The Brazilian Carnival, an annual event celebrated all over Brazil, is as important to Brazilians as football. It is the most famous holiday in Brazil and has become an event of huge proportions. The country stops completely for almost a week and festivities are intense, day and night, mainly in coastal cities.
Every year a TV ad is produced that features a beautiful and almost naked young woman who dances across the screen to samba music. This year the model Aline Prado, 25, has been chosen to perform for the ad – watch her show on video below. Her modesty is maintained, just, by greasepaint and glitter. It took hours to apply the colorful coating before filming. (The link shows Aline Prado being made up, the text is in Portuguese.)
Would this ad appear on British TV? I doubt that very much, it would almost certainly be banned or heavily censored.
The Carnival – not just in Rio!
Rhythm, participation, and costumes vary from one region of Brazil to another. In the southeastern cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, huge organized parades are led by samba schools. Those official parades are meant to be watched by the public, while minor parades (“blocos”) allowing public participation can be found in other cities.
The northeastern cities of Salvador, Porto Seguro and Recife have organized groups parading through streets, and public interacts directly with them. This carnival is also influenced by African-Brazilian culture. It’s a six days party where crowds follow the trios elétricos through the city streets, dancing and singing. Also in northeast, Olinda carnival features unique characteristics, part influenced by Venice Carnival mixed with cultural depictions of local folklore.
Carnival Music
The typical genres of music of brazilian carnival are, in Rio de Janeiro (and Southeast Region in general): the samba-enredo, the samba de bloco, the samba de embalo and the marchinha; in Pernambuco and Bahia (and Northeast Region in general) the main genres are: the frevo, the maracatu, the samba-reggae and Axé music.
Much of the above article was cut and pasted from Wikipedia.
Learn To Dance Forró With Paulo Aguiar . Click to enlarge
Probably the best known dance music of Brazil is samba because it is the traditional dance of Carnaval. Then of course there is bosa nova, but I prefer another form of Brazilian music and dance – forró. It’s hot, sexy and great to watch.
Forró, the name of the dance and popular in Brazil’s North-East is hardly known outside Brazil. There are three music genres of forró. All these genres use only three instruments (accordion, zabumba and a metal triangle). The lyrics are about romance, love, passion or jealousy.
O seguinte artigo foi originalmente escrito em Inglês por mim, Dave Knight. Eu, então, traduzido para o Português, mas a tradução, embora compreensível, não era bom Português. Felizmente, eu tinha o meu bem amiga Rayane Amaral, um estudante e filha de Beto e Talia Maria Amaral, que é fazender, foi o local para a festa. Editou, reescrito e reformatado o artigo em uma compreensível chef-d’oeuvre do Português Brasileiro.
Rayane, uma mulher encantadora jovem, está em seu último ano de universidade e é uma cavaleira a cavalo de primeira classe e motociclista. Quando ela está na fazenda, ela ajuda com as tarefas e, às vezes ajuda a fazer queijo. Ela não é avesso a fazer funções tradicionalmente masculinas ou, como mistura de cimento e reparar uma trilha e parede para fazer uma manjedoura para seu cavalo.
Uma menina levada e ela é, o orgulho de ser assim, mas quando a ocasião exige que ela permite que sua feminilidade a brilhar, ainda que o pouco autoconsciente.
Ela tem 21 anos e é escoltado por um longo prazo namorado Thiago.
Terça-feira 10 de janeiro, por volta das 19:00 na fazenda que foi a minha casa esta semana. Meus anfitriões são fazendeiros, sendo eles Roberto (Beto) e sua esposa Maria Talia, junto com os seus filhos Betinho e Rayane e a tia Teia.
A família é muita hospitaleira e o lugar parece Piccadilly Circus* em Londres, por vezes, com pessoas indo e vindo. Todos os dias, um gole de café quente e aquele feijão com arroz, juntamente com as trocas de brincadeiras antes de sair tão rapidamente para o serviço. Mas, a casa não está vazia por muito tempo, logo, chegam novos amigos.
Esta semana os parentes desta família de Espera Feliz estão na cidade. Tias, tios e primos. Os primos são todos da faixa etária estudantia e sobre a reunião entre si procuravam algum divertimento podendo se dizer, estudantes selvagens. Todos eles empilhados com comidas e bebidas. Especialmente bebida, sendo ela, cerveja e cachaça. Cachaça pura que em minha opinião, só possa servir para alimentar nave espacial, mas quando é misturada com gelo, açúcar e limão é transformada em um delicioso cocktel chamado de caipirinha.
