Brazilian Music and Dance

[Pelongera]

Bebel Gilberto has a few geat remixes of classics.

Check out Suba, "São Paulo Confessions", as well!

Here are a few suggestions you might want to check out. All very danceable, yet not to much dammage to your educated ears.

.Rosalia de Souza : 'garota moderna'
.BossaCucaNova : 'revisited classics' -and folowing albums
.Alexandre Capparoz : 'sexy70- sacanagem'
.Los Amigos Invisibiles : 'gozadera' - and the next two albums
.Yerba Buena : 'follow me'
.Zuco103 : 'outro lado' and the live album
. on a more classic note : the latest Seu Jorge (AmericaBrazil),
Trio Mocoto, or even Curumin
enjoy,

M

We're still talking about music one dances "forro" to, right?

[Buscemi]

Bebel Gilberto has a few geat remixes of classics.
Check out Suba, "São Paulo Confessions", as well!

[Meteko]

Any recommendations of music I can purchase or download to play on the laptop when I bring a garota over? I usually have some generic house/techno already programmed but it would be cool to know what these girls really dig, although I don't really care for that baile funk stuff. I'll play a couple of funk tracks if I have to, but then I'll go back to the house tracks that I know have been global hits, or even some rock (U2, etc.) or 80's classics.

Here are a few suggestions you might want to check out. All very danceable,
yet not to much dammage to your educated ears.

.Rosalia de Souza : 'garota moderna'
.BossaCucaNova : 'revisited classics' -and folowing albums
.Alexandre Capparoz : 'sexy70- sacanagem'
.Los Amigos Invisibiles : 'gozadera' - and the next two albums
.Yerba Buena : 'follow me'
.Zuco103 : 'outro lado' and the live album
. on a more classic note : the latest Seu Jorge (AmericaBrazil),
Trio Mocoto, or even Curumin
enjoy,
M

[Java Man]

It's not down. I tried several proxy sites to access gpguia and keep getting 403 error, access forbidden. Looks like they've been more successful at blocking access to it from outside Brazil.

A quick search found one proxy site that gives limited access: http://www.projektorimusic.com

[Phunluv]

If you are a decent singer you will be very welcome guest spotting behind the mike at the infamous late-night Viveiros de Castro restaurant if that's your scene. Just have a good b*tch shield up to protect yourself from uglies till a nice doable walks in

LOL! I wouldn't dare sing in public, I just let out a few lyrics now and then of tunes that I like.

I figured the stuff of Jobim, Veloso, and some of the other older-school are like the "gringo stereotype" of Brazilian music, i.e., Corcovado and the Girl from Ipanema, so I just want to avoid anything corny on the playlist that might kill the mood.

Thanks again and hope everyone has a great 4th of July. Fire up that grill!

[Jan 156]

Mulheres, I want to learn how to sing that

If you are a decent singer you will be very welcome guest spotting behind the mike at the infamous late-night Viveiros de Castro restaurant if that's your scene. Just have a good b*tch shield up to protect yourself from uglies till a nice doable walks in

[Jan 156]

while I revere the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, I'm assuming that music is considered old-fashioned by your average GdP.

Any recommendations of music I can purchase or download to play on the laptop when I bring a garota over?

I don't know that music tastes are similar among gdps. I've met ones that like (teenage idol) Ivete Sangalo while a lot of others grimace at the thought of her (admittedly she's Axé but you can dance forro to her stuff and most girls seem to refer to her as forro). My diaspora-d forro teacher gave me a copy of Brazil Classics, Vol. 3 which is mostly forro and quite cheap to buy on Amazon (and fairly eclectic though not the easiest to dance to). I don't think the bossa nova -ish / forro artists you mention are uncool in Brasil but maybe a bit upmarket. You maybe know more about them than I do. There's other stuff you can download that's purely forro though and if she's a keen dancer she might not mind about your personal choice over hers. If you've got a dvd player on your laptop why not just get some cheap bootlegs when you're there?

I was in Belem earlier this year (musically a very rich place) and a band called Pixote was pretty popular for dancing and listening to in the sleaze houses. Their Ao Vivo album is easy on the ear and easy to dance to. Some of their stuff sounds more like pagode* I think but the differences can get a bit blurry to my non-Brasilian ear. The Super Vetron collections were also quite big, although I personally find them a bit irritating.


ie sort of like very slow laid-back samba (wot I can't do)

[Phunluv]

Thanks for the advice fellas. I'll think I'll just take a few classes of each genre and then see how it goes, how I feel about it.

