March 3, 2014
BRAZIL CARNIVAL 2014:
SAMBAS DE ENREDO
Posted by Morgan Greenstreet
It’s that time again, when the inhabitants of Brazil (and many foreign guests) collectively lose their inhibitions and devote several days to dancing, playing music, drinking and wearing as little clothing and as many feathers as possible. That’s right, we’re talking Carnival. Of course, carnival is a global, Afro-diasporic phenomenon, from Trinidad to Toronto and Curaçao to Cologne, but Brazil goes legendarily hard, and has long been known for its unique Carnival traditions. Some people have said (including Tom Jobim and Luis Bonfá in the famous film Orfeu Negro) that many Brazilians literally live all year for February, waiting for their chance to blow off steam and truly celebrate life despite hardships and poverty.
And of course, no music is more closely associated with carnival than samba. Afropop Worldwide has produced two Hip-Deep shows about Rio and samba “Rio 1: Samba at the Dawn of Modern Brazil” and “Rio 2: Samba Strikes Back,” but we never tire of the sound, and we figured it might be good to check out the year’s newest festival tunes.
Rio 2014:
This year, like every year since the early 19th century, the beat of Rio is set by the samba schools: massive organizations composed of thousands of performers, musicians and administrators. Each year, composers vie to have their samba de enredo (song samba) featured by one of the “Special Group” of major Samba Schools, who compete in the Sambadromo for the best parade. These sambas de enredo are written on the theme that the director of that Samba School has chosen to build the entire parade around that year. For example Império Da Tijuca (who won the lower-ranked “Access Group” competition last year, and as a result, will compete in the “Special Group” this year) will focus on the African cultural roots of Brazilian drumming, with a samba enredo called “Batuk”:
And the 2013 winner of the 2013 “Special Group” parade, Vila Isabel, is presenting “Retratos de um Brasil Plural,” ‘Portraits of a Plural Brazil,’ focusing on preserving rural life and natural resources:
Actually, all the sambas de enredo are pretty jammin’ this year! Lot’s of serious drumming, quickcavaquinho (a small lute-like instrument) licks, and joyful group vocals over fast-moving chords. You can listen to all the theme songs and read lyrics from this year, and many years past, here.
Salvador, Bahia:
Bahia has a less developed carnival celebration than Rio, but the Blocos Afros and Afoxé groups rock Salvador for real. Even a cursory listen to one of the top hits (so far) of Bahia carnival reveals a totally different musical aesthetic from Rio’s slick sambas:
Soaring female vocals, distorted electric guitars, small band, complex musical breaks. A totally different musical language! Then there are the blocos afros, like the world-famous Olodum:
Well, we wish we were going to dig into all the best new music! Maybe next year…
__________________________
In Part One of our 2012 Hip Deep Brazil series, we travel back in time to Rio De Janeiro in early 20th century to explore the birth of Brazil’s most iconic sound: samba. Beginning with the arrival of poor nordestinos in the city after the end of slavery in 1888, we follow the exploits of the early sambistas as they forged the genre that would come to represent the nation. Brazilian scholar Carlos Sandroni shows us how Afro-Brazilian religious music and popular styles like the modinha transformed into the syncopated samba beat. Then, media scholar Bryan McCann guides us through the glamor and political intrigue of 1930s Rio as samba explodes as the popular music of choice throughout the country. Plus, we speak with samba greats from the old guard to the young bloods including Dona Yvone Lara, Heitorzinho dos Prazeres, Paulão 7-Cordas, and Luciana Rabelo. In the end, we find out how samba, an ambitious radio station and a populist dictatorship worked together to shape Brazilians’ ideas about race, society and the Brazilian nation itself.
[APWW #644] Our second Hip Deep samba show picks up where we left off the story in the 1960s, tracing the rhythm as it transforms and re-appears throughout the many popular music forms that developed in Rio in the later 20th century. Scholar Frederick Moehn, author of a new book titled Contemporary Carioca, shows us how samba’s shadow re-appears in the youth music of MPB-stars Pedro Luis and Fernanda Abreu, and how a samba revival led by young artists in the Lapa neighborhood revitalizes Rio’s urban core. Arriving in the 21st century, we see how samba’s footprint continues to reverberate in Rio today, in the form of the electronic tamborizao beat supporting baile funk recordings, and in the futuristic pandeiros of young percussionists like Marcos Suzano.