Brazil at the Great Escape

06 maio, 2011 | Exchange

Brasil Music Exchange is the project run by BM&A (the Brazil Music Export Office) to create connections between the Brazilian and international music industries. We have three bands playing at TGE – catch them all at The Hope on Fri 13 May. See details on bands and all shows below. And if you’re interested in doing business with Brazil, do get in touch, we’d be happy to meet you.

Babe, Terror

Thurs 12 May Pavillion Theatre 22:30 (presented by Uncut)

Fri 13 May The Hope 13:00

Babe, Terror produces compelling, unsettling aural landscapes; lush, cinematic Sao Paulo stories rendered as washes of lo-fi electronica. Fans include Uncut, The Guardian and Erol Alkan.

http://babeterror.bandcamp.com/

Marina Gasolina

Thurs 12 May The Haunt 20:00

Fri 13 May The Hope 14:00

Marina Gasolina founded and fronted Domino signed, baile-funk band Bonde Do Role. Since going solo she’s recorded with the likes of The Go Team! and Architecture in Helsinki. Her new album is out soon.

www.facebook.com/officialmarinagasolina

Black Drawing Chalks

Fri 13 May The Hope 15:00

Fri 13 May The Jam 20:00

Black Drawing Chalks do fast, dirty rock with a tough, stoner edge. One of the top bands out of Goiânia, the rock capital of Brazil.

www.myspace.com/blackdrawingchalks

Babe, Terror

Originally conceived as a soundtrack to ‘cold Saturday afternoons’ at home and long, late night walks around his hometown of Sao Paulo, one-man project Babe, Terror tracks are not so much songs as compelling, unsettling aural landscapes; lush, cinematic stories rendered as washes of electronica, absorbing influences as disparate as 50′s pop, tropicalia and cold wave and distilling them to their ghostly essence. After winning acclaim with releases (debut internet EP and the album “Weekend”) in 2008 and 2009 from the likes of the New Yorker, Said the Gramophone, The Guardian, Coke Machine Glow and Uncut, he was invited to play at the Worldtronics festival curated by Arto Lindsay in Berlin. Phantasy Sound (founded by Erol Alkan) introduced the UK to the unusual charms of Babe, Terror with a series of EPs in 2010, including tracks like Summertime Our League and Havaí and remixes from artists like Four Tet and Memory Tapes. In 2011, Babe, Terror launched a new internet EP, “Preparing a Voice to Meet the People Coming”, made during an early-winter trip, continuing apartment/bedroom studies in lo-fi ambience, distortion, vocals and, occasionally, improv.. For his show at The Great Escape Festival, he will do an exclusive improv. session, to be recorded as a one-time document.

Marina Gasolina

After playing in several punk bands during her teenage years, Marina founded and fronted Domino signed, Brazilian baile-funk band Bonde Do Role. After touring the world for two years straight, they released debut album ‘With Lasers’ which was produced by a who’s who of exciting producers such as Diplo, Chernobyl and Radioclit. Marina then left the band to focus on her solo career and broaden her horizons. She moved to London in 2008 and has passed the time recording tracks for international acts such as Crookers, Herve, Maskinen, Severin, The Go Team!, Metronomy, Acid Kids and Architecture in Helsinki. This led to her building her own, new sound and writing songs with Berlin based Electronicat and the Brazilian one man band O Lendario Chucrobillyman.

Black Drawing Chalks

Black Drawing Chalks do fast, dirty rock with a tough, stoner edge – that’s raw crunching guitars, thrashing drums and a show that’s made for drinking and dancing. Hailing from Goiânia, the rock capital of Brazil, the band started out in 2005 when Victor Rocha (lead vocals/guitar) and Douglas de Castro (drums) were at college studying graphic design, hence the name. With brother Denis de Castro on bass and Renato Cunha on guitar/backing vocals, BDC have been making a big noise all over Brazil, including major festivals like Goiânia Noise Festival and Abril Pro Rock. They’ve played alongside artists such as Motorhead, Eagles Of Dead Metal, Rage Against The Machine, The Datsuns and Nashville Pussy. On the international scene they’ve toured Canada (and played Canadian Music Week) and rocked Music Is My Girlfriend festival in Argentina. Black Drawing Chalks have released three albums on Monstro Discos, the celebrated independent label that’s one of the major driving forces on Brazil’s massive rock scene. Victor and Douglas also bring their design background into play – co-producing the animated video for the single “My Favourite Way” which was nominated for best video by MTV Video Music Brazil.


Brasil New Series – Music Week CD

06 maio, 2011 | Exchange

Brazil New Series 2011 by Music Week

This is a damn-fine compilation we did for MusicWeek magazine. Good cross-selection of the new Sao Paulo singer-songwriter scene. And I do like the art.

