Right, so you were watching the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics and, all of a sudden comes a street-sweeper dancing and a series of people you've never seen in crazy costumes singing songs you've never heard and doing things you did not comprehend. You are surely not Brazilian, so let me try and explain.
The stars
Renato Sorriso - Interpreting himself, a street-sweeper with samba on his feet, Renato Sorriso has conducted the narrative throughout some acts that showed elements of the Brazilian culture and history. Some 10+ years ago, the crowd watching the Rio Carnaval parade has spotted Renato dancing samba whilst sweeping the runway between two acts and started to cheer. The cleaning supervisor tried to tell him off but, couldn't compete with the cheering crowd, and Renato went on dancing and turning himself into a living Carnaval character. Renato can still be seen every year at the parade performing his act during the interval between the samba schools' parades.
Marisa Monte - Originally a classical singer, the artist has a consistent career on Brazilian popular music having reportedly sold over 10 million records worldwide. She enjoys some worldwide recognition and has worked with some foreign artists in occasions such as David Byrne.
Alessandra Ambrosio - Brazilian model Alessandra Ambrosio is well known on the fashion world. She has ticked all the supermodel boxes , like being an Angel and spokeswoman for Victoria's Secret and featuring on the Pirelli calendar, besides being the face of Revlon and the cover of most of the biggest selling fashion magazines throughout the world. She appeared wearing a silver dress and a crown - not sure if she was trying to represent anything except the beauty of Brazilian women - indeed, few countries have so many models that made it big as Brazil in the recent years.
Seu Jorge - Singer/songwriter/actor Seu Jorge ("Seu" is a kind of short for "Senhor", which means Mister) features on the world acclaimed Brazilian movie "Cidade de Deus" (City of God) as "Mane Galinha" (Knockout Ned). He also features on Wes Andersen's "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou", both as a part of the crew and recording part of the soundtrack, performing versions of David Bowie's classics in Portuguese . He has several albums and enjoyed great commercial success mainly in Brazil but also abroad. He came dressed in white singing like a real "malandro carioca" (carioca is how we call the people from Rio, whilst malandro is a noun that comes from the word "malandragem", the latter probably needs a post of its own - I'll look into it in the future but for the time being think of a malandro as a smooth operator, a wheeler-dealer).
Bnegao - Rap/hip-hop singer/songwriter Bnegao was a known artist on the Rio underground scene, becoming popular to a broader audience initially with his band The Funk Fuckers and then joining the famous and controversial (amazing) rock/hip hop Brazilian band Planet Hemp as a singer and songwriter. After Planet Hemp, he started a band called "Bnegao e os Seletores de Frequencia" (Bnegao and the Frequence Tuners) and more recently became a part of a trio called Turbo Trio. Hip-hop, funk, dub and rap are the main components of his musical mix. He came dressed with a that reflects the Maracatu, an African-Brazilian musical an theatrical ritual linked to Northeastern states of Ceara and Pernambuco, and performed the song "Mangue Town" by deceased Brazilian singer/songwriter Chico Science.
Pele - Brazilian football legend Pele made a Cameo appearance. I am guessing I don't have to explain who Pele is, but just in case he is the greatest football player ever. And if you disagree, I shall also post on this at some point..
The Tunes
No, samba is not the only thing we listen to. I will surely make not one but several posts about the Brazilian music. Besides samba's many variations, Bossa Nova, Tropicalia, Chorinho, Forro and many others will not fail to awe you and maybe some of you will even be keen to learn Portuguese, just like listening to the Beatles made me want to learn English, so you can understand the beautiful words from the music of the likes of Chico Buarque, Tom Jobim or Caetano Veloso. The songs performed on the 10 minutes gives you just a taste of that: Classical, samba, mangue beat, MPB...
"Bachianas Brasileiras No5" Performed by Marisa Monte. Written by self-taught Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, this piece of classical music is a part of a 9-suites act for a combination of instruments that are popular in various styles of Brazilian music. The movements are a perfect mix of Baroque, Bachian structures with elements of the Brazilian music like rhythms and melodies
"MangueTown" Performed by BNegao. Mangue Town was written by singer/composer Chico Science and originally performed by his band Chico Science e Nacao Zumbi (Chico Science and the Zombie Nation). The word Mangue means mangrove and Mangue Beat was a cultural movement that Chico and his band were involved from the concept. Their music is a mix of rock guitars, hip hop and the heavy drums of local genres from Recife in Northeast Brazil like the Coco and the Maracatu.
