Once again this year, starting on Thanksgiving Day, those all over the word who love Brazil, its traditions and its music will be able to appreciate "A Brazilian Christmas."
This 24/7 webcast channel will feature a variety of holiday songs by many of Brazil’s greatest singers and instrumental artists as a unique way to celebrate the holiday season.
The special webcast offering will continue through New Year’s Day, 2007 and is free to anyone with a dial-up or broadband connection to the Internet.
"A Brazilian Christmas" began in 1997 as a two-hour radio broadcast on the popular syndicated radio show The Sounds of Brazil, which is currently heard in 20 US cities.
Host Scott Adams recalls: "Originally, our idea was to participate in the holiday themed programming of our affiliate radio stations during the Christmas weekend. But I realized that this show could also portray Brazil’s Christmas traditions in a unique way.
"So we created a number of spoken vignettes to help our American listeners appreciate a side of Brazilian culture which is easily shared. It also created more than a little "Christmas saudade" for our Brazilian listeners!"
In 2004 and again in 2005, the offering set new listening records for the number of unique listeners, the number of simultaneous listeners and total listening hours via Live365.com.
The Net broadcasting offers more than ten hours of unique programming. The list of Brazilian carolers include Joyce, Gilberto Gil, Simone, Ivan Lins, João Bosco, Marisa Monte, Dori Caymmi and Cesar and Luisa Camargo Mariano.
Instrumental sounds of the season come to us from Oscar Castro-Neves, Leo Gandelman, Torcuato Mariano, pianist Luiz Avellar, guitarist Romero Lubambo, the late jazz giant Manfredo Fest and classical guitarist Carlos Barbosa-Lima.
And because most of Brazil’s favorite Christmas songs are shared with traditional themes from around the world, "A Brazilian Christmas" also includes songs from an international roster in the Brazilian style, including Japan’s Lisa Ono, Uruguay’s Roberto Perera, Italy’s Franco Sattamini and US artists such as pianist Steve Barta, Bossa legend Charlie Byrd and Lori Mechem.
The program also showcases an abundance of musical style: from bossa nova and samba to pagode, from baião and MPB to classical and jazz.
"A Brazilian Christmas is meant to add to the festive cheer of the holiday season", say Scott Adams. "And it comes at a time of year when many Brazilian families cannot be together. Personally, it’s an important and heartfelt part of how I view Brazil, my Brazilian family and my friends who live so far away."
You can access "A Brazilian Christmas" at http://www.connectbrazil.com/Brazilian%20Christmas%20homepage.html