Isso é como se dizem os jogadores (limões), uma brincadeira que no final é dificil um jogador que nao sai embreagado. Esta brincadeira funciona da seguinte forma: com os jogadores, se formam uma roda e entao cada um tem o seu numero, onde este é em seguência. O primeiro começa a brincadeira dizendo: um limão não, três limões. O jogador que é de número três diz: três limôes não, seis limôes. O jogador de número seis diz: seis limões não, um limão. E assim suscessivamente. As respostas tem que ser feitas rapidamente para que, eventualmente, alguém erre e consequentemente pague uma pena. A pena? Tome um gole de cachaça.
Eu tentando dar continuidade à brincadeira, porém sob a influência de álcool, desta vez não acertei, tornando-se para mim, um trava-línguas. Às vaias e gritos de meus jovens companheiros eu obviamente bebi um gole o que levou a minha desistência. Isso sinalizou uma mudança de jogo para Sueca, apenas porque é chamado de que eu não tenho idéia. Sueca, como nós jogamos, envolve cartas, bebendo cachaça e perde outro. Cada carta representa uma ação, seja direta perdida, um jogo de filial ou de uma mudança de jogo.
As cartas que levam à mudança do jogo são: 5, 6 e 7. A pessoa que recolhe a carta 5 faz uma regra para todos ou alguns dos outros jogadores. Se você tiver uma carta 6 você pode quebrar a regra. Uma carta de número 7 permite que você use o vaso sanitário. Oh, sim, eu esqueci de dizer que durante toda a duração deste jogo você não tem permissão para usar o toalete, a menos que você tenha uma carta 7.
Aqui estão às regras em Português como nós jogamos com cachaça como o principal perde.
As cartas são colocadas no centro da face da tabela para baixo. A carta de cima está ligada a revelar seu valor e é atribuído ao primeiro jogador. Seja qual for o valor da carta determina a ação do jogador. Todas, exceto três das cartas exigem uma ação por um ou mais dos outros jogadores. As ações de dez das cartas são perde, ou seja, o consumo de álcool (ou use a sua imaginação para você uma alternativa perder).
Um – Escolha um jogador para fazer uma desistência.
Dois – Escolha um jogador para fazer duas perde ou dois jogadores para executar cada um.
Três – Escolha um jogador para fazer três ou perde três jogadores para executar cada um.
Quatro – Jogue o jogo subsidiária Pa-Pin-Pou, descrito abaixo, até que um dos jogadores paga uma penalidade e depois retornar ao Sueca.
Cinco – O jogador que tirar a carta 5 faz uma regra para um ou mais dos outros jogadores.
Seis – Com um 6, que quando tratadas é mantido para uso futuro, o titular pode cancelar a regra feita pelo jogador com a carta 5.
Sete – Qualquer jogador que conseguir a carta 7, mantém no caso de ele / ela precisa ir ao banheiro.
Oito – Jogue o jogo de limão descrito acima até que alguém perde, em seguida, retornar à Sueca.
Nove – O jogador anterior a este,é obrigado a tomar um gole de cachaça ou alguma outra bebida.
Dez – O jogador posterior é obrigado a tomar um gole de cachaça ou outra bebida.
Valete – Quando esta carta aparece todos os homens perdem.
Dama – Quando esta carta aparece todas as mulheres perdem.
Rei – Quando esta carta aparece todos perdem.
O jogo pa-pin-pou:
Melhor jogado quando os jogadores estão sentados ao redor de uma sala ou mesa. É decidido que começa o jogo e ele / ela diz: “pa”. O jogador ao lado da primeira diz “pin”, seguido pelo jogador ao lado que diz “pou” e aponta para um jogador aleatório que diz “pa” etc etc. O jogo continua assim até que um jogador diz uma palavra errada ou aponta sem estar na hora. Quando perde é pago pelo inadimplente. Este jogo pode ser jogado de forma independente para Sueca.
*Piccadilly Circus: Em Londres, as pessoas ficam admiradas muitos muitos quando um lugar está ocupado: é como Piccadilly Circus aqui. É por isso que “Piccadilly Circus” é utilizado neste artigo.
Pa-Pin-Pow que está sendo jogado em um bar de Londres:
It’s surprising what some people throw away and it was even more surprising to find that my friends in Brazil were actually ditching the items I’ve photographed below. To the amusement of my friends also pictured I rescued them from the rubbish (trash) just in time.
I have no idea whether any of them are worth anything but it deserves a punt even though I have to lug them back on a plane to England. The excellent antique and collectible shows on the BBC turn up some unusual items and some turn out to be quite valuable. So maybe I have something. If they are worthless I’ll give them to a charity shop.
