Fortaleza
Klezmer Nordestina
Xote, pronounced SHO-chee, is one of the basic forró rhythms. The lead singer of Banda LeChaim, Fortaleza’s klezmer band (yep, Fortaleza’s got a Jewish wedding band) described this song as Yiddish-xote. Considering that I used to play accordion in a klezmer band when I was in college, you can imagine my giddiness when I got to hear my two favorite kinds of accordion dance music at once. Hear for yourself:
The Myth Of The Three Races
I was recently invited to a sarau, like an 18th century French salon, at the home of a local psychiatrist. She hosts the parties every other month, and local opera singers, musicians, poets, and other artists come to share their work. The parties are centered around a voice teacher from Fortaleza named Vitor Philomeno Gomes who studied in the US and currently lives in São Paulo, but comes to Fortaleza periodically to give voice lessons.
Vitor and I chatted, and he explained how Cearense music has roots in medieval Europe, with influences from the Moors and troubadours. This is why, he said, traditional forró is modal (it uses the mixolydian, dorian, and lydian modes) and why instruments like the rabeca (see my previous blog post) and pífano (fife) are played in the interior of the state.
After hors d’oeuvres, the host of the party invited everyone to her living room. She joked that all three Brazilian races would be represented, since there would be not only classical European music, but also indigenous Brazilian music and Afro-Brazilian music. It was a multicultural night, she said.
There was Mozart, Gershwin, an African American spiritual, and a Neapolitan love song. An artist brought a collection of paintings, and an actress swayed gracefully to the night’s music. Marlui Miranda, a singer, composer, and researcher of Brazilian indigenous music, performed a song by the Kayapó Mekragnoti (a Brazilian indigenous group) while a well-known maracatu musician accompanied her on the drum. Vitor sang a piece by a contemporary Brazilian composer about the orixás, the deities of Candomblé, an Afro-Brazilian religion. And a soprano performed an art song by Alberto Nepomuceno, a Brazilian nationalist composer from Ceará who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Ricardo, a young tenor with a powerful voice, told me that it’s hard starting a career as an opera singer in Ceará since it’s the “land of forró.” But it’s also the land of indigenous groups like the Tapeba, maracatu cearense, Alberto Nepomuceno, and depending on who you ask, Mozart and African American spirituals.
Watch some of the highlights:
(Thanks to Bete Bezerra for helping me film.)
Carnaval!
During carnaval in Fortaleza most people leave town and head for the beach. But those who stay get to witness one of Fortaleza’s most captivating traditions. Groups of musicians and dancers spend the year rehearsing for the city’s carnaval parade, where participants slowly process down a grandstand-lined boulevard, drumming maracatu cearense, a rhythm unique to Ceará.
Here’s my video of Maracatu Nação Fortaleza’s final rehearsal, led by composer/musician Calé Alencar, only three days before this year’s carnaval parade. It was part rehearsal, part block party:
And here’s Maracatu Nação Fortaleza performing in downtown Fortaleza during carnaval:
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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.
Happy Holidays from Brazil!
This is the Coral Natal de Luz (the Christmas of Light Choir) singing a poppy version of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” in Portuguese. The kids are all in different windows of a building in downtown Fortaleza, and if you look closely, you can see Santa in the bottom center window.
Up to four awards will be available to pursue projects around an aspect of international contemporary or popular music as a cultural force for expression. Preference will be given to creative projects that are conveyed in a dynamic fashion and are accompanied by a feasible plan. In addition to presenting unique projects on music as a global force for mutual understanding. Deadline to apply is March 1, 2012.