Samba Luzia!

(Moacyr/violão, Wandinho/repique de mão, Jorge Alexandre/tantam, Winter/ganzá)

This is one of the best sambas in town! Located right on the edge of Guanabara Bay under the stars, Samba Luzia is led by Moacyr Luz. See my post from a few weeks ago for a clip of an interview where Moa played a new song for me. I don't yet have live video of this event, but will soon! This event takes place on Fridays, so it is a great weekend starter for cariocas. The band is essentially the same group that plays the "Samba do Trabalhador" that draws about a thousand people on Monday afternoons/evenings every week on the other side of the city.


(Daniel Sete Cordas)

What makes this samba so good? First, the musicianship is top notch. Most of the group members are actually pretty young guys, mostly in their 20s. Even with such a large ensemble, the sound quality is amazing, due in large part to the sound tech! Also important to point out how the musicians play together without trampling on each other. Some groups, even with half of the number of musicians, sometimes can't maintain such quality in a roda.


(Jorge Alexandre/tantam)


(João Martins/cavaco)

Young João Martins, 22, has recently joined the group. He is a talented composer and is already having several of his songs recorded by local samba groups. Check out his blog for some insights and song lyrics.


(Nilson Visual/surdo)


(Serginho Pitoco/balde)

This unusual instrument is simply called a balde, or bucket. I've also heard it called xequebalde. The instrument and its name borrow from the xequerê (or shekere, gourd rattle with beaded netting used in Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian). The balde is basically a metal bucket with holes and loose rivets that act like an industrialized, hybrid version of a traditional xequerê! The instrument seems quite rudimentary (can ethnomusicologists use that word anymore?), but is amazing when played well. And this gentleman certainly makes this thing groove. I will post video of this soon. It's really a fascinating sound.


(Luiz Augusto/repique de anél/atabaque)

This is, of course, my favorite instrument of all time. Luiz Augusto is one of the best young players I have ever seen. At 24 he is by far one of the few people that I think can play this instrument with so much swing and groove, like the late and great Doutor. He also adds the sound of the Afro-Brazilian atabaque to the percussion section, which brings another layer of dynamics to the samba. Again, video to follow...


(Júnior de Oliveira/pandeiro [right] / guest ? musician/banjo [yellow shirt])


(Wandinho in the foreground, Abel/bandolim, João)



Here is a song recorded live at the Monday samba some years ago. Most of the group members are the same as above.


"Cabô, meu pai" (Moacyr Luz, Aldir Blanc, Luiz Carlos da Vila)
from the live album Samba do Trabalhador (2005)

*Note about photos: All photos were taken with a fixed 50mm lens! Hence, why I don't have any wide angle shots. People always ask. Also, none of the photos are cropped or altered, except for minor exposure adjustments in post-processing.

Mestre Zeca da Cuíca do Estácio

After yesterday's posting, I wanted to include a photo and brief video of another mestre who we are privileged to still have among us. Zeca da Cuíca is quite up there in his years and he has lost his sight, but can still make a cuíca talk. As I have said before, you don't just get to use the instrument as a surname for nothing!

Mestre Zeca played on some essential samba recordings from the 1970s. Worth mention are João Bosco's Galos de Briga (1976) and Tiro de Misericórdia (1977), as well as the Partido em 5 series that I am so fond of and have talked endlessly about in this blog! You can read up on that post featuring Candeia and my favorite percussionist Doutor here. There are also some songs featuring Zeca from these albums. The song I would like to share today is perhaps the most exemplary of Zeca da Cuíca at the top of his game in a song that is about the instrument itself! Zeca's solo comes in toward the end.


"O Ronco da Cuíca" (João Bosco e Aldir Blanc)
from the album Galos de Briga (1976)

And this is Mestre Zeca playing at yesterday's conference on samba:



Roncou, roncou!

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968)

The future stars of Madureira

As you can see from the last post, I'm trying to dedicate some blog time to my Portuguese-speaking friends (should any of them actually read my blog). That being said, I want to dedicate this post to Madureira. If you've been keeping up, Madureira is not only a cradle of samba heritage, but home to several legendary samba schools and numerous sambistas.

