Brazil-on-Seine

Paris's Thriving Brazilian Music Scene

Paris 

11/03/2005 - 

A new generation of Brazilian singers and musicians have chosen to base themselves in France. And a number of them, particularly Seu Jorge, have carved out a place on the music scene here. Although the beaches of Rio are far away, Paris offers these artists a "huge window on the world" - and they are certainly making the most of it! The Brazilian music scene in Paris has introduced French audiences to everything from traditional sounds to the latest cutting-edge electro!

What links Barbès, a vibrant immigrant neighbourhood in Paris, to Brazil? Brazilian singer Mônica Passos certainly thinks she has the answer! On her latest album, Banzo, the sultry-voiced diva serves up her jazzy swing sound on a series of tender and ironic songs which pay tribute to her two 'homelands.' When Mônica arrived in the French capital in 1980, she says she felt instantly at home in Barbès, a neighbourhood she describes as a "huge window open on the rest of the world." 25 years on, Mônica still sees France as her personal "Eldorado, the reverse image of America."

Mônica's compatriot Marcio Faraco has also enjoyed an extended stay in France, since 1992, in fact. Faraco, who describes himself as a "poetic exile", puts his suave crooning tones to good use, cooking up a catchy mix of samba, 'balade', bossa and jazz. He claims to have got the inspiration for Apesar da escuridão (a track from his latest album Com Tradição) nipping down to the local 'tabac'. "I live my life in Paris as if I were still living in Brazil," he says, "I gaze up at the sun and the moon and it seems to me that the moon here's the same as in Brazil. We say it's the mirror that belongs to Iemanjá, the African goddess of the sea."

From the favelas of Rio to La Favela Chic

While Mônica Passos and Marcio Faraco have proved that Brazilian music can take root thousands of miles from its source, a new generation of singers and musicians are busy dispelling the sun-sea-and-carnival clichés associated with their homeland. The thriving Brazilian music scene in France is not just based on samba – the music that has symbolised Rio over the past forty years. On the contrary, the scene is made up of a bubbling melting-pot of sounds which draw on everything from rural traditions to modern urban grooves.

The success of Seu Jorge is proof of the remarkable talent and diversity of this scene. Jorge is considered by Caetano Veloso and Chico Buarque, the leading figureheads of "MPB" (popular Brazilian music which mixes bossa-nova, samba, jazz and rock) as their most worthy successor. Jorge grew up in the tough world of the Rio slums, spending his childhood in a 'favela' in the 1970s. He used theatre as a way out of the slums, expressing himself on stage before turning to music and forming his own group Farofa Carioca. The group's heady mix of samba, groove and pop proved an instant hit and it was not long before Jorge went on to launch a solo career with Samba Esporte Fino. Meanwhile, Jorge was also busy in front of the cameras, starring in Fernando Meirelles's acclaimed film A cidade de Deus (The City of God). The success of the film turned him into a household name in Brazil.

In 2004, Seu Jorge emerged on the international music scene with an album which fused pared-down bossa (think simple guitar and percussion) with socially committed lyrics (Eu sou favela) and love songs (Tive razão). The album Cru (Flesh) was the fruit of the Paris-Rio connection, Jorge hooking up with Gringo da Parada, a resident DJ at La Favela Chic (a trendy Brazilian club/bar/restaurant in Paris's 11th arrondissement). The chemistry between Gringo – infallible talent-spotter and producer of the Favela Chic's "Postnove" compilations – and charismatic Brazilian performer Seu Jorge was instant and a successful collaboration ensued. 

The Year of Brazil in France has inevitably turned the spotlight on Brazilian organisations such as La Favela Chic. In fact, the attention has been so intense that Soraya, La Favela Chic's PR person, jokes that "sometimes you wish it had been the 'Year of Ireland instead!"  But La Favela Chic's commitment to Brazilian music stretches way back beyond 2005. "Ever since we opened, nine years ago," says Soraya, "the Favela Chic team have tried to promote an alternative scene and introduce audiences to different facets of Brazil." Over the years the Favela Chic community – made up of artists, musicians, decorators and photographers – have picked up on avant-garde trends in Brazil and transported them to Paris. One of the team's latest finds is 'baile funk', a sound system that originally emerged in Rio's favelas in the 70s which mixes typical Brazilian sounds over 'Miami bass.'

A Profusion of Paris-based labels

La Favela Chic has not been alone in promoting different facets of the Brazilian music scene. In recent years, French and Brazilian labels (now setting up in Paris in increasing numbers) have acted as tour organisers and producers for up-and-coming Brazilian artists. The Helico label is a case in point. Over the past two years they have thrown their weight behind the Orquestra do Fuba, a group who emerged from the innovative new musical generation in Rio and São Paolo and have since established themselves as the most vibrant example of the movement in France. On stage, the group serve up a lively mix of accordion, triangle, 'rabeca' (a sort of small handmade violin), 'zabumba' (a traditional percussion instrument from the Nordeste) and violin. The Orquestra do Fuba's original and authentic creations draw inspiration from 'forró', a musical style made up of rhythms from the Nordeste (which can be heard at dances and festivals throughout this region).

Bebel Gilberto, Chico Buarque, Maria Bêthânia and Gilberto Gil are all major Brazilian stars on the French music scene. But a host of lesser-known names and more recent sounds (such as hip-hop and electro) as well as regional styles ('forró') are now finding support from record labels and, more importantly, an attentive audience in France. The sociologist Gilberto Freyre once claimed that music was the quintessence of Brazil. And if this is so, let us hope that a new sector of music fans will prove receptive to what Brazilian-Parisian pianist Rafael Hime describes as those "vast hangars of sensation!"

Mathilde  Laban

Translation : Julie  Street