As Bob Dylan once remarked: “Some may like a soft Brazilian singer, but I have given up all attempts at perfection.” A new generation of musicians is mixing it up, finding their influences in local regional music as well as (please insert musical genre here!). As the traditional record industry struggles, local artists and producers are also exploring new ways of generating income, establishing networks within Brazil and increasingly abroad. The BM&A and it’s Music Exchange project is working to strengthen this.


Lady Gaga

06 maio, 2011 | Exchange

Final Newsbites April


Digital pioneer iMusica, continue to expand their activities throughout South America. In partnership with MPG (Media Plannng Group) 65,000 dropcards have been included with the latest edition of Rolling Stone Argentina to promote the summer campaign for Coca Cola. Users can download the song “A Mi Manera” by Sony artist Infierno 18. The song is a version of Paul Anka’s My Way.

*****

Again focused on the Argentinian market, Brazilian pop group Paralamas do Sucesso are planning on recording an acoustic album – in Spanish. The band have already had success in Argentina in the 90s. The recording will also celebrate their 30 years anniversary.

*****

Daughter of the legendary Itamar Assumpção (1949 – 2003), Anelis Assumpção is becoming a success in her own right, have worked with Céu and Tulipa Ruiz. Her debut album is due for release on June 9th. Entitled “Sou Suspeita. Estou Sujeita. Não Sou Santa” it will also be released on vinyl. The track listing includes Bola com os Amigos, Neverland (written with Beto Villares, featuring Céu on vocals and Bocato on trombone), Amor Sustentável (with Cris Scabello, and text –in English– narrated by actor Gero Camilo) and Estrela. Recorded between June 2009/January 2011, the album was produced by Anelis with Zé Nigro, except for the track Quaresmeira, which features the work of guitarist Gustavo Ruiz.

*****

Thaís Gulin – ôÔÔôôÔôÔ
Using Rio de Janeiro as it’s backdrop and inspiration, the second album by singer-songwriter Thaís Gulin has been released by SLAP, the Som Livre imprint. Featuring compositions by and the participation of Tom Zé and Chico Buarque, the repertoire also features new works from Moreno Veloso, Adriana Calcanhotto, Ana Carolina, Kassin, as well as compositions by Thaís herself.

Her first album, released in 2007, featured songs by Arrigo Barnabé, Zé Ramalho, Otto, Nelson Sargento, Jards Macalé, Chico Buarque and Tom Zé, and resulted in her being nominated in the Rival BR Awards 2008 as Revelation of the Year.

For the new album, Tom Zé sent “Ali Sim, Alice”, inspired by Lewis Carroll. Chico composed “Se Eu Soubesse”. Adriana Calcanhotto sent her the new composition “Encantada”.

“When I did the first album, most of the composers got in touch. I ended up writing with Jards Macalé, did a show with Zeca Baleiro, received an email from Chico Buarque and a telephone call from Tom Zé. I cried.”

*****

Recording in Rio de Janeiro, Marisa Monte is working on her first album of new material in five years. The follow-up to Infinito Particular (2006) and Universo ao meu Redor (2006) is slated for release later this year, followed by a national and international tour.

*****

CeÚ is back on the road with a US-tour. Dates as follows:
Wed 4/27/11 New Mexico State University Las Cruces, NM
Fri 4/29/11 North Beach Bandshell – Transatlantic Festival Miami, FL
Sun 5/1/11 Highline Ballroom New York, NY
Tue 5/3/11 Dakota Jazz Club Minneapolis, MN
Wed 5/4/11 Dakota Jazz Club Minneapolis, MN
Fri 5/6/11 Herbst Theatre – SF Jazz San Francisco, CA
Sat 5/7/11 El Rey Theatre Los Angeles, CA

*****

Also on the road, and with a contract signed to Cooperative for their new album La Liberación, CSS have the following US dates confirmed:
April 15 Mezzanine, San Francisco, CA
April 17 Coachella
April 18 Glass House, Pomona, CA
April 19 The Venue, Scottsdale, AZ
April 21 White Rabbit, San Antonio, TX
April 22 Granada theater, Dallas, TX
April 23 La Zona Rosa, Austin, TX
April 24 Warehouse Live, Houston, TX
April 26 Varsity Theater, Baton Rouge, LA
April 28 Firestone, Orlando, FL
April 29 State Theater, St Petersberg, FL
April 30 Neon Desert Festival, El Paso TX
May 2 Center Stage, Atlanta, GA
May 3 Cannery Ballroom, Nashville, TN
May 4 Orange Peel,Asheville, NC
May 6 The National, Richmond, VA
May 7 9:30 Club, Washington DC
May 8 Trocadero, Philadelphia, PA
May 10Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA
May 11 Webster Hall, New York, NY
May 12 Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
May 14 Ram’s Head Live, Baltimore, MD
May 15 Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY
May 17 Sound Academy, Toronto,ON
May 18 St Andrews, Detroit, MI
May 19 First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN
May 21 Metro, Chicago, IL

*****

Meanwhile Lady Gaga….Aw, to hell with Lady Gaga!!


