Surely no one thinks of kid’s toys when they think of Brazil, but one in particular is omnipresent here. It’s called the pipa (kite) and it’s known by many other names which I’ll list at the bottom. Even in a global culture of television and video games, Brazilian kids go crazy for kite-flying.

Kites were being used as far back as 550AD in China where they served for military purposes such as sending covert messages depending on the kite’s color and movements. In Brazil, they arrived along with the Portuguese settlers and they’ve been really popular ever since.

Growing up in the States, I only have a faint memory or two of playing with kites. The best I remember, we’d buy a kite kit that included the kite, sticks, and string (on a roll). After a running start, the kite was airborne and the wind did the rest. There was pretty much nothing else to it. The fun was in making something fly and letting the wind unroll the string.

In Brazil, it’s a whole other thing entirely. Of course, there are kites that can be bought pre-assembled but most kids seem to put them together piece by piece, almost as if there were a science to it all (who knows, maybe there is). There are even those in the interior who make their own glue out of a mix of farinha and water.

Flying kites can either be a solo activity or a social activity. When it’s social, the ‘name of the game’ is to take out the other person’s kite by wrapping your line around their line and taking their kite down. One rather easy way of doing this is by spreading a glue and (broken) glass mixture called cerol onto the kite line while the other way is to put something sharp on the kite tail itself.

There are dangers that come with the cerol mix, though, most notably when the kite line falls across the path of motorcyclists, bicyclists or other such people. Motorcycles sometimes come with an antena just for the purpose of cutting kite lines before they cut the driver.

Dangers aside, I don’t see a time when kites will go out of fashion. I think the joy found in flying them is telling of Brazil and the general culture here. Life can be complicated enough and so when there’s a moment to be free from your troubles, you grab ahold of it and leave the rest to the wind.

Kite Names
•    Amazonas – Cangula, Guinador, Frade, Curica and Estrela
•    Ceará – Barril, Bolacha, Cangulo, Estrela and Pecapara
•    Rio de Janeiro – Cafifa, Laçadeira, Estilão, Gaivota, Marimba, Pião, Modelo, Quadrado and Carambola
•    Maranhão – Jamanta (large) and Curica (small)
•    Pernambuco – Camelo and Gamelo
•    Rio Grande do Norte – Coruja
•    Minas Gerais – Frecha, Catita, Quadra and Lampião
•    São Paulo – Rainha, Peixinho, Quadrado, Quadrada, Quadradinha and Índio
•    Pará – Maranhoto, Curica, Pote, Guinador and Cangula
•    Rio Grande do Sul – Pandorga, Churrasco, Barrilete, Arco, Estrela, Caixão, Bidê, Bandeja and Navio
•    Santa Catarina – Papagaio and Barrilote

(Written 2 months ago)

As I contemplate reaching my fourth month living in a favela, I’m looking out over the Atlantic ocean at a calm sea, six islands in the distance and flocks of birds in V-formation gliding over the water. I like to think the V is for Vidigal. Said to be the “Zona Sul” of Rio’s favelas, it’s known partly for it’s beautiful sea views and partly because it rubs shoulders with the likes of its well-to-do neighbors, Leblon and Ipanema.

It’s been about 45 days since I’ve forsaken the hustle and bustle of Rocinha for the serenity of Vidigal, but my time in R-town was not without its memorable moments. There, I did such things as carry heavy items on my back as I walked up the stairs (a must-do), re-register for Internet service once a month, wonder who stole every last one of my neighbors t-shirts (he was never seen wearing one) and stand in for my announcer friend at the mattress store (where I’d announce to passers-by in English that there was a “special sale just for you!” and that “we’ve got everything you need at unbeatable prices!”).

Other notable experiences included seeing a full-sized bus going in reverse on an incline at a rather high speed and an older guy overhearing me speaking English to a New Yorker and interrupting us to inquire about an urgent matter. He wanted to know whether a gallon of gasoline cost more than a gallon of water in the US (the New Yorker later postulated that his bags were all packed and this was the deciding factor for his travels).