I agree with what some others said, that the gdps are more interested in my wallet than my dance skills; I just want to add a skill that might come in handy now and then.

I also agree about the language thing being more important. I'll definitely spend more energy working on that than on anything else before my next trip.

Some other guys mentioned the differences between forro and salsa. I'll have to agree. I've danced too much salsa over the years so I know I'll have some challenges adjusting to the forro basic step.


On a similar topic. . . while I revere the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, I'm assuming that music is considered old-fashioned by your average GdP.

Any recommendations of music I can purchase or download to play on the laptop when I bring a garota over? I usually have some generic house/techno already programmed but it would be cool to know what these girls really dig, although I don't really care for that baile funk stuff. I'll play a couple of funk tracks if I have to, but then I'll go back to the house tracks that I know have been global hits, or even some rock (U2, etc.) or 80's classics.

By the way, I just ordered a CD from Amazon of Martinho da Vila. I love that song of his Mulheres, I want to learn how to sing that, lol. I'm hoping some GdPs dig that kind of stuff, but if not, I'll adapt as always. . .

[Pelongera]

I can recommend a school, I think. Although this year I couldn't get hold of the teacher I had last year. That was Rosangela from CCC dance school just off Rua Carioca. She was not only a great teacher but spoke English. Once I've got the basics of a dance comfortably I'm happy to attend a class or go with a Brasilian-only-speaking teacher. But I needed someone who could give me a technical explanation as well as show me what I was doing wrong (my forro was too salsa-ish at one point). She also got my confidence up on samba and I'd have asked her to teach me pagode if I'd managed to catch up with her this year.

I've also been to the Carlinos de Jesus school in Botafogo, which has the advantage of location if you're staying in Rio - just a 100 yards or so across the road from Rio Sul. But it's very much more 'posh'. There's great deals on dance wear (esp shoes) but I prefer CCC. When I arranged private classes with Rosangela she offered to teach me at my hotel (Ibis - across the road) to save costs. As it turned out, we managed to get the use of the empty studio below the jazz club if I came at a time when staff were there (in the kitchen) but when no-one else was using the studio.

So my personal recommendation would be for CCC, whether private or classes. I liked the teachers at Carlinos as well but the ones I had for forro were more like excellent dancers who happened to teach - Rosangela, on the other hand, was serious about the technique of teaching.

Of course, other people's experience may be quite different. And a lot depends on where you're staying. There's also other teachers that aren't associated with these bigger schools - some are really great - but it's a case of tracking them down as some have little fixed teaching pattern/place or even the same mobile phone number from one month to the next.

I hope you find what you want - and perhaps you will have some tips of your own afterwards - I'm always keen to hear.

of course, if you manage to find a GDP with something between her ears as well as her legs, you may get some unofficial tips. This only works if they have no agenda - eg they've already been paid and aren't stalking you for other goodies. VM girls can be fun cos they'll laugh at you when you screw up so you know you've got it wrong, whereas a teacher is sometimes 'supportive' to a fault. I'd always practice the supposedly 'cool' stuff I'd learnt with the happy putas of the succulent village lol . . .

Thank you, Sir.

That phrase 'supportive to a fault' echoes with me.

I don't mind people giggling at my whitey moves. But I don't want my moves stopping anyone from doing their thing.

(I have a favorite dance partner in Santiago de Cuba, raw, untrained talent, a thing of beauty, who never stops no matter what I do. And of course she smiles and laughs the whole time. It's heaven.)

Can you (or anyone) also suggest accessible forro tunes or musicians?

[Jan 156]

Can you recommend a good teacher in Rio, Christopherd, forro or samba?

I can recommend a school, I think. Although this year I couldn't get hold of the teacher I had last year. That was Rosangela from CCC dance school just off Rua Carioca. She was not only a great teacher but spoke English. Once I've got the basics of a dance comfortably I'm happy to attend a class or go with a Brasilian-only-speaking teacher. But I needed someone who could give me a technical explanation as well as show me what I was doing wrong (my forro was too salsa-ish at one point). She also got my confidence up on samba and I'd have asked her to teach me pagode if I'd managed to catch up with her this year.

