Ben Westbeech in Brasil
I arrived and met Dougal and Tommy in the airport, they are podcasters who were covering the whole trip. It turned out that nearly everyone in Brazil was from Glasgow and liked a drink. Right up my street! We went straight out to eat and it was a relief to see I got on with them as I was on my own out there. Neil and Cathy from Better Days were really nice and Bruno, our Brazilian point of contact, was so helpful. The hotel was good too with an amazing view over Sao Paulo and I slept well on the first night.
Continue Reading 2 comments July 9th, 2007 Posted by Ben Westbeech
Gruff Rhys unhurriedly unpacks an assortment of strange toys and home-made signal generators and synthesisers while Tony Da Gatorra fastens a T star G headband around his forehead and straps on his creation: the Gatorra. Gruff is a Welsh song-writing legend. Tony is an incredible guy. We feel honoured to be able to spy on their rehearsal process.
“Girlfriend in a coma,” sings Romulo in a gentle bossa tenor. Kenny is learning lines in Portuguese while Romulo insists that Johnny Mar was a bossa nova player. The two singer-songwriters swap language and lyrics while their band, and the production crew, pause for a Brahma and an assortment of crisps. This is the biggest rehearsal studio I’ve seen so far. The space is certainly required.
Studio SP, in Sao Paulo’s cool (or legal, as they say here) Villa Madalena district, is packed with exuberant Paulistas (and probably a few Paulistanos too). It’s barely even standing room only as Open Field Church start the ceremony, bawdy renditions of indie classics filling the room. It’s a daft idea but a great one. Eduardo, CSS’s manager and with his brother Bruno the man behind Slag Records, and Dago, from Trama Records and editor in cheif of the Trama Virtual website, came up with the idea to sing indie songs a capella, badly. It’s very funny and infectuously engaging. The crowd in Studio SP certainly agree.
Bringing Kieran Hebden the genius behind Four Tet, into a studio in Sao Paulo to collaborate with, what is an intentionally atonal Brazilian choir, sounds nuts. After a lengthy debate about the “realness” of the TV programme Lost, Eduardo, Dago, and Kieran had decided on the tunes they thought would work well for their musical collaboration.
“Solta o Frango” yell the hottest baile funk band of the moment, Bonde Do Role, from the stage at Clube Gloria in Sao Paulo. Amanda Blank encourages the already electric audience as Radioclit bang out dirty beats from the back. Solta o Frango means release the chicken and that bird is definitely flapping about the venue tonight.