Despite the colorful nature of it all and my tongue-in-cheek recounting, I began to long for peace and quiet and that meant seeking out a smaller, calmer favela. Word on the street was the neighboring Vidigal was the place to start my search. Halfway into my second month here, I can confirm a thing or two about the ‘VDG’. Firstly, normal sleep patterns can be easily attained. Secondly, moto-taxis can be one’s best friend (unless, it’s close to midnight at which point there’s about a 20-minute wait to go up the hill). Thirdly, the closer you live to the ocean, the less it feels like a favela (and the quicker you can get to the popular beaches).

When all is said and done, though, at the four month point I’m calling it quits. My nomadic nature tells me I should seek out new horizons and explore another region of Brazil. When I reach where I’m going, I’ll be sure to write…

The city of Natal in Brazil’s Northeast gets almost 300 days of sunshine and that’s why it’s known as the “City of the Sun.” Sunshine isn’t all the city has to offer, not by a long shot. The visitor can also count on its many beaches, sand dunes, parks and even the largest micareta (off-season Carnival) called Carnatal.

In terms of quality of life, Natal often ranks as the best place to live anywhere in the North or Northeast. Being the second smallest capital in Brazil, and with over 800,000 residents, this city is densely populated. Add to the mix two million visitors per year, among foreigners and Brazilians, and the city almost seems tailor-made for those who are looking for a quick escape.

Pipa

Whether going north or south along Rio Grande do Norte’s coastline, there’s 250 miles of beaches to explore and one of them is both well-known nationally and internationally. Praia da Pipa is located 50 miles from Natal and was originally a fisherman’s village. Much like the story behind other famous beach towns such as Jericoacoara, Trancoso, Porto de Galinhas and Buzios, Pipa started as a small, quiet place with beautiful views. Next came the surfers and the backpackers, then your average tourist, investment, and finally, nightclubs and hotels. That being said, most of what made it beautiful to begin with can still be found today.

Genipabu

Genipabu is an environmentally-protected ecological park located just 12 miles from Natal. It’s known for it’s freshwater lagoons, buggy rides through its many dunes (where you can choose the kind of ride you want, “with emotion” or “without emotion”), camel rides through the sand and, perhaps on par with the “emotional” buggy ride, the “eskibunda” (pictured above) where you sit on a wooden board and ski down the slope into the lagoon.

While in and around Natal, don’t miss Ponta Negra beach and the Morro de Careca, the Reis Magos Fortress within the city, the world’s largest cashew tree in nearby Parnamirim, nor the snorkeling among the reefs of Maracajaú (40 miles outside the city). In a place where it’s almost always summertime, it’s hard to go wrong when it comes to fun in the sun.

Much like the prohibition of slave gatherings in earlier times, the Bahian upper class in the early 1900’s didn’t like the idea that free blacks and those of mixed race could gather for any reason. In the face of a dominant European culture, the descendants of slaves were strengthening their own culture in their own way, and Afro-Brazilian religion was no exception.

Candomblé temples, or terreiros, were the preferential targets of police raids in the first decades of the 20th century. The police couldn’t know about or raid every terreiro in and around Salvador, so via legislation, the government was able to impose restrictions on Candomblé with the Games and Customs Act. The law made it so that the temples had to close down by 10PM every night and, no matter if they did or not, with one public complaint, the temples could be raided, the practitioners, beaten, and their sacred objects, destroyed.

Enter: Mãe Menininha.

It is said that Jorge Amado wouldn’t travel anywhere without her advice. Dorival Caymmi wouldn’t take a step without consulting her first. Antônio Carlos Magalhães (three-time governor of Bahia) took all of her suggestions to heart. And Vinicius de Moraes would run to see her when he was in Bahia. So who was she? She was the most famous mãe de santo, or priestess, in Candomblé.

When she was eight, she was initiated into the orixá cult and it was decided that she would assume the highest position of priestess of her family’s temple one day. The temple was called Gantois and under her care it was to become the most respected in the entire country. She had barely just become a priestess at age 28 when the Games and Customs Act was established, yet over the years she was instrumental in having the law relaxed and eventually removed all together. She even succeeded in converting the top authority behind the enforcement of the law into a devoted follower.

Before her, Candomblé was rather closed off and conservative. Mãe Menininha changed all that through her devotion and by making her religion well-known while not letting it become a tourist attraction. Below, you can hear one of her followers, Maria Bethânia (along with her brother Caetano Veloso and their mother) singing Dorival Caymmi’s tribute to the priestess.