So let's start with the song "Star of Madureira" by the late Roberto Ribeiro, of the Império Serrano Samba School, singing to his neighborhood. This is a beautiful song that is still heard at almost every roda de samba I've been to.


"Estrela de Madureira" (Cardoso/Acyr Pimentel) from the 1975 album Molejo.

Today and tomorrow there's a conference being held there celebrating the nomination of samba as the cultural patrimony of Brazil. The event was incredibly well planned by Nilcemar Nogueira, granddaughter of none other than Mestre Cartola, bringing together illustrious musicians with academics and cultural ministers sitting side by side and debating. It's quite refreshing to see, not only an entire conference dedicated to samba, but also musicians and researchers being privileged over journalists (I have issues with journalists). What I mean is that, in Rio, journalists seem to have the monopoly on these kinds of events, which is terribly frustrating. Also, conferences in general (not just here), tend to have a bunch of navel-gazing academics. At the conference legends like Nei Lopes, Tantinho and Monarco presented (or will present tomorrow), and in attendance so far were the Velha Guarda do Salgueiro and Zeca da Cuíca (who recorded in the 1970s alongside Doutor on some of João Bosco's samba recordings).



At the end of the conference, I was blown away to see the incredible young talent coming out of this amazing neighborhood. This is the next generation of sambistas and tradition-bearers of Brazil's Cultural Patrimony. Check out these AMAZING DANCERS! It brought tears to my eyes watching these kids putting all their heart and soul into this presentation. Salve Madureira!

Samba Patrimônio Cultural do Brasil

O seminário Samba Patrimônio Cultural do Brasil que abriu hoje foi um grande prazer. Queria muito parabenizar a Vice-Presidente do Centro Cultural Cartola Nilcemar Nogueira, orgulhosa neta do Mestre Cartola, pelo belo trabalho de organização de um evento que uniu sambistas, acadêmicos e guerreiros da valorização da cultura afro-brasileira em um ambiente de discussão e debate. Geralmente esses tipos de eventos acabam sendo muito elitizados, com um bando de intelectuais olhando para o próprio umbigo querendo debater sem a participação das pessoas das comunidades ou tradições que eles estudam. Ou, por outro lado, as vezes esses seminários contam somente com a demais privilegiada participação de "jornalistas" que escrevem sobre música e cultura, sem convidar nem um estudioso ou pesquisador acadêmico.

Hoje, e continuando amanhã, na SESC Madureira se podia ver na mesma mesa de debate sambistas como Nei Lopes e Monarco, com acadêmicos e diversos ministros. Os "highlights" pra mim foi o Nei Lopes, que deu uma grande palestra e uma boa "colher de chá" pra todos. O papo do Monarco "Ser sambista, um modo de viver" foi tão divertido de se rachar o bico de gargalhadas e impressionou com a sua memória infalível. A professora Dra. Helena Theodoro fez uma bela apresentação sobre religião e identidade.

Foi lindo também ver na platéia a Velha Guarda do Salgueiro, o grande Zeca da Cuíca que deu uma canja no final, um diverso e interessante grupo de pessoas, e o meu camarada Caffé e sua esposa!

Mas também quero registrar uns "bola fora" de alguns participantes. Primeiro, antes de começar o seminário, um homem muito pomposo do Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional (IPHAN) falou umas "abobrinhas" sobre a música de fundo que estava tocando enquanto as pessoas entravam na sala. Não podendo entender que se tratava de música africana moderna, ele esnobou, perguntando se era música japonesa, como se fosse uma música "primitiva"... Pra alguém que se encarga de patrimônio histórico e cultural devia-se ter um pouco mais de cautela à respeito de outras culturas...

Outro, pena quando acadêmicos inteligentes não sabem quando estão sendo um pouco arrogantes em querer esticar o tempo de sua palestra.

Finalmente, fico impressionado com a falta de educação de muitas pessoas que falam ou deixam celulares tocarem. O mais chato foi aquele cara que batia fotos o tempo todo com uma maquininha digital que fazia uns bips eletrônicos muito chatos... Pô cara! Desligue o som da máquina!

Samba Patrimônio Cultural do Brasil... demorou!!!