“On the outskirts of Olinda, radio and music meet to strengthen a means of communication that surpasses physical distances and persists through generations. From fathers and mothers to sons and daughters, the popular culture elevates the self-esteem of those with song, dance and the drum while incorporating new media. Video (in PT) produced in March of 2009 at the Cultural Center of Coco de Umbigada with the participation of several locally well-known cultural figures.
“Nas periferias de Olinda, rádio e música se encontram fortalecendo linguagens que superam distâncias físicas e persistem através das gerações. De pais e mães para filhos e filhas, a cultura popular eleva a auto-estima das pessoas com o canto, a dança e o tambor, e incorpora novas mídias. Vídeo produzido durante as Oficinas Livres de Rádio no Centro Cultural Coco de Umbigada, em março de 2009, com a participação de Mãe Beth de Oxum, Mãe Lúcia de Oyá, Zeca do Rolete, Neto Tranca Rua e Coco de Umbigadinha.”
The other week, I mentioned the great book I picked up called 1808, on the Portuguese Royal Family’s escape to Rio de Janeiro. This morning, I found a video summary on Youtube given by the author and its running time is about 30-something minutes (in 4 parts). So for those of you who are more visually-oriented, it’s quite interesting!
The Rubber boom (or Ciclo da borracha) constituted an important part of the economic and social history of Brazil, being related with the extraction and commercialization of rubber. This boom was centered in the Amazon, facilitating a large expansion of colonization, attracting wealth and causing cultural and social transformations, along with encouraging the growth of Manaus, Porto Velho, and Belém, which today remain major cities and the capitals of their respective Brazilian states, Amazonas, Rondônia and Pará. The rubber boom occurred largely between 1879 to 1912, and afterwards experienced a revival from 1942 to 1945 during the Second World War.
For the first four and a half centuries following the discovery of the New World, as no gold or precious stones were discovered in the Amazon, the native populations lived practically in isolation, as neither colonial Brazil nor imperial Brazil was able to create incentives for development in the region. Living with an economy based on vegetable extraction, the regional economy developed for centuries, accompanied with the interest of the market of diverse natural resources in the region.
Rubber Growth
The development of the Industrial Revolution in Europe was the fuse which made natural rubber, until then exclusively found in the Amazon, a desirable commodity, valued at a high price, and creating wealth and dividends for whoever would dare invest in the trade.
From the beginning of the second half of the 19th century, rubber began to exert a strong attraction to visionary entrepreneurs. The activity of latex extraction in the Amazon revealed its lucrative possibilities. Natural rubber soon achieved a place of distinction in the industries of Europe and North America, reaching a high price. This caused various people to travel to Brazil with the intention of learning more about the rubber tree and the process of latex extraction, with the end of achieving wealth.
Because of the growth of rubber extraction numerous cities and towns swelled. Belém and Manaus, which already existed, became transformed and urbanized. Manaus was the first Brazilian city to be urbanized and the second to be electrified (the first was Campos dos Goytacazes, in Rio de Janeiro).
The Spoils of Rubber
Belém, the capital of Pará state, as well as Manaus, the capital of Amazonas, were the most developed and prosperous cities in Brazil during the rubber boom, not only due to its strategic position, but also because a large number of residences for the rubber extractors was there. Both cities were electrified and given running water and sewers. Their apogee was reached between 1890 and 1920, due to technologies that other cities in the south and southeast of Brazil still didn’t have, such as electric trams, avenues built on cleared gullies, as well as imposing and luxurious buildings, such as the polished Teatro Amazonas, the government palace, the municipal market, and the customs house, in the case of Manaus, and the fish market, the iron market, Teatro da Paz, corridors of mango trees, and various residential palaces in the case of Belém, constructed in large part by the intendant Antônio Lemos.
The European influence later became notable in Manaus and Belém, in the architecture and the way of life, making the 19th century the best economic phase endured by the two cities. The Amazon was responsible in the era for nearly 40% of all Brazil’s exports. The new riches of Manaus made the city the world capital in the sale of diamonds. Thanks to rubber, the per capita income of Manaus was twice as much as the coffee-producing region (São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo).
As payment for the export of rubber, the workers were paid in pounds sterling, the currency of the United Kingdom, which circulated in Manaus and Belém during this period.
