Making Calabash Fiddles
Francisco Ferreira de Freitas Filho, better known as Di Freitas, is a conservatory trained musician who’s played in orchestras around Brazil. In 2002, he settled down in Juazeiro do Norte, a city in the interior of Ceará known for its rich culture, and became enamored with the sound of the rabeca, a kind of folk fiddle. When he began teaching music to local children, many of them couldn’t afford to buy instruments, so he decided to teach them how to make their own rabecas.
Di Freitas recently came to Fortaleza to lead a week-long workshop at the Banco do Nordeste, where we spent our days making rabecas de cabaça (rabecas made from calabash gourds). Watch the video to see how it’s done and to hear Di Freitas playing the rabeca de cabaça in the song “Segura o Coco” from his CD, O Alumioso.
Michael Silvers Discusses His Fulbright-mtvU Fellowship
Michael Silvers Discusses His Fulbright-mtvU Fellowship experience and encourages you to apply. The application deadline for the next round of Fulbright-mtvU Fellowships is March 1st. Click here for more info and to start your application.
“Ready To Fight This War With You”
Photo Credit: Kaitlin Houlditch-Fair
I had heard of the organization World Camp for Kids when I was in North Carolina during this project’s planning stages. I have a few friends who have done their Malawi program and each one came back raving “oh Andrew you HAVE to go meet World Camp!! You have to go see what they do.” By coincidence their American office is in my home town Asheville and their Malawi office is in my “new home” town Lilongwe.
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The Musical Landscapes of Ricardo Bezerra
Ricardo Bezerra was my host father when I first came to Fortaleza as an exchange student to study Portuguese. Ricardo, a practicing landscape architect and professor, is also a composer. In 1978, he released his first album, Maraponga, featuring Brazilian musical heavyweights like jazz legend Hermeto Pascoal and singers Raimundo Fagner and Amelinha. His song “Cavalo Ferro” became a huge hit, one that musicians still record and perform today (there’s a recent version on iTunes if you’re curious). Fagner and Amelinha and a few other musicians from the state of Ceará came to be known as the Pesssoal do Ceará, the folks from Ceará, and they helped bring Ricardo’s music to a wider Brazilian audience.
In 2003, Ricardo released his second album, Notas de Viagens, and is now working on a new CD. His most recent music is instrumental, and much of it combines jazz with northeastern Brazilian traditional music. He and I met up to talk about his new project. We chatted about the search for the Cearense sound and the ways musicians can express regional identity through music. Check out the clip to hear him talk about the ways he’s given his music the sound of Ceará and to hear one of his new songs from his upcoming album.
Learn More About The Fulbright mtvU Fellowship
The focus of the Fulbright-mtvU Fellowship is to promote “the power of music” as a global force for mutual understanding. We will be hosting a series of webinars where alumni of the Fulbright-mtvU Fellowship will discuss their Fulbright Experiences. IIE Program Managers will moderate the sessions. A question and answer session will follow the presentations. All interested applicants and advisors are welcome to attend the webinars listed below.
Follow the below links to register:
2008 Grantees
