Welcome

author (L) sitting in with Arlindo dos Oito Baixos

This is the companion site for my book, Music in Brazil: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture, in the Oxford University Press Global Music series. It's intended for students and teachers who are using the book as well as general readers and Brazilian music fans. That's me in the photo, at left, sitting in with Arlindo dos Oito Baixos (him: cool and relaxed; me: concentrating like crazy in order to avoid pushing when I should pull and vice versa).

Here you will find text, audio, and video resources to supplement the book and my blog with news of current events in Brazilian music. If anybody's interested, I could also add a discussion forum.

This site is not to be confused with the official Oxford University Press Global Music Series companion site. Don't have a copy yet? Try the Oxford University Press catalog or amazon.

7 hours and 27 minutes of Cavalo-marinho

Thu, 2009-05-07 16:13 — John Murphy

On December 1-2, 1990, with Siba Veloso, I made a video recording of Mestre Inácio's cavalo-marinho in Condado, Pernambuco. It's 7 hours and 27 minutes long. It's now available on this site in 8 segments. This is an important recording because it shows what a performance in a small town was like before the 1990s rise in interest in traditional music that led to a lot of stage performances of cavalo-marinho that were by necessity much shorter than this.

Kevin Cassidy's thesis on forró

Sun, 2009-05-03 19:56 — John Murphy

Kevin Cassidy posts his thesis on forró here. I haven't read it yet, but I am eager to because ch. 7 is entitled "In the “Field”: A Night at a Forró in Dois Unidos," and it deals with Arlindo's forró club in his backyard.

Cultura Digital

Sun, 2008-12-21 12:18 — John Murphy

While browsing for Brazil-related video at the Internet Archive, I found this two-part video Cultura Digital about the pontos de cultura project of the Brazilian ministry of culture. One aspect of the project is providing multimedia production systems that use free software. In Portuguese, with English subtitles. More info (in Portuguese) at the Ministry of Culture's Cultura Digital site.

Brazil Soul Power

Mon, 2008-12-15 08:56 — John Murphy

Lula Marcondes sent me this link for the site Brazil Soul Power, Thomas Fawcett's MA project at UT-Austin. Fascinating.

Mestre Salustiano visits the interior towns where he grew up

Wed, 2008-12-10 10:12 — John Murphy

Mestre Salustiano visits the interior towns where he grew up and learned cavalo-marinho and other traditional genres.

Link to video

Mestre Batista's Banco de Cavalo-Marinho, recorded on May 19, 1991

Thu, 2008-10-09 09:45 — John Murphy

Newly added to the open access section.

Marpessa Dawn, Bruno Melo of Orfeu Negro

Sat, 2008-09-27 06:29 — John Murphy

Marpessa Dawn, the U.S.-born actress who played Eurydice in Orfeu Negro, died at her home in Paris, according to the New York Times. Bruno Melo, her co-star, died 41 days before she did.

video about tecnobrega

Thu, 2008-09-18 21:59 — John Murphy

Excerpts from the documentary Good Copy Bad Copy.

Na Luz de Olinda

Mon, 2008-09-15 12:07 — John Murphy

Na Luz de Olinda is a documentary on traditional music in Recife featuring Mestre Salu and Maciel Salu by ethnomusicologist Elisa Ferrari.

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