The End of an Era
The Amazon was already losing primacy in rubber production due to rubber trees planted by the English in Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and tropical Africa. These rubber trees were planted from seeds that Henry Wickham had smuggled out of Brazil in 1876. These plantations were able to produce latex with greater efficiency and productivity. Consequently, with lower costs and a lower final price, the British Empire assumed control of the world rubber market.
The Second Boom
The Amazon again experienced a rubber boom during the Second World War, although it was of brief duration. As Japan dominated the eastern Pacific Ocean from the beginning of 1942 and invaded Malaysia, the rubber plantations there came under their control, which resulted in the loss of 97% of Asiatic rubber production.
This resulted in the implementation of new elements, including infrastructure, in Belém and Manaus, this time on the behalf of the United States. An example of this is the Grande Hotel, a luxurious hotel constructed in Belém in only three years, which today is the Hilton Hotel.
For more on the Second Boom, below is a documentary (in PT) on the rubber soldiers and the second-coming. In English, here’s a story on the subject from the NYT.
The previous post was a little bit of info and a song about Nilson Chaves, a famous singer from Belém. This post, however, is about something on the opposite ends of the spectrum…Tecnobrega. Now, I’ve already posted a story on this musical phenomenon from Belém but mere words can’t express what extactly tecnobrega is, so here’s a little two-part documentary and a link to a trailer of an up and coming documentary on the subject.
Now that you have a better idea of what this is, I’m guessing you will have seen certain similarities between this and another more southeastern style called Funk Carioca. Take out the rap, insert the techno and violá, there you have it. Some might disagree with me, but it seems to be the same stuff, just (p)repackaged. So if you’re looking for something that’s ready for consumption, this is it.
Phil over at Cachaçagora recently returned from a trip to Brazil where he visited several distilleries and will slowly but surely release a film about his experience. His only concern? Will his film be able to compete with the likes of this…
But if your fancy is something that is actually done in good taste, either wait a lil’ bit for Phil’s documentary or try the Caipirinha Truffle he spoke about on his site!
National Geographic will be airing a documentary a laElite Squad tonight at 9PM with correspondant British Chris Ryan (pictured). It is called Shadow Soldiers: Brazil. Here’s the description (and here’s the video introduction)…
“Chris Ryan travels to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil where he spends a week training with and operating alongside BOPE, the Special Police Operations Battalion of Rio’s military police. The squad’s specialty is crime fighting in the city’s slums or favelas where they have to face armed and drugged up gangs of youths who protect a vast drug dealing network. Chris Ryan trains with the squad, learning techniques for fighting in the favelas before accompanying them on a real mission to confront a drug gang holed up in one of the city’s largest favelas. After a dramatic shootout in the streets of the favela, the BOPE unit succeeds in dispersing the drug gang and disrupting their drug dealing activities.”
Review
I finally got a chance to check out “Shador Soldiers: Brazil” and learned that was just what National Geographic called it. The actual show is called “Chris Ryan’s Elite World Cops” and the host has extensive experience as a former member of the SEC, the British Special Forces.
The show itself, while entertaining, is a bit ‘softcore’ but I’m sure that was the plan all along, to take a journalist into a real battle might not end too well for the journalist. Plus, doing an easier mission allows BOPE (the Brazilian Special Forces) to show off their skills. Chris Ryan praised their methods highly and while he knows better than I do, I can’t help but wonder if he highly praises all teams he works with on his program. Then again, Special Forces units are supposed to be in top shape, so perhaps my point is moot.
We all know I like documentaries….and there’s a fairly disturbing yet interesting documentary out now in Brazil called ‘Criança, A Alma do Negócio’ (which roughly translates to ‘Child, The Name of the Game’). Its a study done on propaganda and children and it presents both professors and children themselves speaking about consumerism. Everyone knows technology enforces the problem, unless you’ve been living in a jungle (oh, wait…nevermind…jungle included).
Who I’m against are those who just give in and allow their children to be babysat by the television and to play online for hours at a time, not to mention buying them the latest Chinese-made product of the moment. After all, if one product really made someone happy, that same person would never need any other product for the rest of their life….sadly, things don’t bring happiness and buying the newest thing-a-ma-jig doesn’t make for a good parent. In one scene in particular, a mother with a hard-to-hide grin on her face tells the camera that her daughter (after her fourth cell phone by age 11 or so), is an extreme consumer. How can anyone be proud of that?