And here’s a short documentary (Part 1, Part 2, in Portuguese) about her.

I’ve already posted most of these, here and there, but never together. Here you go!

With so many styles of music in Brazil, from sertanejo to mangue bit, bossa nova to funk, how is anyone supposed to know everything? It’s not even a title I claim for myself though my musical quest did start 10 years ago. The first song I remember hearing from Brazil was either Zeca Baleiro’s Essas Emoções or Max de Castro’s Onda Diferente. After that, I went commercial and listened to anything I could find playing on Brazilian radio stations. It was my way of feeling closer to Brazil despite being half a world away. It wasn’t long after that I started finding my own taste and that’s what I want to offer you now, some singers and songs you may not have heard of yet.

Márcio Faraco

Pretty much my favorite Brazilian singer/songwriter, he lives in France and is not well-known in Brazil but his style is very relaxing. Some of his music, though, is a bit more upbeat as you can hear in his duet (below) with Chico Buarque called Ciranda.

Cordel do Fogo Encantado

I found these guys (apparently now defunct) after getting into Mangue Bit and Nação Zumbi. Their music is almost undefinable but it blends religious music from Portugal, indigenous music from the Northeast and various Afro-Brazilian styles. I had the chance to see them in Belém and I didn’t go…silly me.

Vitor Ramil

Another Brazilian singer/songwriter, he’s a proud gaúcho and his music is all about showcasing that. His latest disc “Délibáb” takes 6 Brazilian poems and 6 Argentine milongas (Borges) and creates unique songs from them. The following song is in Spanish but is a duet with Caetano Veloso.

Thalma de Freitas

I don’t know much about her, aside from that her father is a maestro and she is as much an actress as she is a singer. She’s talented at both. I first heard her singing Tranquilo and since then I’ve become a fan.

If you liked these songs and would be interested in searching for your own, I recommend Música de Bolso‘s Youtube channel, which shows many of Brazil’s independent artists playing pick-up shows. Another suggestion is to use Last.fm to look up your favorite singers and then use their “similar artists” button to find new favorites.

Except for 3 days out of the year, Parintins is another quiet city in the middle of the Amazon forest. Ok…so maybe it isn’t any ol’ city since it is located on the Tupinambarana island, the second largest group of fluvial islands in the world (it used to be one giant island but four natural channels of water now run through it). The island is also known for the Sateré Mawé tribe who are famous for their initiation rites ritual in which a soon-to-be warrior places his hand into a glove of angry ‘bullet’ ants…repeatedly.

As for those three non-quiet days, they occur in late June with the start of the Parintins Folkloric Festival which celebrates the carnivalesque retelling of the Bumba Meu Boi legend. The story tells of a wealthy rancher, his bull and the peasant worker named Pai Chico (aka, Pai Francisco) who stole the bull and killed it to feed its tongue to his pregnant girlfriend, Catirina. The couple, upon being found out, were to be killed, but that changed when Saint John came to the rancher in his dreams and warned against it. Pai Chico and his girlfriend went to the traditional healers and magically brang the bull back to life with their drums. The legend is said to have originated in Piauí, been popularized in Maranhão and later adopted in the state of Amazonas.

The Parintins festival is the second largest annual party of its kind, falling just behind Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival. The celebration, though, serves a purpose different from that of Carnival. The folkloric festival is unique in that it positively recognizes and gives value to indigenous culture, both by the very location of the event and the floats, depicting local legends, which are woven into the tale of the resurrected bull.

The idea behind the competition is that two teams, Garantido and Caprichoso, go head-to-head to retell the legend of the bull in the most exciting and fanciful way. They do this with oulandish dances, giant dolls, singing and drumming and the parading of alegorical floats in a place called the Bumbódromo. The competition is fierce and it goes so far as to where one team won’t even utter the name of the opposing team’s bull, choosing instead to refer to the other as the “contrário” (contrary).

The Bumba Meu Boi tale itself goes back to the 19th century and when it started the elite considered the popular manifestations to be a result of the locals’ ignorance and lack of knowledge of the arts and sciences. As time went on, scholars began to identify the charm and spontaneity of these manifestations and today people from all over the region and the country come to discover it for themselves, too.