BM&A no SXSW

31 março, 2011 | Ações BM&A

O Brasil Music Exchange estabeleceu várias parcerias durante o SXSW. A primeira foi com GivMaven.

GiveMaven.com é um site de reserva, promoção, emissão de ingressos e um conjunto de ferramentas que através do Brasil Music Exchange tem sido extremamente proativo atingindo e auxiliando artistas brasileiros.

Na Womex, APAP, Midem, Porto Musical, CMW e SXSW, a relação entre GigMaven e artistas brasileiros tem sido proveitosa. Nesse período, GigMaven identificou quatro artistas brasileiros em seu perfil de artista da semana em seu influente blog maven.ly  (Gisbranco, OBMJ, Some Community e Holger). Pelo menos 25 artistas brasileiros e os principais representantes da indústria brasileira, criaram seus perfis de artistas completamente grátis na GM e estão começando a usar os serviços com grande êxito. No SXSW, um dos vocalistas e guitarrista do Holger disse “GivMaven rocks and rules” em seu show. Os representantes do Holger e do Some Community utilizaram a plataforma da GM para pesquisa e aplicação, em uma tarde, de mais de 120 locais apropriados para suas turnês pelos Estados Unidos. Mesmo em uma data de aplicação muito tarde, a GM foi capaz de garantir um show essencial para ambas as bandas em Chicago, o terceiro maior mercado dos EUA.

O anúncio de uma aliança estratégica entre GigMaven e Toque no Brasil (TNB) no mercado da América Latina para trazer as ferramentas GigMaven para o Brasil e levar artistas brasileiros para os EUA, vai acelerar enormemente os benefícios para todos. Ingressos, promoções, artistas online, locais e reservas entre muitas outras funcionalidades atuais e futuras serão utilizadas nos EUA, Brasil e Américas no decorrer de todo ano, no mundo inteiro.

O Brasil Music Exchange distribuiu material promocional sobre o TNB durante o SXSW.




Porto Musical

14 março, 2011 | Mercado da Música

Regions like Rio de Janeiro or Bahia may be better known musically, but the state of Pernambuco is a veritable cauldron of musical innovation. Where else would you find such a variety of musical genres: afoxé, baião, caboclinho, cavalo marinho, ciranda, coco, drum n’ bass, electronica, forró, frevo, funk, hip-hop, maculelê, manguebeat, maracatu de baque solto, maracatu de baque virado, metal, punk rock, rock n’ roll, samba, samba-reggae, xote… Stretching inland from the northeastern coast of Brazil, the land ranges from the fertile coastal regions of the mata atlantica to the arid sertão. Like the rest of Brazil, the mixture of indigenous, African and European populations has shaped the culture of the region. Brazilian poet and musicologist Mario de Andrade first documented the rich cultural mix, and especially its folk music, in the 1930s. Later fieldwork was realized and assembled in the book Maracatus do Recife, by conductor Guerra-Peixe. Between the 1970s and 80s various artists brought the sound of maracatu to the rest of Brazil – MPB singer Alceu Valença, Egberto Gismonte, Lenine and Lula Queiroga. But the credit for putting Pernambuco solidly on the musical map goes to Chico Science & Nação Zumbi. Two perfect introductions to the Pernambuco scene are What’s Happening in Pernambuco and The New Brazilian Music: Pernambuco.

One of the major highlights in the music scene is Porto Musical. It’s 26 conferences held in the old Post Office building, and 14 shows, in the old sector of Recife. In partnership with Womex and under the guiding hands of Paulo Andre and Melina Hickson (Astronave Iniciativas Culturais and Fina Produção), the 2011 edition of the conference took place between February 23-26 and was divided into three parts:

Go Brazil!, dealing with the domestic market; Go Digital! about the interaction between music and technology and creative industry and Go International! with themes linked to the export of Brazilian music.

I arrived on Thursday 24th to catch the first conference about rereleasing the famous Rozenblit catalogue. Melina Hickson has a documentary on the label here. Behind the initiative are Frank Hessing (MusiConsult Network), David Buttle (Mr. Bongo) and João Florentino.