In another instance, a professor says “these days what matters is the quantity of what you have rather than the difference in what you have (versus the other person),” while another professor says “the passport to enter a social group in school is to have this brand or that brand, while in the old days what mattered as far as social passports go, were the abilities you possessed…such as how well you played a sport or how good you were at telling jokes.”
As far as consumerism in general within Brazil, the country ranks very high in worldwide terms of hours of TV watched per child, money spent on beauty products, percentage of household items bought for children, etc. At one point, a teacher says “by age 4 or 5, the girls are using makeup”. I find that pretty disturbing too as scientifically women use makeup to replicate natural occurences of a biological cycle…which is definitely something children should not be imitating.
Think about this, if so many children the world over want the same exact things in the same colors, in the same way…thats not simply because they are children, its because the propaganda is being heavily directed towards them. In two experiements in the documentary, the children are shown fruits and told to name them (they fail), and then are shown packaged popular goods with the names blocked out (they pass). The other experiment revolves around them being shown animals versus famous brand logos minus the actual name…guess which one they always get right. Here’s the trailer…in PT
If you wanted to see the documentary now, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was on Youtube too.
Change isn’t always a good thing but being the optimists we are, we try to associate the word with positive sentiments. For those of us who are searching for the good kind, I believe I’ve found it. Now, I wasn’t going to do a music post for another week or so but its very hard not to do one when you come across ‘the greatest thing since sliced bread’. Musica do Bolso (Music from the Pocket) is an absolutely wonderful project, according to a music nut like myself, which aims to….well, I’ll let them explain…
“Pocket Music (Música de Bolso) is a Brazilian website that contains “videos to hear and music to see”. Daniel, Rafael and Tati are filmmakers who are capturing with a camera different kind of artists playing music in unusual places and with a lot of spontaneity, with a help from the cultural journalist Marcus Preto. It’s a union of an acoustic pocket show in unexpected Brazilian places and a one shot live video with a touch of documentary. Every week we post one volume of the project that is kind of a 7″(virtual) vinyl with 2 videos (a side A and a side B).”
That being said, they also have a blog in English so check it out. Back to the idea behind the project, I believe music should be about things like this, at its most basic, about the voices and the instruments. At its most interesting, it is beauty that comes from nowhere, something which didn’t exist before someone created it. Creativity like this is the kind of change we need…even when it’s the pocket-sized kind. Below, I’ll post two examples of their work.
Mayra Andrade & Mariana Aydar – Tunuka
Thalma de Freitas & Max B.O. – Monstro ao Pôr-do-Sol
Governador Valadares in Minas seems to have some competition! I’m sure this new documentary, about what happens to a town when most of its inhabitants leave, will cover the most relevant issues involved with the GV story too. In the meantime, I’ll be waiting for Fall 2009 when its available…
“Brazil on the brain this spring, lustful dreams of beaches, carnival, sex, and drugs? It’s still a little-known fact that a few Santa Fe locals spent two months this winter in another kind of Brazil. Nestled in the lush green hill country of the interior, they found something completely different than what most Americans expect—the sleepy little town of Resplendor exists in a parallel universe. Almost. With current statistics reporting a population of 17,000, the community has “…been displaced by a staggering 40 percent through a wave of immigration to the United States; it celebrated its 70th anniversary with half the town missing. There is literally not one family remaining who doesn’t have a relative in the US,” said the filmmakers of Dreaming in American, Sara Dosa, Milla Dias Araujo, Eliot Gray Fisher, and Zoe Bird.
Why leave the appeal of beautiful, idyllic farm life in such mass exodus? Why take off for the cities in such large numbers, departing from fresh, cheap produce, family-raised meat, hot weather that leaves small need for much clothing or shelter, and days spent motorcycling through fields and planting coffee followed by evenings of singing and eating homemade cheeses? A group of graduates from College of Santa Fe’s Documentary Studies program teamed up with US friends and local Brazilians this winter to compile a research project on the phenomenon of immigration from the rural state of Minas Gerais, where Resplendor is located, to big city America.” – Source
If you speak Portuguese or read French, here’s a pretty good documentary about the works of Oscar Niemeyer, narrated and starring the man himself. Special appearances by poet and friend Ferreira Gullar and even Fidel Castro towards the end. Running time: 1hr
