Electronic Carnival
By Mara Weiss and Nego Beto
published 2/04 in The Beat Magazine
Felicidades! This year, 2004, the Brazil Beat team celebrates 10 years writing this column for The Beat. Big-ups to The Beat Magazine, the publisher, staff, and the rest of the team for keeping it real, and always putting the music first! So much has happened during these 10 years, both in the world, and in Brazilian music. We are excited to make this year of Brazil Beat the best ever, with cutting edge news and top-notch interviews. Kicking things off is this first column featuring Brazilian electronic music: its background, its many expressions. We chose to start this way, because it has become a phenomenon, and is the genre that is getting Brazilian music out into the world more than any other these days.
The floodgates have opened and there is no turning back the tide. There were the purists who thought that MPB could remain untainted by the vulgar onslaught of electronic music. They should know better. Brazil’s entire history is one of copulation of religions and cross-pollination of peoples; all is indulged, and there is no shame. The DJ vibe caught on like mad in Brazil, and now MPB stars dabble in broken beats, while local producers crank out all manner of house, techno and drum ‘n bass infused with regional influences and the inevitable Brazilian spirit. At the same tme, international DJs cut up, sample, loop and play Brazilian batuques, cantos and samples.
To elucidate a little bit of the short but interesting history is Beth Ferreira, editor/publisher of the online magazine BitsMag, events promoter and video producer, a leading expert on electronic music in Brazil.
Talk a little bit about yourself, your overseas travels, your discovery of the dance music scene.
My relationship with electronic music started in 1991. It all happended at
the same time. I had met Yuki Watanabe, nightclub manager from club Mars in New York, early that year in Rio. He showed me some tapes
with electronic music he was producing and told me about the techno and acid
house scene happening in New York clubs. He had a radio show in
Japan and was taking some Brazilian music there. Through Yuki I met the people behind the rave scene there.
That same year I went to Berlin in July, and I wanted to shoot a video about
the city. The 3rd Love Parade was happening and it changed my life. The Wall
had just come down, the people were very happy and full of hope and the
whole thing was surprising and new - an electronic music carnival with
trucks filled with turntables, giant sound systems and people dressed in the
acid house outfits - lots of smily faces and acid colors - and the sound was
that electronic beat that seemed to me so connected with samba from Brasil.
There was also a huge rave at night in the recent opened East Berlin area.
The concept was so new to me, with VJ shows and techno DJ sets and
performances.
I also went to New York later that month and the techno scene was booming. I
went to clubs like Limelight and saw DJs like Joey Beltram and Little Louis
Vega. In one year I was completely caught by the electronic scene and went
on to research the techno DJs in São Paulo. By that time I wrote a rave
project with Yuki and it was going to be the first rave in Brasil, with Moby
and other DJs from New York and Berlin. With Claudia Santoro from MTV we
went on to a large range of big companies, but no one would put
money in our crazy electronic music party, bringing DJs and VJs from the
States and Germany. We kind of gave up and some other people ended up making
the first Brasilian rave in São Paulo and Curitiba. But Brasil was not
prepared for the rave scene yet and the producers lost all their
money, unfortunately. The
real rave scene started here only in 1996 with parties happening on farms
near São Paulo with Brazilian DJs.
With the images from the Love Parade and footage shot in São Paulo in 1991
and 1992, I edited the video "Technodream", which is the first video on
electronic music and the rave scene made in Brasil. This video was shown in
Locarno Film Festival, in 1992 and also in many TV stations in Brasil. In
1993 I started promoting small parties in Rio and São Paulo, called Conexão
DJ (DJ Connection)
How did Bitsmag get started and what does it represent today?
Bitsmag started as a Rio de Janeiro night column inside Cidade Virtual Rio,
an online guide to Rio de Janeiro inside ZAZ (Terra), a big internet portal
in Brasil. The name was Bits da Madrugada ("Late Night Bits") and I talked
about DJs and parties in Rio. In November 1999 the website was launched,
still called "Bits da Madrugada" focusing not only in Rio but in the
electronic community all over the country. We promoted chats with Derrick
May, DJ Marky, Westbam, Dave Angel and other great DJs from Brazil and
abroad. In November 2001 the website was renamed, with a new design, and now
it's called Bitsmag, focusing also on fashion and film. It's been four years
in a very difficult Internet situation, and we are survivors. Many other
web-magazines started and vanished, but we're still there with our party
guide and our online coverage of big electronic music events, like Skol
Beats and Tim Festival in Brasil and also some foreign events like Sonar
2001, that we had online coverage.
