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At Such a Place and Time...

  • Version: Independent
  • Page Views: 2,679
  • Inbound Pathways: 22
  • Modified: April 16
  • Codexed: February 3, 2012

For Musicians & Music Lovers

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Brazil's Magic is In Its Music


  Edil Pacheco

  Airto Moreira

  Raimundo Sodré

  Bule Bule

  Gordon Sheard

  Saturno Brothers

  Belpa Mariani

  Joatan Nascimento

  Mateus Aleluia

  Luciano Calazans

  Juliana Ribeiro

Samba Chula de São Braz

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  • Name: Samba Chula de São Braz
  • City: São Braz
  • Country: Brazil
  • About: Samba-chula (or samba-de-roda, there is a slight difference) is a seminal but dying art played nowadays by a mere handful of people. The music fulfilled a role analogous to that of the delta blues in the United States in that it was/is the root foundation for most everything which came after it in Brazil's musical world, from the golden age of radio to bossa nova to tropicália to Brazilian hip hop. And ironically and in total contradiction to the situation of the blues, this cornerstone of culture now finds itself precariously close to disappearing forever (although those last legs certainly do have some life left in them!).

    "Chula" is a Portuguese-language word denoting something worthless, of no value. It was applied by the masters to the music of the Bantus on the sugarcane plantations of the Bahian Recôncavo, coming to be innocently used by the slaves themselves and eventually metamorphosing into a term of pride. The rhythmic basis for samba-chula is that of the candomblé rhythm called cabila, or cabula, utilized in candomblé angola (candomblé is the West African religion transplanted to Brazil aboard the negreiros; candomblé angola was the first of the three candomblé nations to arrive on Brazilian soil.) Laced into the polyrhythms of the atabaques, pandeiros, and rebôlo are the patterns of the cavaquinho (a small, high-pitched string instrument), the viola (a double-strung guitar-like instrument, though smaller), and the violão (guitar); (specific instrumentation varies from group to group). The dancing style -- precursor to the more ostentatious style of Rio de Janeiro -- echoes that of candomblé angola ceremonies.

    Towards the end of the 19th century there was a huge outpouring of freed Bahian slaves moving to Rio, looking for work. These people carried their music with them to the territory around another great bay (Guanabara), where their descendents, forced up into the morros (hills) would come to see this heritage rise from its lowly-esteemed position to proudly assume the mantle of the National Music of Brazil (more on this here). But not all freed slaves would make the journey south, and in Bahia the primordial samba, samba-chula, would live on, sublimating away over the course of a century-and-some-decades like vapor from dry ice until now almost nothing is left behind.

    Of the few people left in the backwaters of Bahia who continue to sing and play this essential music (having learned it from their parents, who learned it from their parents, who learned it from...), it can be safely stated that none express it with more vitality and charisma than the Saturno Brothers, João and Antônio, popularly known as João do Boi (John of the Ox, for the cows he keeps) and Alumínio (Aluminum, for the way he shone, literally, as an energetic, sweat-drenched kid on the football fields of his youth).

    The brothers play together with friends and family from the small community of São Braz, located some 5 kilometers outside of Santo Amaro, itself located at the north end of the Baía de Todos os Santos (Bay of All Saints), the huge bay "discovered" by Amerigo Vespucci on All Saints Day in 1501 (Santo Amaro is hometown to Caetano Veloso and his sister Maria Bethânia).

