Hi Everyone -

The 5th Annual Santa Barbara Brazilian Carnaval
February 1,2,3 2008

On Friday, February 1, Santa Barbara Permaculture Network will be a part of a very special collaboration.  We are co-hosting with Soul Brasil magazine a Film Screening Event that is the kick-off to the 5th Annual Santa Barbara Brazilian Carnaval, 3 days of dynamic music, dance, film, soccer, Brazilian food and culture.

Please join us as we start the evening with a short film about the Organization for Permaculture & Arts (OPA) www.opabrasil.org a Permaculture Center we recently visited while in Brazil attending the 8th International Permaculture Conference (IPC8).  We will be joined by Isabela Coelho, the dynamic young director and co-founder of OPA, as she shares experiences of the incredible work they do, combining art & permaculture for under-served children and youth in an urban setting, and their ecological surf camp on the Bahian coast.

The main event will be a film screening of "The Sound of Rio: Brasileirinho", which chronicles the evolution of a very special Brazilian musical genre called "Choro" developing in Rio de Janeiro in the 1920's.   A flute musician playing Choro will be part of the festivities, along with a showing of Brazilian photographic artwork. (more info below)

The event takes place at the downtown Santa Barbara Public Library, Faulkner Gallery, 40 E. Anapamu St, for a donation of $5.  No reservations are required.  For more information, please visit our website at www.sbpermaculture.org, go to upcoming events, or the complete SB Carnaval schedule can be found on the SoulBrasil magazine website at www.soulbrasil.com.

Hope you can join us!

Margie Bushman & Wes Roe
Santa Barbara Permaculture Network

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Film Description:

The Sounds of Rio: Brasileirinho
A Film by Mika Kaurismaki - 90 min

Kick Off of the Annual Santa Barbara Brazilian Carnaval 2008
With Special Guest Appearances – Donation $5

Brasileirinho is a 90-min musical documentary film about Choro, the first genuinely Brazilian urban music. It was back in the late 19^th century in Rio de Janeiro when Brazilian musicians started to blend European melodies, Afro-Brazilian rhythms and the melancholic interpretation of the Brazilian Indians' music to create Choro. Choro is credited as being the first musical expression of Brazil’s melting pot and had a prominent place in the development of Brazil’s cultural identity. Choro remained a major popular music style until the 1920s, leading directly into Samba and later to Bossa Nova. After a slight decline in popularity, Choro music has made a remarkable comeback over the past few decades.

 

The film remembers the history but shows, above all, a colorful picture of Choro's vitality today. The guiding line of the film is the combo “Trio Madeira Brasil” composed of three of Brazil’s outstanding Choro musicians. During a “Roda de Choro”, a traditional Brazilian kind of private jam session, the Trio brings up a concert project. During these sessions or at their homes, some of the most interesting Choro musicians play and remember key events in the history of this Brazilian urban music. A look into a Choro workshop with over 450 participants of all ages illustrates the off-hand genuine Brazilian way to play. “Playing” interviews with well-known Samba and Bossa Nova artists like Zezé Gonzaga, Elza Soares and Guinga illustrate the reciprocal inspiration with Samba and Bossa Nova music. A final show of the "Trio Madeira Brasil" with their guests in one of Rio’s traditional music halls shows once more the opulence of rhythms and melodies in Choro that has evolved over the past 130 years into a fascinating form of modern tropical sound.

However, the film is not only about music, but also about the people who make and play this music. Even if Choro is often regarded as the music of the middle class, it unites people from different races, classes, sexes and ages. Brazil is a country of many contradictions, it has huge social contrasts, a big part of the population lives in a constant survival struggle, but in the end joy – alegria - always wins. And in this battle of joy and sorrow music plays an extremely important role. The film director Mika Kaurismaki tried to capture the ‘soul’ of Choro, the magic feeling and the unique emotional bond, the musical brotherhood, between all the involved – musicians and audience - of any successful Choro performance.

The Annual Santa Barbara Brazilian Carnaval brings to Santa Barbara once a year a little bit more information, activities and quality live entertainment of one of the richest culture around the world – the Brazilian Culture.

Brazilian Carnaval Santa Barbara - www.soulbrasil.com

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