Who were the first Brazilian DJs to play electronic music, house, techno, etc.? Other important influences?
José Roberto Mahr, in Rio, DJ Magal and Marquinhos MS in São Paulo are the
pioneers of the electronic scene in the last 20 years in Brasil.
What is the connection Rio - Sao Paulo? How are the scenes different?
The scenes are different. São Paulo is very connected with the London
electronic music scene, whereas Rio tends to be more open minded in terms of
influences.
What is the concept behind your newest project, the Bitsmag CD, and who is participating?
I was invited by Nikita Music, a record label from Rio de Janeiro, to make a
CD compilation of electronic music. It's going to be a 2 CD
release and they will be sold separately. One is focused on the electronic
music made for the dance floor, with house, techno and drum'n bass. The
other will be focused on the electroclash and synth-pop recent scene. We
plan to release the two CDs in February 2004. A wide range of Brazilian new
producers are participating, like Tin God, a very good one man project from
São Paulo, and BrazilBeat, a house project of Brazilians living in New
Zealand and a wide range of producers mostly form Rio and São Paulo.
Practicaly all the good DJs in Brasil are producing electronic music at the
moment, but we are also showing music from producers that don't DJ and have
another approach to music production. It's very interesting to notice the
difference between the DJ/producers and the electronic music producers that
don't DJ.
Well, looking forward to that compilation for sure. For us compilations are often a bit tedious, because they can feel like recycled music, repackaged to try to sell to different people. But in truth a compilation can be an only chance to get your hands on some material that would otherwise be really hard to find. The following are some of the best compilations of pumped-up, stripped-down beats and crazy mixes that have come out in the past year in Brazil and internationally.
Rough Guide delivers its Guide to Brazilian Electronica (World Music Network), a compilation that is complex and actually pretty deep. A lot of research went into this project, and the track selection must have been excruciating. What we like about this record is how rootsy it sounds. Certain types of regional music lend themselves particularly well to fusion with techno-styles. Pernambucan coco is one of these, as Chico Science and Naçao Zumbi demonstrated 10 years ago. One of the most interesting stories on the album is that of Dona Cila. The veteran Pernambucan singer was “discovered” by the movement, and has played and recorded with Nação Zumbi, Rica Amabis, and other bands and DJs, in addition to having many of her old recordings remixed. The song “Juntando Coco” is a haunting melody over surdos and other typical percussion. The masthead of the movement is of course Suba, the Austrian-born musician whose essential album São Paulo Confessions (2000) paved the way for MPB to head down the electronic road. Two of his best loved tracks figure here, “Sereia” and “Samba do Gringo Paulista.” Other standouts include Rica Amabis and “Samba de Dez Linhas” from DJ Dolores. Not to mention the liner notes, which alone are almost worth the price of the CD.
A lot of people have come face to face with Brazilian music through the excellent releases of Sixdegrees Records (Ziriguiboom/Crammed Discs). Their development of artists like Bebel Gilberto, Zuco 103 and Bossacucanova brought bossa and samba to a whole new generation of people worldwide. The Now Sound of Brazil (Sixdegrees) is the latest collection of cool and innovative music. A nice package that came out early last year, it highlights their top talents, and is ideal for anyone looking to jump into the scene for the first time. Anyone who already owns the Bebel, Suba and Zuco albums may find it redundant.
Trama Records’ groundbreaking work with MPB greats (Jair de Oliveira, Tom Zé), new MPB artists (Max de Castro, Fernanda Porto, Otto) and Brazilian dance music artists and producers (DJ Marky, Mad Zoo, O Discurso) has made them probably the most exciting label in Brazil. The Trama 2003 International Sampler (Trama) features their signature mixture of MPB and electronic with some great tracks like “Bob” a duet between Otto and Bebel Gilberto and “Alone” from Technozoide. Aptly wrapping things up is Nação Zumbi and the heavy, dubby “Blunt of Judah.”
