Oscar Niemeyer, 100 years old!

The most renowned architect from Brazil completed 100 years of age in the end of last year. If you ever went to Brazil, you probably saw some of his buildings. Among the most famous buildings are the “Copan”, the “Memorial da América Latina” and the buildings at the Ibirapuera Park in São Paulo; the “Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói” in Rio de Janeiro state; the “Catedral Metropolitana” in Brasilia; the “Igreja de São Francisco”, in Pampulha, Belo Horizonte.

Leonardo Finotti, a Brazilian photographer, specialized in architecture, traveled around Brazil and other countries to shoot buildings planned by the famous Brazilian architect. You can visit his exhibition, “100 fotos, obras, anos de Oscar Niemeyer” (100 photographs, buildings, years of Oscar Niemeyer) at “Museu da Electricidade”, in Lisbon, Portugal, until March 2.



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Imagens
Copan Building, downtown São Paulo, Brazil - picture taken by Rodrigo Ferroni (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rolifer/2253137467/)
Catedral Metropolitana, Brasília, Brazil - link

The World as a Stage

This is the title of the new exhibition at The Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. You can visit the exhibition until April 27. If you are nearby, check the installation from the Brazilian Renata Lucas, “Falha”, which reminds us of a temporary theater stage.

Renata Lucas is well known in Brazil, having participated in the 27th Bienal de São Paulo in 2006 and has exhibited also in Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte. She is now taking her first steps towards an international career. In the end of 2007, she participated in the exhibition “The World as a Stage”, at the Tate Modern, in London, with her installation called “The Visitor”. She introduced a diagonal section of trees and bushes into the planned gallery’s yard, transforming a controlled and harmonic environment into chaos. Renata Lucas said she “tried to reproduce the exact position of the plants in the forest so the apparent naturalness of the scene contrasted with the artificiality of the garden.”

If you’re thinking the exhibition was inspired by theater, you’re right. “The World as a Stage” was inspired by the play “As You Like It”, from Shakespeare, who wrote “all the world is a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” So, if you don't want to be a bad actor, give your best performance every day! And, as the artists say, break a leg!

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Image
"Falha", from Renata Lucas - picture taken by John Kennard (http://www.icaboston.org/exhibitions/exhibit/world-as-stage/)

You can dance the samba too!

It is Carnival in Brazil! Everybody is having fun, dancing the samba in Rio and São Paulo, "axé music" in Salvador, frevo in Recife. The most famous Brazilian Carnival though is in Rio. Therefore, samba is the music that best express Carnival. If you think only the mulatas can dance the samba, check this video out!

The Brazilian Japanese Julia Futaki is here to prove that you can dance the samba too, even if you are a gringo! So, don't be shy and get into the groove!

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Image: Carnival in Rio - Picture taken by Lee Abamonte
(Source: http://www.leeabbamonte.com/south-america/carnival-in-rio-the-champions-parade.html)

The girl from Ipanema

Tall and tan and young and lovely

The girl from Ipanema goes walking
And when she passes, each one she passes goes - ah

Who doesn't know this song? The beautiful song, composed by Vinicius de Moraes and Tom Jobim, is one of the most played songs in the world and was performed by many artists worldwide.

Recently, Scott Vogel published an interesting article in the Washington Post entitled "The girl from Ipanema, a cruise to the muse". There, the journalist reaffirmed a story that many people in Brazil believe to be truth: Vinicius de Moraes wrote the lyrics of the song in a bar in Ipanema called Veloso (now Garota de Ipanema bar), inspired by a beautiful young girl named Heloísa or Helô. Scott Vogel writes about the trip he made to Brazil to meet her and about the fun he had in a cruise ship along the coast of the states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. When he finally meets Helô, a tall, tan, lovely and not so young woman anymore, she gives her testimony on how she became aware of the rumors about having inspired the song.

Another version of the story, however, is explained by Ruy Castro in his book "Bossa Nova: The story of the Brazilian Music that Seduced the World" (p. 239-240):

It has already been explained, but people find it hard to accept the truth: Jobim and Vinícius did not write "The Girl from Ipanema" in the Veloso bar (today called Garota da Ipanema). It was never the duo's style to write music sitting at a table in some bar, although they had probably spent the best hours of their lives in them. Jobim composed the melody meticulously on the piano at his new home in Rua Barro da Torre, and it was originally intended for a musical comedy entitled Blimp, which Vinícius already had worked out in his head but had not yet committed to paper. Vinícius, in turn, had written the lyrics in Petrópolis, near Rio, as he had done with "Chega de Saudade" six years earlier, and it took him just as much work. To begin with, it wasn't originally called "Garota da Ipanema," but "Menina que passa" (The Girl Who Passes By"), and the entire first verse was different. As for the famous girl, Jobim and Vinícius did in fact see her pass by as they sat in the Veloso bar, during the winter of 1962— not just once, but several times, and not always on her way to the beach but also on her way to school, to the dressmaker, and even to the dentist. Mostly because Heloísa Eneida Menezes Paes Pinto, better known as Helô, who was eighteen years of age, five feet, eight inches tall, with green eyes and long, flowing black hair, lived in Rua Montenegro and was already the object of much admiration among patrons of the Veloso, where she would frequently stop to buy cigarettes for her mother—and leave to a cacophony of wolf-whistles.

I am among the ones that find it hard to accept the truth. I prefer to believe in Vogel's version. It is more romantic. Besides, because of Helô, many girls like me grew up dreaming of one day finding an artist to inspire. And speaking of artists, let's check this video with Tom, Vinicius, and their masterpiece:

The Sound of Rio

If you haven't seen it yet, do it. The musical documentary "The Sound of Rio: Brasileirinho" is a great present from Mika Kaurismäki to those who have a passion for "choro", a typical Brazilian style of music. "Choro" or "chorinho" was originated in Rio de Janeiro in the 19th century and has its roots in European ballroom dance music - like waltz and polka - and African rhythms.

The documentary "The Sound of Rio: Brasileirinho" tells a little bit of the history of "choro" but the great thing about this movie are the performances by great names of the current generation of "choro" musicians, like the clarinet and saxophone virtuoso Paulo Moura, the percussionist Marcos Suzano, the Trio Madeira Brasil, the guitar player Yamandú Costa, among others. I had the opportunity to see Yamandú in a concert in Brazil. He is a genius!

If you live in the US, "The Sound of Rio" can be rented at Netflix. If you want to buy the DVD, you can do it at the Milan Records website. Now, if you can't wait to know a little bit more about "chorinho", check this video I have found in YouTube. It is a documentary with Conjunto Época de Ouro, Pixinguinha, Altamiro Carrilho, Jacob do Bandolim, entre outros. If you know Portuguese, you will be able to understand the history told in this movie. If not, just enjoy the music. And if you want to learn Portuguese to see this and other Brazilian movies, I am starting my new blog: Brazilian Portuguese Class. Check it out! And tell me what you think about it!