Collectibles Rescued From Brazil. Click to enlarge
My Friends Who Laughed When Rescued My Collectibles. Click to enlarge.
I hope you like my new header images. I took all the photos on my latest trip to Brazil and cropped a selection to fit the WordPress theme I use for this blog. They are, of course, copyright and cannot be reproduced in any way without my permission.
Buy Free Eggs - Be Kind To Chickens. Click to enlarge
For 12-years the UK egg industry assured the Government and a concerned public that they would comply with the European-wide ban on barren battery cages. These cages are too small, barren of litter and have nowhere for the hens to perch.
Despite the 12-year deferred implementation of the law 30 egg producers are flouting the regulations and continuing to keep chickens in appalling conditions.
Please TAKE ACTION. Click through to the CIWF web site and send a letter to Jim Paice, the Minister of State at Defra, to take immediate action against the 30 producers involved – and to additionally ensure that none of the illegal eggs enter the UK food chain.
Não comer garrafas Isabella você vai ter indigestão. Clique na imagem para ver em tamanho grande.
Tuesday January 10, around 7pm in the farmhouse that is my home this week. My host’s are farmer Roberto (Beto) and his wife Maria Talia. daughter Rayane, son Betinho and the aunt of the young people Teia.
The family is very hospitable and the place seems like London’s Piccadilly Circus at times with people coming and going. They sip hot black coffee and eat beans and rice, exchange an anecdote or two before leaving as quickly as they came. But, the house isn’t empty for long, as more friends arrive in a very short time.
This week relatives from outside Espera Feliz are in town. Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. The cousins are all of student age and on meeting each other they were looking for some wild student fun. They all piled in with food and drink.
Especially the drink – beer and cachaça, a very potent Brazilian rum. Cachaça neat, in my opinion, is fit only for powering spacecraft, but when it’s mixed with sugar, ice and lemon it is transformed into a delicious cocktail called caipirinha (Kypeereenya).
Everyone mucked in preparing the food and caipirinha. Once the food was out of the way, a game of cards got under way. Many beers later the cards were abandoned for a tongue twister game called Lemon. At this point I joined in.
This is how it goes, the players (lemons) are numbered, if there are eight players it is 1 to 8. Number one player says, in Portuguese of course, “lemon number 5” and lemon number 5 responds “no not lemon number 5, lemon number 2” (also in Portuguese).
Then lemon number 2 repeats the phrase and chooses a different lemon. The responses had to be made quickly so that eventually someone would hash it and pay the penalty. The penalty? Take a swig of cachaça.
Trying to say, under the influence of alcohol, “no not lemon number 5, lemon number 2” very quickly in Portuguese eventually had me blustering something totally unintelligible. To the hoots and screams from my young companions I swigged down my forfeit.
This signalled a change of game to Sueca, just why is called that I have no idea because Sueca is Portuguese for Sweden. Sueca, as we played it, involves cards, drinking cachaça and other forfeits. Each card represents an action, either a direct forfeit, a subsidiary game or a game-changer.
The game changer cards are 5, 6, and 7. The lemon who collects a 5-card makes a rule for all or some of the other players. If you have a 6-card you can scrub the rule. A 7-card allows you to use the toilet. Oh, yes I forgot to tell you, throughout the duration of this game you are not allowed to use the toilet unless you hold a 7-card.
I can imagine Sueca has some interesting variants to the innocent theme we were playing to. Strip-Sueca perhaps and I am sure there has been some interesting variations of the forfeits suffered by losers.
Não comer garrafas Isabella você vai ter indigestão. Clique na imagem para ver em tamanho grande.
Todas as meninas agitar sua bunda. Clique na imagem para ver em tamanho maior.
Preparando-se para se divertir. Clique na imagem para ver em tamanho maior.
Os meninos tinham que ficar em suas cabeças. Clique na imagem para ver em tamanho maior.
A head stand gone wrong. Click to enlarge.
I think it´s my move. Click to enlarge.
Here are the rules in English as we played it with cachaça as the main forfeit.
The cards are placed in the centre of the table face down. The top card is turned to reveal it’s value and is allotted to the first player. Whatever the value of the card determines the player’s action. All, except three. of the cards require an action by one or more of the other players. The actions of ten of the cards are forfeits, i.e. the drinking of alcohol (or use you your imagination for an alternative forfeit). Here are the values of each card bearing in mind this is describing a variation on the proper rules described in the Wikipedia article.