“It’s a big risk to invest in this catalogue, because we have no guarantee of recouping the investment. But we’ll be doing three types of release: one for the collectors – vinyl with the original artwork. Second is releasing by theme, for example the psychedelic albums such as Paêbirú. Finally, there will be a compilation featuring remixes by various Djs,” says Frank. Frank will be looking after the business and contractual aspect of the catalogue. He first became involved when he was working on behalf of the Polidisc label and João Florentino (who had acquired the catalogue in the 80s), to remove a pirate release of the Paêbirú album that had been released in Europe.

“The first release will be Psychedlic Pernambuco, a definitive compilation of the pyschedelic scene in Pernambuco,” says David.

During the conference, hosted by Lula Côrtes, Frank explained how all involved would get paid for their work, including that of the artists.

A great project. There is so much Brazilian music no longer commercially available. The great Funarte catalogue springs to mind, as does that of Discos Marcus Pereira.


APAP 2011

31 janeiro, 2011 | Ações BM&A

It’s our second year at APAP, the Association of Performing Arts Presenters; our first year
at the event under our new guise as Brasil M usic Exchange. Based in New York, the APAP
Conference is the largest gathering of performing arts influencers, presenters, decision makers,
managers, and artists in the world – a grand extravaganza of exhibits, meetings, workshops,
performance showcases and networking opportunities. For us it’ s where we meet the US
professionals who work with Brazilian music.

The event began with a conference presented by the world music marketing king Dimitri Vietze
of Rock Paper Scissors in which online marketing and promotion were the main topics of
discussion. The world music community is present, a small but vibrant bunch. It’ s interesting
to note that in Brazil we’ re just as savvy as the Americans in using the internet for promotional
activities – but we’ re way behind when it’ s using the internet for business purposes. We still have
the idea that internet equals free.

At the Music Exchange stand we had our new US RP, Robert Singerman. Robert has looked after
the French Export Office, worked with shows and tours in the US for at least 30 years, so his
presence was invaluable. We divided our time between attending the stand, visiting clients and
partners around New York and checking out the shows.

Every evening there are shows but the principal event for us is the annual globalFest where 13
artists from around the world performed on three stages. “ It’s the best lineup we’ve had in years,”
says Bill Bragin of Acidophilus: Live & Active Cultures (globalFEST, Inc. is a not-for-profit
production presented in association with Acidophilus, World Music Institute, Joe’ s Pub at the
Public Theater and The Bowery Presents). From Pernambuco we had Orquestra Contemporânea
de Olinda, represented at the fair by Melina Hickson of Fina Produções. “ The goal is not only
to have a great event but inspire future bookings,” says Bragin. “ A third of the audience are
professionals, many of them programming performing arts centers, festivals and nightclubs
around the world,” he says. “ We hope that these globalFEST artists will appear on global stages–
and make a lot of noise!”

At the Music Exchange stand I met briefly with Brazilian music power-house Benjamim
Taubkin, who told me he was here as part of the Artist Fellows Program. This program is
designed to integrate an outstanding cohort of 11 artists into the core of the conference by
inviting the artist voice and process into central conference conversations. This program involves
dialogues that deeply impact how art is made and shared, while working to expand the ways in
which artists connect to each other and their counterparts in the industry.

The APAP|NYC 2011 Artist Fellows are:
Marc Bamuthi Joseph (US): Spoken Word artist, Educator, Curator, Theater maker, Community
activist www.lifeisliving.org
Emeline Michel (US/Haiti): Singer, Cultural Activist www.emeline-michel.com
Jared Nickerson (US): Bassist, Business Manager for Burnt Sugar www.burntsugarindex.com
Prumsodun Ok (US/Cambodia): Dancer, Choreographer, Founder of Natyarasa natyarasa.org
Christina Pato (Spain): Gaita (Galician Bagpipe Player), Member Silk Road Ensemble
www.cristinapato.com
Alvaro Restrepo (Colombia): Dancer, Choreographer, Co-founder of El Colegio del
Cuerpo www.elcolegiodelcuerpo.org
Brian Rogers (US): Artistic Director and Co-founder of the Chocolate Factory
www.chocolatefactorytheater.org/
Somi (US/Uganda/Rwanda): Singer, Songwriter, Founder and Director of New Africa Live
www.somimusic.com

Dawn Stoppiello (US): Choreographer, Dancer, Co-founder of Troika Ranch
www.troikaranch.org
Benjamim Taubkin (Brazil): Jazz Musician, Co-founder of Nucleo Contemporaneo
www.nucleocontemporaneo.com.br
Jason Treuting (US): Percussionist, SO Percussion www.sopercussion.com

We also met up with Erika Elliott from Summerstage Festival and Petrit from Nublu. Both
are working on a cool Brazilian festival for New York in July. More details on that later.