Ben Westbeech in Brasil

July 9th, 2007 Posted by Ben Westbeech

Sunday…

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 Brasil 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 TrocaBrahma were really nice and Bruno, our Brasilian 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.

Monday…

I woke up feeling great and ready for working. I went for lunch with the guys from King Creosote. They are a funny bunch. Northern humor and a healthy taste for beer, which was becoming the vibe out here. Big lunches and lots of drinks. By the end of lunch I was ready for a nap! But that “was ney gonnei happen”. I had to meet Tita Lima who I was working with for the first time. She arrived and we got on straight away and we started vibin’ and getting some ideas together. It was interesting seeing how she worked and I couldn’t wait to get in the studio with all the musicians and get started on the project. We parted, so I called up Neil and we went for dinner with everyone to a little restaurant in Villa Madelaina, which is the bohemian part of town where I would then spend a lot of my time. We got in and there was a jazz band setting up. There were football pictures everywhere, there was even a West Ham picture. I felt right at home. We tried to order some olives but ended up with a big plate of liver! I’d forgotten that I liked liver and actually enjoyed it… The jazz band were amazing too. We coined the evening as “nice bit of liver, nice bit of jazz”. This became a bit of a catchphrase for the whole trip. Gotta love the liver. We also drank some 15 year old Glennfiddich and Claire, also a podcaster, was showing her true Glaswegian colours. It seems new media is the new rock ‘n’ roll. Those podcast guys can certainly have a few. We went home feeling like we’d shared a good experience and we had.

Tuesday…

I actually did some work today! I went to the studio with Tita and met her band who were all good musicians. I really love the percussion over here. It is so important to the Brasilian sound and it’s one of the elements that I want to get in the shows in England in a couple of weeks. That is the whole point of this trip to understand and enjoy each others’ culture and music. We got a vibe straight away and then went for lunch. A Brasilian BBQ. It was running. I had some fish but there was some lovely steak and salad on offer. I ended up trying some of everyones’, as usual, and enjoyed seeing the restaurant. It was a place where writers, musicians and other artists came to meet and this was just the sort of thing I’d come here for. We finished up and went back to the studio to put down what we’d worked on earlier so we could listen over night. We decided to perform one at Tita’s gig tonight. Totally unrehearsed so it added a little pressure, I even had my lyrics on stage. It’s good taking yourself out of the box sometimes and it was challenging. Tita got my name wrong and introduced me as Ben Westwood! I’ll get her back for that in England. That’s right Tita. BE PREPARED! he he. It went well and then we went to see FourTet do his gig. It was a fun night and we all had a few drinks, I didn’t realise how much I’d drank and got caught with a big bill. They don’t take money anywhere over there. It all gets written on a receipt which you pay for at the end so it’s easy to lose track of what you’ve bought. I’m still sure I got stitched up though. Bloody Mojitos. Ended up chatting about music in a hotel room with Dylan who was here with Gruff Rhyss, and Claire till the early hours.

Wednesday…

Day off! Well sort of. Went out to a little bakery/diner/newsagent and got a croissant and green orange juice. Then met up with Sophie, Chris and Patricia who were doing an article for the Times. And guess what? We went for a massive lunch! Back to the football restaurant for steak and red wine before going to take some pictures. We found some amazing graffiti and decided to take them there.

I then got taken to the most amazing record shop I’ve ever seen. It is called Eric’s Disco and I had a really special time there. Eric was an amazing person and he invited us to his house where he kept all the rarer records. I ended up in his lounge spending lots of money and drinking Brahma, I couldn’t believe how hospitable he was torwards us all. He left us there for a few hours and kept on bringing records down to sift through. The beers kept on coming as the prices of vinyl got higher and i had to be careful not to clean out my bank account. That said it was an oppurtunity not to be missed as these records are very hard to come by in England. This was the highlight of the trip so far, it was one of those moments I will never forget. Icki who is doing a documentary for Channel 4 caught the whole thing and found the place so respect to you sir for showing us such an amazing place. A real hidden gold mine of music. I will be going back as soon as I can. We then went back to the hotel to chill before going to dinner with Dougal and Claire. We went for Sushi and laughed alot while recording for their podcast. I must add that it was really cold in Brazil which was strange as you come with a preconception of it being boiling. No tan for me…

Thursday…

I am meeting up with Tita today to go to the studio, but not before going for, you’ve guessed it, a massive lunch. We got taken to a Fesouda restaurant which is the national dish over here. It is a pork stew served with rice, beans and flour. You have oranges on the plate too as it is very salty. They are there to cleanse your palate as it can be a little over bearing. We also drank Caprinas which is the national drink. We’ve been calling them ford caprinas. It is like a rum and you drink it with lime and lots of sugar. It is surprising everyone isn’t obese over here. Sugar, salt, meat and cheese seem to be the staple diet over here. After the mammoth lunch we go to see more graffiti and do some filming before heading to the studio to finish the ideas so we can perform them when Tita comes to the UK. We seem to work well together and it is very relaxed in the studio. Everyone is relaxed over here, so calm, although the roads are very dangerous. There’s no seatbelts in most of the taxis too so driving round is a bit of a white knuckle ride. It is also incredibly hilly, even more so than Bristol which is surprising. It definitely gives Totterdown a run for its money… After we’ve bounced our ideas we go back to the hotel before we got to the tallest building in Sao Paulo for drinks in the stushest bar I’ve ever been to. It was amazing with a Dickensian interior and a guy playing piano. It was breathtakingly gorgeous, the drinks were good too. We got on the Pina Coladas and anything else we could dream of ordering. Then it was back to the hotel for a party on the roof with all the artists and journalists, podcasters and photographers. It was a funny one and a great last evening.

Friday…

Am sad to be leaving today and I only have one thing to do. Back to see Eric at the record shop to settle my dreadful bill! I take a taxi there and get to see a bit of the city on my own which is refreshing. It’s good to wonder on your tod sometimes. It is also sunny which is classic last day syndrome and I am getting teary eyed. End up buying some last minute records and saying goodbye to Eric. What an experience it has been. The ride to the airport was informative too and the driver pointed some interesting sights including the Corinthians stadium and three prisons all a stone’s throw from each other. They looked pretty scary. I also saw some of the terrible conditions that people live in out there, real gully. It does make you question how lucky we all are. On that note I’ll finish my blog…

This is an extract of Ben Westbeech’s Brasil blog. To read his unedited version, visit his MySpace at www.myspace.com/benwestbeech.

Entry Filed under: Exchanges