About

Music- Our Soul...
In Brazil, music is everywhere. You can find it in a complex rhythmic pattern beaten out by an old man with his fingers on a cafe table; in the
thundering samba that echoes down from the hills around Rio in the months prior to Carnaval; and in the bars where a guitar passes from
hand to hand and everyone knows all the lyrics to all the classic Brazilian songs played late into the night.

Music is part of the Brazilian soul, and rhythm is in the way people speak, in the way they walk, and in the way they play soccer. In Rio de
Janeiro, after the national team has won an important soccer game, fireworks explode in the sky and samba detonates in the streets. On
sidewalks and in city squares, the celebration begins. Impromptu percussion sections appear, made up of all types of Brazilians, rich and poor,
black and brown and white. As participants pick up instruments—a drum, a scraper, a shaker—an intricate, ebullient samba batucada
(percussion jam) builds. Each amateur music-maker kicks in an interlocking rhythmic part to create a groove that would be the envy of most
professional bands in other parts of the world. The singing and dancing inevitably go on for hours.

Music is a passport to happiness for Brazilians, an escape from everyday frustrations and (for most) a hard and difficult material life. "There's an
amazing magical, mystical quality to Brazilian music. Their music is paradise," says jazz flutist Herbie Mann.

Most Brazilian music shares three outstanding qualities. It has an intense lyricism tied to its Portuguese heritage that often makes for beautiful,
highly expressive melodies, enhanced by the fact that Portuguese is one of the most musical tongues on the earth and no small gift to the ballad
singer. Second, a high level of poetry is present in the lyrics of much Brazilian popular music. And last, vibrant Afro-Brazilian rhythms energize
most Brazilian songs, from samba to baião.

Jazz artists also helped globally popularize the new sound, which had a breezy syncopation, progressive harmony, and a deceptive simplicity.
Bossa nova was the big pop-music trend of the early 1960s.
Bossa, like samba, is now a solid part of the international repertoire, especially in the jazz realm. Bossa's leading figure, Antonio Carlos Jobim, is
one of the most popular songwriters of the century, and his stature rivals that of George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, and other great composers
of Western popular music. Bossa nova initiated a widespread infiltration of Brazilian music and musicians into North American music.

At the end of the '80s yet another Brazilian song and dance—the sensual lambada—gained international currency. Although lambada was of
more commercial than artistic merit, it became part of an important musical movement sweeping Salvador that decade and in the '90s. Axé
music became the name for samba-reggae and other updated Afro-Brazilian.

Today, as in past decades, Brazil's popular music can lay claim to a dazzling variety of song forms and musical traditions. There are the
troubadours who strum guitars and trade improvised stanzas back and forth, each trying to top the other, in traditional desafio song duels.
There are accordion virtuosos who lead their bands in rollicking syncopated forró music. There are ritualistic afoxés, festive marchas, frenetic
frevos, and the leaping instrumental improvisations of choro. And there are the walls of sound and waves of color that are the escola de samba
(samba school) parades during Rio's Carnaval.

Whether manifested in these or other forms, Brazilian music above all has a profound ability to move the soul. In its sounds and lyrics, it
reflects the Brazilian people—their uninhibited joy or despair, their remarkable capacity to celebrate, and the all-important concept of saudade
(a deep longing or yearning).
To best understand Brazil's rich musical heritage, we must first journey back several hundred years, to where Brazil and its music both began.

Carnival is Brazil’s main event. It happens at the peak of summer, when Brazilians are at their best.
Festivities attract thousands of people from all corners of the world. Carnaval, as spelled in Portuguese, is
a 4-day celebration. It starts on Saturday, and ends on Fat Tuesday, or Mardi-Gras.Carnival Sunday is
seven weeks before Easter Sunday. Dates change every year, in 2006 it happens from February 25
through 28.
The origins of Carnival are unclear, but most agree that it started as a pagan celebration in ancient Rome
or Greece. Carnival balls were imported to Rio from Italy in the late nineteenth century, and had their
golden era in the 1930 through 50's, with legendary balls at the Copacabana Palace and the Municipal
Theater.
The Samba Parade began in the 30's - first timidly at Praça Onze, and later on Av. Presidente Vargas. It
found a permanent home in 1984 at the Sambodrome, a structure in the downtown area. Today Samba
Parade is broadcast to dozens of countries, and all Brazilian states. Many people think of it as the greatest
show on earth.
There's much more to Carnival than the Samba Parade, though. Street Carnival festivities are loads of
fun, free, and they happen all over the city. You are more than welcome to watch and to participate.

Futbol or futebol or soccer: whatever you call it, it's a grand passion in South America.
From kids kicking a ball around the streets to world-contender players, South Americans love their futbol.
Futbol, or futebol in Brazil, came to the South American continent from Europe, first from Great Britain as British influence spread
throughout the world, then with successives waves of European immigration. Football associations were formed in Argentina in 1893, Chile
in 1895, Uruguay in 1900 with other countries following. When Uruguay won the Gold Medal and Argentina the Silver at the 1928
Olympics, futbol fever soared.
When Uruguay won the first FIFA (International Federation of Football Associations) World Cup in 1930, with Argentina as the runner up,
South American passion for the game knew no bounds.
The Beautiful Game is today the world's most popular sport, the only one universally organized and played by the same rules. Over 200
countries and 30 million players are registered with FIFA.
And lots of them are in South America!
In the seventeen World Cup games since 1930, the South American nations have been predominant winners. Brazil has the highest number
of wins: in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, and 2002, plus runner up in 1950 and 1998. Uruguay has two wins: 1930 and 1950, and Argentina also
has two wins, 1978 and 1986, with runner up in 1930 and 1990. Uruguay, Chile, Brazil and Argentina have hosted World Cup games. Brazil,
Argentina, Uruguay and Colombia are seemingly unstoppable forces in current Latin American futbol.
The Centennial World Cup, in 2030, is scheduled to be in Uruguay and already plans are underway with a plea for help from the fans at
Uruguay 2020.