This is my second time to Sugarloaf, but the first at night. The
place is starting to pack. It is after 1:00 AM and still people are arriving by gondola.
Marta and I have a few dances, we lose a few inhibitions, and umm, it’s kind of feeling
groovy time. The live music starts at 2:00 PM with Fernanda Abreu. She sings passionately
about the spirit of the Carioca, Brazil, love, Rio, dreams and music.
By Brazzil Magazine
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Uh, Tiazinha Ela vem cheia Ele vem cheia de tara no olhar |
Ooh, Auntie She comes full She comes full of perversion in her eyes |
Music
Déjà Vu
All Over
Again
For the second year in a row the 1998 World Music Grammy Award
went to a Brazilian . And the winner was the album Quanta Gente Veio Ver (Quanta
Live) by Gilberto Gil who didn’t go to the award ceremony at The Shrine Auditorium in
Los Angeles on February 24 claiming that he was never invited for the party. Last year
Milton Nascimento won in the same category with his Nascimento album, and for Gil
this meant that his chances of winning would be slim, believing the jurors would be
looking to give the prize to another region of the world.
The singer-composer from Bahia was competing with strong nominees
Canadian Robbie Robertson (Contact From the Underworld of Redboy), Nigerian King
Sunny Adé (Odu), Cesária Évora from Cape Verde (Miss Perfumado), and
Angelique Kidjo from Benin (Oremi).
Gil saw the victory as vindication for a work that he considered
important, but didn’t get the backing he hoped for in Brazil, in particular from his
recording company Warner. "For me this is a real prize," he told a reporter from
his house in Bahia, the day after his victory was announced. "I had enjoyed the
nomination. Getting the award gave me even more pleasure." The next day was spent on
the phone receiving calls from friends and journalists wanting to congratulate him.
Gil in interviews before the prize was very modest. "I don’t
think I am going to win," he said. "But I think this is one of the best records
of my career. It is much better to tape live." The composer has changed in recent
years what he thinks about the Grammy for non-Anglo music. He says: "I wrote in the
past that the world’s music is much more than world music. But I believe that the category
works to open space to the music of peripheral countries that are not a part of the
Euro-American axis. If it weren’t for this category where would you place, for example, a
Carlinhos Brown or an Ivete Sangalo?"
Among Brazilian musicians who have already won a Grammy are Tom
Jobim (a posthumous award in 1997), Sérgio Mendes (with Brasileiro, em 1992), and
João Gilberto with Getz/Gilberto in 1964. Laurindo de Almeida (five trophies between 1960
and 1964), Astrud Gilberto, Eumir Deodato and Roberto Carlos also won the prize in the
past.
Carnaval
Humdrum Follies
Kellene Elizandra
By national standards this year’s Brazil
Carnaval was too tame and way too well-behaved. Among the frolic’s hit tunes were some
religious hymns sung by pop sensation Father Marcelo Rossi and among the exposed women
celebrities’ breasts a fair amount were not legitimate ones, but made of silicone. Not
every woman was willing to admit to her fake boobies though and confess that they had gone
under a plastic surgeon’s scalpel. That’s why dozens of Rio’s socialites, in what was
considered a faux-pas by many, decided not to participate in Caprichosos de Pilares escola
de samba (samba club) parade when it was announced that world renowned plastic surgeon
Ivo Pitangui would also be parading.
For Solange Gomesthe model who paraded with
Salgueiro and about whom all the media were talking parading on Carnaval was her big
chance of showing an improved frame of herself, or so she believes: "It’s no secret
that I had plastic surgery on my breasts two months ago, but only now I’m doing the
premiere. I waited for the impact to show them on the Sambódromo and I am very happy with
the result."
Solange Gomes
Another model, Luma de Oliveira, drew repeated applause by
exhibiting her scalpel-improved breasts leading the Escola de Samba Viradouro’s percussion
wing. Although some criticized her for improving a little too much what nature had already
given her generously, Luma herself was ecstatic with the results. "I’m feeling
great," she said. "The plastic worked the way I wanted. And, best of all, it
passed the avenue test with flying colors." Viviane Araújo, another bare-breasted
beauty, who paraded in front of União da Ilha, having opted for the natural look chided
her colleagues: "These are really mine, I’m glad with them and have no plans to have
plastic surgery."
Luciana Gimenez, the Brazilian model that British tabloids say is
carrying the child of rock star Mick Jagger, was parading her uncovered seven-month
pregnant belly. Radiant and accompanied everywhere by two security agents, Gimenez was
maintaining the mystery by not naming the baby’s father. Dressed in a skimpy wedding gown
the proud mother’s float was a church and she was accompanied by a "priest" who
continually blessed her.
While the street Carnaval in São Paulo didn’t bring to
that city’s Sambódromo more than 32,000 people, Father Marcelo, also from São Paulo, was
able to gather 100,000 faithful on Monday of Carnaval for what was called Trio Elétrico
do Senhor (The Lord’s Carnaval). "Erguei as Mãos" (Raise Your Hands) was one of
the most popular songs by the singer priest heard across Brazil during Carnaval.
In São Paulo, in an odd tribute, the escola de samba Unidos
do Peruche paid homage to Microsoft’s founder with the story "Bill GatesThe
Brain of the Future". So nobody would have doubts, his bespectacled and
uncarnaval-like portrait was plastered down the imposing float
Back in Rio, the winner of the Carnaval parade was escola de
samba Imperatriz Leopoldinense, the club from the Ramos neighborhood which presented
the story "Mostra a tua Cara no Theatrum Rerum Naturalium Brasiliae (Show Your Face
in the Theater of Brazil’s Natural Things), a portrait of Brazil inspired by 17th
century paintings by Dutch artists. From a total of 270 points possible, Imperatriz, made
269.5, losing only half point in the allegories category. Beija-Flor came in a very close
second with 269 points, followed by Viradouro (267.5) and Mocidade (266.5). The Imperatriz
presentation, however, didn’t stir higher emotion among the public or the critics. The
jury was apparently swayed by the perfect technique of the group.
Luciana Gimenez
With the exhibition of genitalia banned in Rio’s parade, it was
in the streets of Goiânia, capital of Goiás that model Kellene Elizandra decided to show
it all with just a little leaf to cover part of her pudenda. She paraded with escola de
samba Unidos da Mangueira. Gorgeous Elizandra, 20, who was born in Campo Grande (state
of Mato Grosso do Sul), talked about her dream: to pose in the nude for a men’s magazine.
And spoke of her pride for disrobing in the avenue: "In Goiânia this kind of thing
doesn’t happen. I am a pioneer and I hope that others will follow in my steps." The
stunt has worked. The model, who didn’t have a job for four months, was already contacted
by Colégio Objetivo to promote that high school.
For years the Salvador (capital of Bahia state) Carnaval has been
competingand winningwith Rio’s world-famous Carnaval. It is estimated that
this year’s street revelries in that northeastern town drew close to one million visitors
from Brazil and overseas, generating around $60 million. While Rio offers a more showy
party, Salvador presents a more participatory bash in which spectators get dragged to the
streets jumping behind the famous trios elétricos (wired-for-sound trucks) playing
Carnaval songs.
This year, American President Bill Clinton and the Monica
Lewinsky affair were the inspiration for a song by one of the top Baiano composers,
Carlinhos Brown.
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Puxada de Clinton Carlinhos Brown Não pode parar, |
Brought Down by Clinton You can’t stop |
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