The Brazilian Winter
September 1st, 2011
Parque Municipal in Niteroi
Being a foreigner from a colder climate, I didn’t really ever think about the concept of a Brazilian winter and how it differed from the summertime. The air feels crisper and easy to breath. The days are shorter with dusk happening around 5:30 PM at the solstice. You can go to the beach and not get turned into a burning ember. I believe it was Vinicius de Morais that wrote a poem about Rio de Janeiro in the winter that echoes these sentiments. My point is that winter is a special time in Rio, that I was lucky to enjoy these past five months.
I first started out living at Hostel Tupiniquim in the working class neighborhood of Botafogo. I made friends with a bunch of Brazilians that were staying at the hostel for the long term. Many of them were students just scraping by in light of the city’s new skyrocketing rents. My goal was also to get a room in Botafogo, but that proved far more difficult than I anticipated. It took me over a month of hard searching to find a one at a somewhat reasonable price.
In May I finally found a place to live in Botafogo. Soon after, I got a gig at a great venue called Casa das Casadas at the Espaço Rio Carioca. A combination of a music venue, a music store, a book store, and a restaurant in a colonial house it was a very cool place. I was lucky enough to have the very talented Cecilia Spyer sing with me. Over the years she has worked with the likes of Gilberto Gil, Roberto Carlos, Paralamas do Sucesso and Joao Bosco so it was truly a pleasure.
Throughout my trip I met a lot of talented independent Brazilian musicians. Jam Da Silva is a monster of a percussionist. Originally from the northeast of Brazil, his music combines funk, Brazilian rhythms, and adventurous ambient sounds. Nina Becker was another refreshing, creative artist on the scene in Rio who reminded me of Feist and Marisa Monte. She most recently released a music video that was picked up by MTV. A superb rock band that I was lucky to see live was Tono. I would say they are the rock band that it currently the most buzzed about in Rio right now and for good reason. One of the highlights of my trip was a show I saw which paired them onstage with Brazilian legend Ney Matogrosso. There are many others that I will have to reveal later!
Part of the reason I was able to get out to so many shows was because I was working as an entertainment journalist for The Rio Times, an English newspaper focused on foreigners living in Rio. This was also a great learning experience for me since I had never written for a newspaper before. Check out an interview I wrote with Nina Becker and also a story on ex-pats participation in the massive, upcoming music festival Rock in Rio.
I also worked as an English teacher. This truly made me realize how confusing and exception-laden the English language really is. Regardless, I made some great friends in the students that I taught and I know their English improved.
I’ve hand-picked the best photos of my trip which you can see here.
Tudo de bom! (All the best)