    It'd be great to board a time-machine and pay a visit to 1930s Louisiana or Mississippi or Alabama, stepping up to a front porch on a humid summer's evening to clap hands to the rural American version of the above. But alas that time is gone and the time-machine is only a wistful figment of our imagination. Things have "progressed" more slowly here, but soon enough one will never be able to see or hear again what now requires but a journey into the Bahian interior to bear witness (or dance) to, if one knows where to go, and on what night...
  • Quando Dou Minha Risada, Ha, Ha...
    Posted June 10, 2012
    Primordial samba -- occupying in Brazil the place of the delta blues in the United States...elemental music likewise born on plantations (in this case sugarcane) and kept alive in the small fishing villages and towns of the Recôncavo. This music is not meant to be played quietly.
    Quando Dou Minha Risada, Ha, Ha...
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      Capiná no Canaviá - Samba Chula de São Braz feat. ... (241 plays)
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      Viola Meu Bem - Samba Chula de São Braz (123 plays)
    Capiná no Canaviá - Samba Chula de São Braz feat. Raimundo S
    2 tracks
    364 plays  |  304
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  • Afrika Bambaataa
    The Afrika Bambaataa page opens to the Samba Chula de São Braz page.
    • June 14
  • David Braverman
    The David Braverman page opens to the Samba Chula de São Braz page.
    • June 14
  • Gretchen Bell
    The Gretchen Bell page opens to the Samba Chula de São Braz page.
    • June 13
  • Edil Pacheco
    The Edil Pacheco page opens to the Samba Chula de São Braz page.
    • May 25
  • Sparrow (Pardal) Roberts
    The Sparrow (Pardal) Roberts page opens to the Samba Chula de São Braz page.
    • April 18
  • Samba Chula de São Braz
    Samba Chula de São Braz Samba Chula de São Braz & Raimundo Sodré, juntos, neste Domingo (21 de abril) num poderoso samba -- o show sendo gravado pelo Rádio Nacional dos EUA (National Public Radio) -- mas aberto ao público. Vamos mostrar os EUA o que a (verdadeira) Bahia tem!...  moreSamba Chula de São Braz & Raimundo Sodré, juntos, neste Domingo (21 de abril) num poderoso samba -- o show sendo gravado pelo Rádio Nacional dos EUA (National Public Radio) -- mas aberto ao público. Vamos mostrar os EUA o que a (verdadeira) Bahia tem! 

    19 horas no Sankofa, no Pelô. 10 reais entrada. Viva o Recôncavo!!!  
    • April 16
  • Barlavento
    The Barlavento page opens to the Samba Chula de São Braz page.
    • December 1, 2012
  • Samba Chula de São Braz
    Samba Chula de São Braz A gente se ver na Lavagem de São Braz, se não antes!
    • November 5, 2012
  • Jay Mazza
    The Jay Mazza page opens to the Samba Chula de São Braz page.
    • November 5, 2012
  • Caetano Veloso
    The Caetano Veloso page opens to the Samba Chula de São Braz page.
    • November 5, 2012
  • Gordon Sheard
    The Gordon Sheard page opens to the Samba Chula de São Braz page.
    • November 5, 2012
  • Samba Chula de São Braz
    The Samba Chula de São Braz page opens to the Jack Ashford page.
    • June 24, 2012
  • Samba Chula de São Braz
    The Samba Chula de São Braz page opens to a playlist: Quando Dou Minha Risada, Ha, Ha...
    Primordial samba -- occupying in Brazil the place of the delta blues in the United States...elemental music likewise born on plantations (in this case sugarcane) and kept alive in the small fishing villages and towns of the Recôncavo. This music is not me...
    Quando Dou Minha Risada, Ha, Ha...
    Pop-out Player
    • Add to my Player
      Capiná no Canaviá - Samba Chula de São Braz feat. ... (241 plays)
    • Add to my Player
      Viola Meu Bem - Samba Chula de São Braz (123 plays)
    Capiná no Canaviá - Samba Chula de São Braz feat. Raimundo S
    2 tracks
    • June 10, 2012
  • Samba Chula de São Braz
    The Samba Chula de São Braz page opens to the John Boutté page.
    • June 2, 2012
  • Juliana Ribeiro
    The Juliana Ribeiro page opens to the Samba Chula de São Braz page.
    • May 11, 2012
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  • Bule Bule
  • Alex Mesquita
  • John Boutté
  • Jack Ashford
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  • Sparrow (Pardal) Roberts
  • Raimundo Sodré
  • Roberto Mendes Santo Amaro tá te chamando!
  • Gordon Sheard
  • Allen Toussaint
  • Matthew Rarey
  • Cássio Nobre
  • Caetano Veloso O Abraçaço tá por aí...
  • Márcio Valverde
  • Mariene de Castro
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  • 3:03
    Samba Chula de São Braz
    Re: Samba Chula de São Braz
    265 views
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  • Fotos do M­ural 1 photo

  • Samba Chul­a de São B­raz 6 photos

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