Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Vem No Tambor

Well, it's hard to believe I've been here for three weeks already. That means that my trip is halfway over, and while I'm excited to return to those Madison summer nights on the Memorial Union terrace, I will miss this Brazilian winter, the magical city, and the amazing people I've met. But this is all premature, because I still have three more weeks, so no need to get all weepy just yet. Each new day brings fun experiences, intensive Portuguese, and a perpetual opening of my mind. I will start by saying something that I can't reiterate enough. I'm very fortunate to be here. Granted, I did work very hard in applying to the program and applying for aid, but there are many people just as qualified or more qualified who won't get to experience such an amazing trip abroad, so I am aware of that and very humbled to be here.

As some of you know, this is my first of two trips to Brazil this year. I will be returning at the very end of the year (and into 2014) to conduct research for my senior thesis, in which I analyze the western study of Brazilian samba and the sociological and academic implications surrounding the transfer of this music from locals to foreigners. To get a sense of samba here in Rio, and because I would do it even if I weren't researching it formally, I have been trying to attend performances and acquire contacts to work with this winter. The faculty of the program has been very helpful in hooking me up with people in the samba sphere, and thanks to a few of my language professors, I was able to attend a feijoada party at the famous samba escola, Salgueiro, last weekend. The experience was unforgettable for so many reasons, and at this point in my trip, I consider it a clear highlight.

The gathering began around one, but due to the normal miscommunications, my friends and I didn't arrive at the escola until about three. After taking the metrô almost to the end of the line, we ended up in a neighborhood called Tijuca. We walked through a very different (generally more rundown) part of town to reach Andarai, where the escola was located. The building in which one of the most famous samba schools in the city practices, performs, and holds events reminds me of a mix between a high school gymnasium and a food court. A huge, open place with painted walls and an upper deck where many people could watch the performance in seats. When we got there, the main dancing floor was filled with members of the community eating feijoada, as well as a few of the IBEU professors. After enjoying a delicious and hearty lunch, the performers took the stage and the entertainment began.

The first act was a very solid, standard pagode band, and I noticed a few interesting things about the way they played. For one thing, they never counted any songs off; they seemed to just come in randomly based off a quasi-beatbox vocalization of the beat from whoever was singing the given tune. For another thing, the crowd knew every lyric to every song! This applied to all three performing groups, and it really impressed me. I wonder if the songs played were mostly unique to Salgueiro, or whether everyone just knows a certain set of pagode/popular Brazilian songs. I also enjoyed hearing the pagode group play one of my favorite 'classics,' "E preciso muito amor" by Chico da Silva.

The next group was comprised of many drummers, a few guitar/cavaco players, but also a very impressive female lead singer who captivated the audience with her stage presence. She interacted heavily with the doting audience and even shared a duet with another brilliant singer. I can't speak highly enough of the performance level of these groups. Also, the instruments were much better balanced in the speakers than I've heard pagode ensembles before -- usually the groups back home have a hard time mic'ing everything correctly. Perhaps the acoustics of the room made this happen.

Then came the bateria. For those of you who don't know what that means, this was the headlining group, a giant band composed of different drums, shakers, and a few guitars/cavaquinhos, as well as about four lead singers. These are the types of groups that parade down the streets during Carnaval, and can have as many as 400 drummers in them, not to mention just as many dancers. Each bateria represents one escola de samba (samba school) and these schools are mainly composed of community members, who vary greatly in age. For example, I saw a middle-aged man playing the same instrument as an eight-year old girl. Both of them were playing tamborim, which is arguably the hardest one to play, and both were kicking equal amounts of ass in doing so. These schools give back to the communities that support them, and Salgueiro's facility had an athletic field and a pool where local kids were hanging out that day. Given that many of the escolas are in favelas (shanty-towns), they represent a very positive way of rising up as a people and working to create a better quality of life for the community. As the members were walking out, a few began to play, and I thought they were just warming up. On the contrary, this turned out to be the beginning of the show, and before I knew it, the singers and guitarists had joined in and they were playing an enredo (song that gets performed at Carnaval). To hear this group play "Vem no tambor," the enredo that the UW group performed at the international convention my freshman year, was surreal. It would be like watching the original lineup of Led Zeppelin perform "Stairway to Heaven". The members of the bateria seemed to be having so much fun, too! Smiles seemed to bounce off the members of the group and they executed the difficult, intricate breaks in the songs to perfection. The professional quality of the bands coupled with the skyrocketing energy of the crowd made this show one of the most memorable and enjoyable I have ever seen. Taking the metrô home that night, my friends and I couldn't stop smiling from all the positive energy floating around from the show.

The week since this experience has been relatively chill. Apart from a fun hike (in which we had to hike down a treacherously steep path in the dark), an exhilarating and exhausting game of beach soccer with some locals (in which I didn't make a complete fool of myself) and a cool nightclub (in which samba musicians played along with top 40 American hits) there isn't much to tell. I will conclude with a few random observations recently made by me:

I think something fishy is going on with my host mom: she's really nice and takes care of us and everything, but on any given night, at least two men stay the night, and it's not always the same two men. There's this rotating cast of characters, and I'm pretty sure she has introduced one of them as her husband and one as her boyfriend...also sometimes the room down the hall reeks of weed. I'm not trying to make any judgments, but I'm just a little confused.

I still can't really speak Portuguese that well: more often than not, I have to smile and nod politely, so hopefully they're not asking me to give them all my money.

Still a little mad about the soap: let's put a little more soap in that soap/water mix!

Going to a beach house this weekend! Probably won't be internet, so it will be nice to be cut off from everything, including that godforsaken Pope who ruined my Monday night. See you on the other side!

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