Art and culture Archives - Page 5 of 15

ParTOBA and the Brazilian sense of humour

05/07/2013/20 Comments/in Art and culture

Humour is a strange, intangible thing isn’t it? We often just laugh at something without really thinking about why we find it funny. Of course comedy is massively subjective even among people who grew up in the same town, but how does it transfer across cultures? I’ll start with a short tale from my childhood.

When I was 9, I went to France for 10 days as part of a school exchange programme. We were paired off with French kids from a school in Versailles and spent the days all mixed together in the classroom or on sight-seeing trips. At the end of each day we would go off to the family homes of our respective French kids. I remember feeling a bit nervous and homesick, but it was also really interesting to see how French families lived, what they ate, what they did with their spare time and so on.

Looking back, I now realise that my French family were seriously rich – ‘old money’ rich. On the weekend when all the other kids went together on a trip to a local fun fair, I went with my French family to their château in the French countryside. Seriously, it was a proper château! The main building was encircled by a moat and beyond that there were countless acres of forest which the family had been using to hunt deer and wild boar for generations.

This isn’t the exact place, but it looked just like this. How lucky was I? source

My French friend and I spent quite a lot of time running around the grounds, fishing in the moat and doing other things that 9 year olds enjoy. Then, in the evening, I remember the whole family gathered around the television to watch something. I wondered what family treat I was about to enjoy – would it be something my family and I enjoyed like The Muppet Show (or some French equivalent)?

No, I discovered with dread that we had gathered together to watch a 2 hour special of these two:

Protests in Brazil: What Pelé has to say

20/06/2013/5 Comments/in Art and culture

Ah FIFA – if anyone in Brazil (or any other nation for that matter) is undecided on how they feel toward the international governing body of football, I’d like to ask where you’ve been hiding for the past 5 years. From levels of corruption that would make even the Sarney family blush, to the aggressive imposition of exclusive sponsorship deals that are completely at odds with both the local culture and also the spirit of the game they purport to represent, this is one organisation that it is tough not to despise.

From a thoroughly dislikeable institution to a well-loved legend of Brazilian football – Pelé.

Edson Arantes do Nascimento – Pelé. One of the greatest footballers of all time and still Brazil’s the top scorer.

Since his retirement, Pelé he has been involved in all kinds of projects, from adverts for erectile dysfunction treatments to UNESCO Goodwill ambassador. However, most of us know Pelé because he was an unbelievable footballer, and as such he brings with him an enormous amount of goodwill.

Being such a popular figure he was an obvious choice to represent the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) and FIFA in promoting the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. And it seems that his ties with FIFA and CBF run deep. Whilst even players in the current Brazil team (such as Hulk and Dani Alves) have admirably spoken up in support of the protesters and their causes, Pelé came out with this:

Gal Costa

13/06/2013/4 Comments/in Art and culture

I think of the subject of today’s post as a quintessentially Brazilian woman: bold, sexy, and bursting with an effortless, natural confidence. This is Gal Costa:

Born as Maria da Graça Costa Penna Burgos but better known as simply Gal Costa. Photo by Antonio Guerreiro

Well, to be more accurate, that was Gal Costa. Gal was born in 1945 in Salvador, Bahia. Apparently when Gal’s mother was pregnant, she spent hours listening to classical music in the hope that it would make her child musical. Seems like it worked!

Her career has been interwoven with other legends of Brazilian music such as Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Tom Zé and others of the Tropicália scene. Here you can hear her singing Gilberto Gil’s ridiculously catchy track, Barato Total. Catchy isn’t it? Listen to this one and you’ll be singing that chorus all day long!

Paulinho da Viola

24/05/2013/9 Comments/in Art and culture

Phew – Friday at last! It’s been a busy couple of weeks hence the paucity of posts, and after yesterday’s slightly ‘dense’ offering, I thought I’d follow up today with something a little lighter.

On my way to work this morning I was sharing a bus with one of those people who play music through the speaker on their phone. Oh man, who doesn’t hate that?

Anyway, it turns out I was the winner because this guy’s selfish behaviour prompted me to play my own music (through headphones, claro) and I stumbled across a joyous piece of music by this man:

Paulinho da Viola. Doesn’t he just look like a really nice guy? I know they say it’s wrong to judge people by appearances, but it doesn’t seem so bad when you’re making a positive judgement, right?

From an early age, Paulinho was surrounded by legends of Brazilian music such as Pixinguinha and Jacob do Bandolim. In turn Paulinho went on to become a legend in his own right, famed for his sophisticated melodies and gentle singing voice. His career as a Sambista, composer and musician has spanned 50 years and during this time he has released 27 albums and toured worldwide. On top of all that, by all accounts he is a really good guy.

OK, so back to that song that cheered me on my way to work. It’s a simple, cheerful tune though, somewhat typically of Brazilian music, the lyrics tell a rather sad tale of a guy who has decided he won’t play his guitar anymore because someone has made him unhappy. Well, the words might be sad, but listening to this makes me happy! I hope you like it too – have a great weekend.

Igor ‘SRC’ Nunes

20/05/2013/2 Comments/in Art and culture

A couple of weeks ago, Mrs Eat Rio and I did our own little Comida di Buteco crawl (it’s like a pub crawl but with added stuffing your face). As we strolled out of Antigamente, a nice little bar on Rua do Ouvidor, I looked up and saw a view that looked photo-worthy.

Rua do Ouvidor is a narrow street running through Centro. Although the street itself is ancient, many of the buildings that now line it are quite ~~ugly~~ recent.

I don’t think it’s a masterpiece or anything, but I like the way the line of the street leads up to the space between the buildings. This was taken on my phone (hence the grainy appearance) so it wasn’t until I got it back to the computer that I noticed a cheeky little character looking back at me.

That little yellow bird is wearing a cap which says “SRC” on it. Great, I thought, I’ll Google that and find out who did this. Problem: On the internet, SRC is a very common abbreviation of “source” as well as an acronym for about a million different organisations.

The next day I was walking down a street in Tijuca and what did I see?

Archive for category: Art and culture