Fun Tom Ze audio profile

A radio piece by Marco Werman of PRI's The World. Main fallacy -- that Tom is unknown outside of Brazil. Thanks to the Luaka Bop CDs, I'd say he's Brazil's 2nd most famous Tom!

NYT on police foothold in Cidade de Deus

According to this report, the run-up to the World Cup and Olympics has apprently led to police walking a beat in the infamous favela for the first time in 30 years.

MPB reviews at musicabrasileira.org

Anybody not know musicabrasileira.org? Editors Kees Schoof (from Holland) and Egídio Leitão (from Brazil) as well as various contributors have been turning in detailed, personal responses to sophisticated MPB CDs for almost a decade now.

Don't let the URL fool you -- they write in English! New reviews arrive monthly and are highly recommended. Where else are you going to read about such gems as Eveline Hecker and Renato Borghetti? Of course, they also give a listen to releases by MPB mainstays from Mônica Salmaso and Vinícius Cantuária to Caetano and Gal, and do so with informed ears that jazz mags and world music sites can't touch.

Choro resource in Portuguese

If you are a choro fan, don't miss the web portal chorinhobrasil.com.br -- it features videos and a great events calendar you might just want to plan your next trip to Brazil around!

NYTimes on "36 hours in Rio"

Go to Rio for a London-themed bar? Kinda odd. But they do get most of the highlights you want to hit early on a Rio visit right. Here's the aritcle.

video: how to make a pandeiro (in Portuguese)

This vid found via the blog pandeirista.com which has all sorts of pandeiro-related multimedia.

"When I was black, my life was difficult"

Interesting conversation on race in Brazil with historian Lilia Moritz Schwarcz courtesy of the New York Times Review of books here.