Tiê is a new-comer on the São Paulo music circuit. Here’s the first song, Assinado Eu (Signed Yours Truly) off her first, new LP and here’s her site.
“Understanding and Obtaining the Brazilian CPF – A Primer for Foreigners
Unlike the United States Social Security cards, in Brazil tourists and other non-resident foreigners and even foreigners who are domiciled overseas are eligible for a CPF, which stands for Cadastro de Pessoa Física (Physical Person Registration). However, as explained below the process is to cumbersome to be useful to anyone who will be in Brazil for less than a couple of months and is not planning to return.
In Brazil, the Cadastro de Pessoa Física (CPF) is like the Social Security card in the United States in many ways. Each person who wants to participate in the official economy will need a unique CPF number which identifies him and his files in a variety of contexts including banking, credit applications wherever they are made, purchasing and activating a cellular phone, renting an apartment, and just about any other transaction which a person would engage in if he intended to stay in a country for more than a month.”
A lot more info here.
(source)
Ximxim de Galinha is a typically Bahian meal which roughly translates to what is known as Chicken Fricassee (poultry cut into pieces and stewed in gravy). Just like acarajé, ximxim de galinha makes up part of the Candomblé religion’s ritual food.
Generally, you’ll have the chicken (of course), dendê oil, shrimp as well as various spices and vegetables mixed in. Here’s the full recipe. Enjoy!
“Soap operas, known here as novelas, have long triggered fads in Brazil. After “The Clone,” a soap set in Brazil and Morocco, aired in 2001, belly dancing became the rage. Brazilian girls started wearing yellow flowers in their hair after a character was so adorned on the 1994 soap “Four by Four.” And this year’s prime-time hit “Caminho das Indias,” or “Passage to India,” has made all things Indian — from saris to vacations to the subcontinent — hugely popular.
But in Brazil, a country that watches more television on average than any other besides Britain, novelas have a more lasting effect by influencing lifestyle choices, researchers say.
“Novelas have become very much a part of the fabric of Brazilian society,” said Antonio La Pastina, a professor at Texas A&M University who has studied the influence of the programs on Brazilian society. “It’s hard to think of contemporary Brazil without thinking of novelas.”
New Lifestyles
The Inter-American Development Bank released two studies this past year that found a link between the consumption of novelas produced by Rede Globo, the network that dominates the industry here, to declining fertility rates and rising divorce rates in Brazil. The fertility rate in Brazil fell sharply over the past half-century, from more than six children per family in 1960 to about two by 2000, the study noted. This drop is comparable to that of China, but without any government family-planning measures.”
- Source (more here)
My Take
Sorry, Brazilians but novelas (and the like) are brainwashing wastes of time. It shouldn’t be surprising to anyone that soap operas could lead to damaging results, especially when they are created by one or two networks with huge political and societal influence. Major media exists to bring you to a predetermined conclusion about what you should and shouldn’t be doing and thinking. Turn off your TV, you’ll thank me later.
As I’ve written about before here and later updated here, general amnesty for illegals in Brazil is under way. All steps but the last have been taken in order to legalize those living in Brazil illegally. The last step is for Lula to sign it into law, which he could do sooner than later.
Part of the law I read over the weekend and which was commented on today by a reader in the original post, states the amnesty isn’t quite general enough as there are rules which are attatched. First, you have to have been illegal in Brazil and still residing in Brazil before Febuary 1st, 2009. Second, the residency you will receive is for two years only, at which point, you can try to get full residency (not sure how, perhaps simply by applying for it). Third, from what I read, there is only a 180 day window to apply for the limited amnesty they are offering.
Neither of those three rules put a smile on my face, to say the least.
Passports are no longer needed between Brazilians and Colombians traveling to each others countries. Also, yellow fever vaccinations are no longer need for those coming from Colombia. The new rules took effect at the beginning of May, 2009 yet were only divulged publicly on Tuesday by the Tourism Minister, Luis Barreto while in Bogotá. He made the trip mainly to promote the Discover Brazil Committee, which has created tourism incentives among travel agencies and airlines since 2004.
The declaration also acts as a means to jump-start tourism to Brazil from other South American countries in order to keep the economy strong and as a way to replace possible declines in tourism coming from Europe and the US. In the last year alone, Brazil has doubled its investment ($225,000 in 2009) within Colombia to promote itself as a great place to vacation.
According to a 2007 study by Embratur, 45,000 Colombians visited Brazil that year as opposed to the roughly 7,000 Brazilians which made the trip to Colombia. In an effort to turn the tides a bit, Brazilian tour operator CVC trained Brazilian tour agents from both Manaus and Belém on how to market Colombia to those travelling through the North of Brazil. More specifically, the island of San Andrés and the city of Cartagena will be highlighted in the brochures.
- Source (in PT)
My Take
I’m very pleased to see some effort being put into cross-cultural interactions as out of all the Colombians I’ve ever met, and I’ve met a lot, none take much (if any) interest in their giant neighbor to the Southeast. My only guess as to why is that their countries are seen as somewhat similar therefore Colombians would rather take interest with cultures other than that of Brazil. Having spent time in both places, I can honestly say there are great similarities yet there are an equal amount of differences which obviously, if never explored, will never be known.
As I’m sure you have heard, an Airbus from Air France, taking flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, lost contact over the Atlantic on Sunday night. There were 228 passengers aboard from more than 30 different nationalities. The most recent news from Brazil states that debris was found 650km off of Fernando de Noronha, just before the plane entered Senegalese airspace. Four Brazilian Airforce planes spotted seats, life vests and traces of a combustible engine in two distinct places.
Most of the story can be found from your preferred news outlet but I wanted to share some stories that perhaps will just be told via the Brazilian media. Two friends, a Brazilian and an American, saw their visas were expired just before the flight and decided not to go, therefore saving their lives. Two lovers, both Brazilian, had just got married in Niteroi the day before and were on their way to their honeymoon before their plane went down. Two parts of a family, all from Sweden, routinely took two different flights because they were afraid of an airplane accident wanted more miles rewards. The father flew with their young daughter and the mother, with their son…the latter half didn’t reach their destination.
I’m sure there are hundreds of similar stories and all of them are equally important and equally sad. My thoughts are with them.
Orient
written by Márcio Faraco
translation by Adam
Eyes of the Orient
Blind to our world
They only see the sun and the skies
Burning eyes of love
They are gagged
Made prisoners
of the gaze of God
But they see, those blinded eyes
They’re far from dull
Eyes closed to seeing
But open to imagination
Eyes abandoned even by solitude
Who will take care of these women
Silent slaves
Sewing a cloak
That will serve as their prison
Here’s what Faraco had to say about this song…
“I wrote this one eight years ago; I was impressed by those women in Kabul who lived at home like recluses. I’ve done a lot of work on it; we didn’t record it on the first trip to Rio either, I had to go back just to do this one.” It’s an afoxé, an Afro rhythm from Bahia over a cushioned tempo, a singular option for such a serious subject.”
In Portuguese, the Middle East is called Oriente Médio. When thinking of this song, given the context from Faraco himself, I take it to refer to the East, not specifically the Far East.
