Choro das Tres in the United States

Here's a tour schedule for this great choro ensemble. Check them out on YouTube if you're unfamiliar with them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQQkTlkVP3M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqJvn6-iHrc

Sambistas & chorões,

As I write, Elisa, Lia and Corina, the three talented sisters of Choro das 3, are
winging their way from Brazil to the USA for their 2014 USA tour.

They're coming to a city near you. Watch this page for updates and additional details:
http://davidisen.tumblr.com/post/86399488101/choro-das-3s-2014-us-tour-preliminary-info-may
Details (and gigs) will be added to this page as they're confirmed.

If you can help fill in details and fix the mistakes, please write to me.

Here's what we know now:

May 23: Woods Hole MA, house concert, 8PM, $20, reservations required: http://choro3.doattend.com

May 24: Blackstone River Theatre, 549 Broad Street, Cumberland, R.I. 
8PM, $15. Call 401-725-9272 for reservations

May 30: Amazing Things, Framingham MA. 8PM, $20. 

May 31: Acoustic Artisans, Portland ME, contact Jonathan Cooper <jcooper@maine.rr.com> for info.

June 3: Chicago IL, contact Geraldo de Oliveira, <geraldo@ameritech.net> for the info.

June 6: Boulder CO, Mennonite Church, contact Dan Fairchild cc <dhf2000@comcast.net> for the info.

June 7: Boulder CO, workshop/masterclass, 10:30 AM, $35

June 11: Spokane WA, contact Daniel C Gore <danielcgore@msn.com> for the info.

June 12: Ellenburg WA, details here soon.

June 13 & 14: Seattle WA, details here soon.

June 15: Port Townsend WA, contact Al Bergstein <albergstein@gmail.com> 

June 17 & 18: Portland OR, details here soon.

June 19 & 20: Salem OR, details here soon.

June 21: Eugene OR, The Jazz Station, 8PM, $10.

June 25: Felton CA, Don Quixote’s Music Hall, 7:30, $15. More info here.

June 31: San Diego CA house concert, contact Gary Payne, garypaynephoto@mac.com for the info.

July 5: Austin TX. Details here soon.

July 9: Bryan TX. Details here soon.

July 12 & 13: Memphis TN. Details here soon.

July 15 & 16: Chattanooga TN, Folk School of Chattanooga. Contact Christie Burns <christie@chattanoogafolk.com>.

July 20: Aberdeen NC, The Poplar Knight Spot, 6PM, $15.

July 22: Washington DC. Details here soon.

August 1: Cambridge MA, Passim, with Howard Alden & Jeanne Gies.

August 5: Musikfest, Bethlehem PA, http://www.musikfest.org

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/

104 years was the least of Niemeyer's accomplishments

The architect of Brasilia and most of Brazil's modernist architecture has passed away, outliving his slightly older colleague, Le Corbusier, who had a long career, by an astonishing half century.
obituary

The Ugly American lives

So Lady Gaga visited Brazil this week. She played some soccer with favela kids, fine. But what's horrible is what these "witty" TV commentators have to say. Has anyone ever heard anything more condescending? "It's probably the coolest thing that these kids are ever going to have happen..." I hope not many Brazilians catch this clip; the basic idea seems to be that the world is just holding its breath, waiting for America to spread its magic fairy dust of glamour and joy upon the otherwise miserable ocean of humanity.
'TMZ' clip

Belo Horizonte, city of doggy love

And they say Paris is the city of love. This canine love motel almost makes up for the botox injections that, according to this NY Times article, some plastic surgeons in Brazil now offer for dogs.
article

The Microsoft From Ipanema

Forget the Olympics and World Cup coming to Brazil. The clearest sign today of Brazil's rising profile might be a new arrival from Redmond, Washington: Microsoft. The tech giant is bringing R&D and tech startup incubation to the cidade maravilhosa.
NY Times link

Beware the Highway of Death

Personally I think the term is a bit of an exaggeration. The "highway" part, I mean. But this Reuters blog post is interesting, in part because there's someone named "Nacho Doce"?!

The case for loving São Paulo

The New York Times' Frugal Traveler apparently spends quite a bit of time in the business capital of Brazil. His thoughts on what makes the city great were published today. As someone initially underwhelmed by the city after places like Bahia and Rio, I think the way to put it is that Sampa is not for beginners -- it takes a fairly serious Brazilophile to enjoy the city without a bottomless expense account. (Me, I even took an early flight home after being disappointed on my first visit.)