2012/10/30/documentarios-sobre-a-musica-brasileira-lista-completa/

NYT in Lapa

NYT checks in with Rio's live music scene. Frustrating that they cover a great topic like Brazilian music with a writer who's only familiar with bossa nova -- at one point he writes (Elba) "Ramalho turned out to be a well-known singer of forró."  And choro is never mentioned!

http://travel.nytimes.com/2013/07/14/travel/moving-to-the-rhythms-of-rio.html

Dramatic protester photojournalism from São Paulo

Public awareness of demonstrations in Brazil is approaching the level of Turkey's weeks-old protest movement. Interesting video/photo combination puts you in the street with them.

http://petapixel.com/2013/06/17/a-first-person-view-of-photographing-the-protests-in-brazil/

Loving forró

Nice find today -- watch a short documentary on one of Brazil's most beloved musical traditions, the down-home, accordian-driven sound that almost sounds like its fresh from the bayou of Louisiana.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=H1IvQIqR0OM

(Activate subtitles by clicking the ‘caption’ button on the Youtube site.)

A gayer Brazil?

New York Times notes that Brazil is considering becoming the third Latin American country to recognize same-sex marriage, and Latin America in general just doesn't seem quite so macho any more.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/17/opinion/how-latin-culture-got-more-gay.html

Monopolist ruling against Brazil's music royalties collectors

I've heard for years how corrupt the music business is in Brazil, even compared with it's less than stellar record everywhere else. Here's a taste via boingboing.

Richard Feynman, sambista

I can't say I know of any other Americans who went to the streets of Rio in the mid-1950s and played samba in the streets with locals. Clearly, this guy was a genius and ahead of his time. But what's amazing is he also happened to be one of the greatest physicists of all time, a Nobel winner and beloved professor.

For sambistas, it's interesting to note that he found pandeiro tough and settled on frigideira -- an instrument that doesn't get enough love nowadays!

Here he is on the subject of samba carioca:
http://buoy.antville.org/stories/1466743/

And here's a brief overview of his other accomplishments:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIJw3OLB9sI

AfroPop Worldwide on Brazilian music, past and present

Afro-pop Worldwide also recently covered recent pop trends in SP:

http://www.afropop.org/wp/6610/the-soul-of-sao-paulo-rock-rap-and-future-music-from-the-endless-city/

And here's part 2 of their Rio show from last July:

http://www.afropop.org/wp/4215/rio-2-samba-strikes-back/