Astute record label Sterns saw a good thing and jumped on it, licencing a good chunk of Trama’s catalogue. Now, a lot of people who couldn’t find any of that great stuff in their local import section will be thanking them. Sampa Nova (Sterns) tries to capture the elusive essence of the sound coming out of São Paulo, Brazil’s biggest metropolis (which Suba called “Blade Runner of the Tropics). The inevitable Suba opening track is followed by Tom Zé, a founder of the Tropicalia movement, whose irreverence has been an inspiration to the budding electronic scene. “Desafio” is an ultra-modernist baião, a nod to the Northeastern culture that is so prevalent in Sampa. Packed with some good tracks and cool, dark, loungy grooves, this compilation may appeal to serious aficionados; it lacks the continuity for casual living room listening.
Urban Brazil (Sterns) is a full-bodied compilation staying on the funky side of things, with many distinct flavors, including hip-hop, Northeastern, samba and drum ‘n bass.
Rapping duo Thaide and DJ Hum sample Jorge Benjor in their pumped up, anthemic “Sangue Bom.” An exclusive remix of Max de Castro’s “Ela Disse Assim” and joyous percussion from Trio Mocoto founder João Parahyba stack up nicely. Drum ‘n bass is the biggest seller of all of the electronic music genres in Brazil, and also the one that Brazilians are best known for internationally (starting with DJ Marky--named the “world’s best d ’n b / jungle DJ”). One of the top new talents in this field is Drumagick, who here offer the track “Funquiada” from their album Ai Maluco.
Have you seen Cidade de Deus (City of God) yet? No? Well, go rent the video then! After that you will be jonesing for the soundtrack; it is that good. And now, for those who just can’t get enough, there is City of God, Remixed (Sterns). This two volume compilation dissects and reconstructs the songs by Antonio Pinto and Ed Cortes, rendering a hard, edgy collection of sounds replete with dialogue samples from the film. This is not MPB. These are bangin’ club mixes, and some nice downtempo material, each deserving of a 12’ release of its own. Top DJ/producers Mau Mau, Felipe Venancio and Renato Cohen contribute, as well as Drumagick, Mad Zoo and others.
Going deeper into the Brazilian club scene we find Extractos Eletronicos (Nikita Music) from a collective of carioca DJs who call themselves B.U.M. (Brazilian Underground Movement). The CD proudly displays their Ten Commandments, which include: “...maintain absolute loyalty to the fraternity and its hierarchy... be free of all types of prejudice... and never, EVER beg to play.” The CD is divided into two “sides”--drum ‘n bass and 4x4 (i.e. house). The 4x4 tracks are raw and unpolished following hard house and trance conventions. The d ‘n b is predominantly growly and industrial, aside from a surprising track called “Joyan” from an artist called Joyan, where wild gypsy-inspired violin races atop the flickering beats for the duration. Truly interesting.
“Lounge music” is a funny term, bringing to mind amoebic furniture, polyester leisure suits in chartreuse and cocktails with names too long to remember. Brazilian-inspired “lounge” has been particularly successful worldwide with artists like Jazzanova, St. Germain and Thievery Corporation. Now here is a Brazilian band professing to be the next big thing in lounge--Mulato Beat. Their debut album Rio Lounge (BMG Brazil) serves up a thick slice of high quality downbeat styles. They create an inviting mix of bossa, samba canção and the funkier sambalanço, tastefully melding acoustic instrumentals with the electronic plug-ins for a sleek, international feeling.
Bacana is Brazilian slang for cool. Superbacana means really cool! And that’s what we thought when we heard the EP from a group with that really cool name. Hailing from San Francisco, CA, Superbacana has recently pulled together after a long while as a rather amorphous, open-ended project. The self-titled EP has four songs, including Moraes/Powell standard “Canto de Ossanha” and two brilliant originals. “Era Verdade” features unbelievable guitar work over a frenetic beat and charming languid vocals by singer Tika Morgan. Big ups to our friend DJ Vanka for helping to make this happen. More info: haejin007@yahoo.com.
We are always talking up the Brazilian music scene in San Francisco and LA because there is a lot going on, AND because we’re there often enough to participate in it. We know there are vibrant scenes all over. If any of you readers want to tell us about the Brazilian music scene in your city, feel free! We’d love to hear about it, and to write about it if possible. Email Brazil Beat at brazilbeat@brazilbeat.org. We invite you to visit our website too: www.brazilbeat.org. Ten years and going strong!