"Nao vem que nao tem" Performed by Seu Jorge. "Nao vem que nao tem" was written by songwriter Carlos Imperial and was made famous by performer Wilson Simonal. The title alludes to a Brazilian expression that means something on the lines of "don't even try it" or "don't even go there" - always funny when you translate expressions :)
Simonal was famous on the 60s and 70s and his music started with styles such as "pilantragem" and "samba de gafieira" (like this song) and evolving into something more funky and soulful. This song was used in an IKEA advert in the US so some American readers might have recognized it J
“Canto das Tres Racas” – this song was written by songwriters Mauro Duarte and Paulo César Pinheiro and made famous by former Brazilian singer Clara Nunes. Clara was a multi-million record selling singer, considered the “Queen of Samba”, since many samba songs were made famous in her voice. She made justice to the title by being a real researcher of the genre, having travelled several times to Africa to try and understand the origins of the black music that would come to originate samba in Brazil. This song is about the 3 main races that compose the Brazilian people (Portuguese, European and African) and the suffering from their former relationship of domination.
"Aquele Abraco" Performed by all artists. "Aquele Abraco" (That Hug) was written by Brazilian singer/songwriter and former Ministry of Culture Gilberto Gil. Gilberto Gil was involved on the Tropicalia movement and this song is about Rio. The lyrics start with the famous line "O Rio de Janeiro continua lindo" ("Rio the Janeiro carries on beautiful") and continues making many references to the city's culture and beauty. The piece closes and names the Brazilian show on the ceremony (the show was named "Abraco", or Hug) as if to say "leaving a big hug and see you all in Rio"!
The show
The show kicks-off with Renato Sorriso dancing his samba and being told off by someone acting as a London 2012 security, quite like the event that made him known (see above). Instead of having the security making him stop dancing, he involves him with the rhythm that is involving indeed, and he (kinda) starts dancing too. The drums get heavier and they are joined by group of women dancing samba on Carnaval-like costumes, in what looks like an “ala” (section) of a samba school from the Rio Carnival. The drums fade and they are then taken by surprise by the whispers that reveals singer Marisa Monte, representing Yemanja, coming onto the stage singing "Bachianas Brasileiras no 5" (see below). Yemanja is the " Goddess of the Seas" according to some African religions and hailed by Brazilians as such. If you ever spent New Year's in Rio and saw/was told to throw flowers to the Ocean and make a wish you might have unnoticeably praised her – it is cool to note how some religious elements, costumes or traditions from one the cultures that formed Brazilian's own are incorporated by all Brazilians, despite of their religion.
The drums start again with a tribal beat and a group walks in wearing neon war bonnets, representing the native Indians on a tribal ritual. The Maracatu then takes the stage. Maracatus are traditional folkloric performances from Northeast Brazil that enacts the crowning ceremony of a slave that was nominated the “King of Congo” - an outstanding position within a group of slaves. The tradition endured even after the abolishment of slavery and is celebrated with lots of drums and singing. Maracatu also denotes the type of music played in such rituals. BNegao walks in singing “Marcatu Atomico”, a modern mix of rock and Maracatu (see below), and to the sound of this song, model Alessandra Ambrosio takes the stage. The Maracatu drums slowly fade into a “Capoeira” and a “Berimbau” can also be heard as the Capoeira fighters take the stage. Capoeira is a quick and complex powerful dance/fight formerly practiced by the African slaves and currently by groups throughout the country – and also in many gyms not only in Brazil but in some places around the world and “berimbau” is a rustic instrument used on the Capoeira ceremonies.
That’s when Seu Jorge walks into the stage and the Capoeira fades into a “samba de gafieira” (Honky-Tonk Samba). This type of samba is danced very differently from famous carnaval samba, like the one danced by Renato Sorriso at the beginning of the presentation. The man usually dances the "Samba de Gafieira" as a "malandro carioca" (the smooth type from Rio played by Seu Jorge), usually with his arms open as to protect his female partner from other "malandros" dancing around yet giving her space to show herself to him. Seu Jorge and Renato then start dancing the Honky-Tonk Samba around Alessandra Ambrosio – the lyrics reflect the “malandragem” – open up your eyes or you’re gonna lose that girl to another “malandro”. The next chant is “Canto das Tres Racas” (Chant of the Three Races) and quickly the stage is taken by a series of displays resembling the pattern of the Copacabana beach boardwalk, with singer Marisa Montes returning and joined by the others to sing “Aquele Abraco” (that hug) and close the show, but not before a last special guest takes the stage: football legend Pele sending that hug to all the viewers and inviting everybody to join Rio in 2016 for the first edition of the games to take place in South America.
In my opinion, the challenge to put something together that reflects and makes justice to such rich and diverse culture is a massive one because there are just so many elements to mix in a coherent way in 10 minutes… it's a bit like trying to put a playlist of all your albums without a filter of genre and then playing it randomly and be asked to make a story around the soundtrack. This is not to say I didn't like - but going from samba on the streets to Pele, going through the Indian origins, supermodels, malandragem, Brazilian-African religion/folklore, Maracatu and Carnaval in 10 minutes in a logical way might be an impossible task, but the effort gave me the impression that they are picking some great elements for an extraordinary Ceremony in 4 years time...
No comments:
Post a Comment