I've also been to the Carlinos de Jesus school in Botafogo, which has the advantage of location if you're staying in Rio - just a 100 yards or so across the road from Rio Sul. But it's very much more 'posh'. There's great deals on dance wear (esp shoes) but I prefer CCC. When I arranged private classes with Rosangela she offered to teach me at my hotel (Ibis - across the road) to save costs. As it turned out, we managed to get the use of the empty studio below the jazz club if I came at a time when staff were there (in the kitchen) but when no-one else was using the studio.

So my personal recommendation would be for CCC, whether private or classes. I liked the teachers at Carlinos as well but the ones I had for forro were more like excellent dancers who happened to teach - Rosangela, on the other hand, was serious about the technique of teaching.

Of course, other people's experience may be quite different. And a lot depends on where you're staying. There's also other teachers that aren't associated with these bigger schools - some are really great - but it's a case of tracking them down as some have little fixed teaching pattern/place or even the same mobile phone number from one month to the next.

I hope you find what you want - and perhaps you will have some tips of your own afterwards - I'm always keen to hear.

of course, if you manage to find a GDP with something between her ears as well as her legs, you may get some unofficial tips. This only works if they have no agenda - eg they've already been paid and aren't stalking you for other goodies. VM girls can be fun cos they'll laugh at you when you screw up so you know you've got it wrong, whereas a teacher is sometimes 'supportive' to a fault. I'd always practice the supposedly 'cool' stuff I'd learnt with the happy putas of the succulent village lol . . .

[Beach Star]

The dance of NE Brasil is calypso. Kind of very fast jive with footwork similar to samba and some distinctive moves. But I don't know of it being danced outside of Para - Belem and so on. The Rio dance teachers I've met won't even touch it.

But forro is everywhere. I think brasilians learn forro when they learn to breathe.

This is Banda Calypso in English

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp6qPjSOoD4

[Pelongera]

The dance of NE Brasil is calypso. Kind of very fast jive with footwork similar to samba and some distinctive moves. But I don't know of it being danced outside of Para - Belem and so on. The Rio dance teachers I've met won't even touch it.

But forro is everywhere. I think brasilians learn forro when they learn to breathe.

Can you recommend a good teacher in Rio, Christopherd, forro or samba?

[Hitmanm3]

Being that I live in NYC, it seems I've got some options for taking classes in the above dances.

Was wondering if the regulars here think it's worth the effort. I don't know too much about this "samba de gafieira" thing, whether gdps like it or dance to it or what.

It seems that forro is better known and popular but I thought that was more a northeastern Brazil thing and that cariocas and paulistas wouldn't be into that sort of genre.

From what I've seen of forro videos on YouTube, some of the patterns look a lot like salsa which I'm pretty good at so I think I can adapt and learn it.

But I don't want to waste time learning something that the GdPs don't care for. I can always just dance to house/techno/disco.

Basically, if it will help me build rapport with some of the GdPs and maybe even a non-pro, then I'll give it a shot and take some classes. What do the experts here think?

If you like to see more forro I have been looking at you-tube and did learned some good moves from that site. Planning to make my first trip to Brasil soon so I thought of picking up some of their basic dancing techniques, for example pagote, samba and forro. I even bought some cd's. Not hard to learn. Maybe it has to do with my latin back ground.

[Jan 156]

The dance of NE Brasil is calypso. Kind of very fast jive with footwork similar to samba and some distinctive moves. But I don't know of it being danced outside of Para - Belem and so on. The Rio dance teachers I've met won't even touch it.

But forro is everywhere. I think brasilians learn forro when they learn to breathe.

[Jan 156]

I don't count myself as an expert by any means, but personally I think forro is a good skill to have in Brasil and I'm always trying to improve. Mostly with non-gdps perhaps, but it can go down well if you slum in VM for a long time. It is also a sort of base communication and can cover cracks in language. Few people in Brasil can't do a basic forro although a few -esp Paulistas - might think it's beneath them.

I found dancing salsa more a hindrance than help when I started forro, but that's cos of the similarity. The way the beats are used is different and it's very much more relaxed and informal I think. The two are quite different.

You can also dance salsa in Brasil though it's more of an elitest thing, something you dance at salsa clubs. Whereas forro is for any bar or concert where appropriate music is playing.

ps if you're dancing with a girl in a bar who does samba, you can dance salsa (if she doesn't mind) as she dances samba - the two can work to the same music. And lucky you dancing salsa in NYC btw.