It was a hot day in the beautiful town of Amarante, the Portuguese base of Brazil’s MIMO festival. I’m chatting to Otto prior to his show at Parque Ribeirinho in the evening and a day after seeing him... Read Article
Nação Zumbi originated in the early 90s, climbing like a ‘crab with brains’ from the fertile mud of the delta on which the north-eastern Brazilian city of Recife grew. Back in the 90s Recife was struggling, suffering under... Read Article
The musical jewels of Pernambuco are uncovered by Boebis in his latest mix for us, a cornucopia of delights from one of Brazil’s most culturally rich states. Here’s his intro: “‘Size doesn’t matter’, could well be the motto... Read Article
Ever since I first heard “Qasida”, the 10th track off Siba Veloso’s latest album Avante, I haven’t been able to stop listening to it. It’s lyrics are apprehensive, poetic, the conflicting words of someone who is looking for... Read Article
Avante represents the third stage in Brazilian singer/songwriter Siba‘s career. After helping define manguebit with his band Mestre Ambrosio in the 90s he decamped to the small Brazilian town of Nazare da Mata in 2002 and delved even... Read Article
Pernambuco is one of the musical epicentres of Brazil, full of infectious rhythms and traditions such as caboclinho, forró, candomblé and baião. Since the emergence of Mangue Bit in the early 90s this has been even more the... Read Article
In the second part of Sounding Out the Swamp: Recife, Pernambuco, and The Cultural Rise of Northeastern Brazil (read part one here) Gregory Scruggs looks at how manguebit affected the musical landscape of Northeastern Brazil, starting with the... Read Article
Part one of a two-part series by Gregory Scruggs exploring the emergence of Pernambuco as one of the musical epicentres of Brazil. The first part looks at the history of Pernambuco and the beginnings of a musical revolution in the state, brought on by Chico Science and the Manguebit movement.