Ace - Choose a player to do one forfeit.
Two - Choose one player to do two forfeits or two players to perform one each.
Three - Choose one player to do three forfeits or three players to perform one each.
Four - Play the subsidiary game Pa-Ping-Po (Portuguese: Pa-Pin-Pow) described below until one of the players pays a forfeit and then return to Sueca.
Five - The player getting a 5 makes a rule for one or more of the other players. I made all the guys stand on their head.
Six - With a 6, which when dealt is retained for future use, the holder can cancel the rule made by the player with card-5.
Seven - Any player getting the 7-card keeps it in case he/she need the toilet/bathroom/banheiro.
Eight - Play the lemon game described above until someone forfeits then return to Sueca.
Nine - The player before the player who gets this cards forfeits.
Ten - The player after the player who gets this cards forfeits.
Jack - When this card appears all the men forfeit.
Queen - When this card appears all the women forfeit.
King - When this card appears everyone forfeits.
The proper rules of Sueca are here in Portuguese: WikiPedia
The game pa-pin-pow (pa-ping-po):
Best played when players are sitting around a room or table. It is decided who starts the game and he/she says “pa”. The the player next to the first says “ping”, followed by the next player who says “po” and points to a random player who says “pa” etc. etc. The game continues like that until a player says the wrong word or a player shouts out of turn. A forfeit is paid by the defaulter. This game can be played independently to Sueca.
UPDATE: I just found this video on YouTube of Brazilians playing the game in what looks like a London pub:
Hylocharis chrysura, Brazilian common name Beija-flor. Click to enlarge.
I am enjoying a holiday in Brazil staying with friends in Espera feliz, Minas Gerais for a few weeks.
In the heat that is Brazil, the preferred footwear is flip-flops. But unlike Brazilians this English guy that is me was not trained to walk in them from an early age. Hence, I frequently wear my trainers (Amer. Sneakers), particularly when I take long walks…… also frequently.
Rain or shine the temperature causes ones walking gear to sweat like a Sumo wrestlers armpit. Something dynamic happens when sweaty feet meet trainers and the resulting aroma beats even the stink of Gorgonzola cheese.
Having scrubbed my smelly trainers with soap and water I was somewhat pissed-off when the stink remained. So remembering that charcoal is used in filters I decided to experiment. I bought some barbecue charcoal and smashed some up. I then filled my trainers with it. This was much to the amusement of my hosts. They are convinced I am a sandwich short of a picnic.
The experiment was left to work it’s wonders overnight, but the next day the trainers were as rank as ever. I tipped the charcoal into a bin and went back to soap and water. This time the result was somewhat sweeter, but whether that is the charcoal or two lots of soap and water, I have no idea.
Now my friends tell me there is a product here called tênis pé from the pharmacy, it’s a powder that treats both the shoes and the feet. The wonders of science astound me!
My smelly trainers complete with de-stinking charcoal
Edie Brickell Singing Good Times. Click to enlarge.
Edie Brickell an American singer-songwriter, born March 10, 1966, in Texas is best known for, Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars, her debut album with the New Bohemians. It went to number 4 in the US Albums Chart in 1988.
I first saw Edie Brickell sing Good Times when it was included as part of the multimedia samples on the Windows 95 CD. I couldn’t find any reference to who she was and it was years before I found her name on the Internet.
Just why she wasn’t a bigger music star I have no idea but her beautiful voice and laid-back style are an irresistible combination. See for yourself in the Good Times video:
Music video by Edie Brickell performing Good Times. (C) 1994 Geffen Records
Me, Dave Knight, Spending Christmas and New Year in Brazil
It’s a strange feeling at Christmas and New Year in the southern hemisphere. It doesn’t feel right. Instead of being cold, even with five layers of winter clothing when in England, I am sweating in shorts and t-shirt. I’m writing this in a very small city called Espera Feliz.
Espera Feliz is located in an agricultural area of Minas Gerais a state in Brazil. It is surrounded by mountains and was itself built at an altitude of 772 metres above sea level. There is no coastline and the only sand is the stuff they use to build with.
For the last few weeks the streets, shops and municipal buildings have been decorated with fake snow and tinsel. Father Christmas, or Papai Noel as he is known here, is suspended from every conceivable position imaginable, but it’s too hot for Christmas and too hot for New Year.
So to all the people I forgot to say the season’s greetings to because doesn’t seem like the right time of the year:
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year Feliz Natal e Feliz Ano Novo
PS I am late posting this becuse the Internet here is powered with rubber bands. There are two speeds, creep and creep slower.
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