Brazil Logs

Queridos~ I’ve been here for just over a week and am really excited to be back in Rio! I still have so much to learn about choro and how it’s played, but I am noticing a distinct change in my playing style, and my friends are too. Even Casio – who studied classical clarinet at Boston Conservatory but grew up here playing choro – says I’m not “going somewhere else” with the music any more, but am sounding more like a Carioca.

I have 8 choro memorized & 6 more close, which is harder than it sounds because choro are so chromatic that there are few fingering patterns to rely on. And the pressure of playing in a roda as a soloist – jumping in and out of the tune when it’s your turn, and having to play as loud as possible all the time – means that a tune has to be absolutely locked not to fly from your brain at the first jolt of the unexpected. Luckily most of the rodas I’m playing in are fine w/ lead sheets, so I can have the page there if I need it. I’m also working on chords and picking style, sitting in “the kitchen” (what Brasileiros call the rhythm section) whenever possible and trying to slip into that groove when it’s not my turn to solo or when I don’t know the tune. But enough musical musing – here’s what’s been going on:

I left Thursday, March 13, in a mad rush. Crazy to give last exams while finishing taxes, running errands on the way home. I finished packing & got to the airport by 4:30 (thanks, Betty!). All 3 departures were delayed, then we sat on the runway, then circled endlessly waiting to land, but the trip was otherwise uneventful.

So I arrive on Friday at noon, about an hour late, and it’s raining. My friend and bandmate Romulo meets me at the airport. I’m staying at his house until I can find a room in Urca, hopefully, as my expected place has fallen through. R goes off to work to finish a journal article due today (he’s the sax player in my group, gua no Feijao, and in his non-choro life is an engineering doctoral student). I play music, unpack. I’m meeting R & Mariana (R’s girlfriend) at a champagne bar later to catch up on the time I’ve been away. I get a woman cab driver – my first ever in Rio – and she’s playing blues on the radio. We have a great talk “no portugues” about blues & choro & Bonnie Raitt. We find the club & Mariana is there already & R arrives soon & we toast & talk. I’m still coughing from a lingering winter cold & so drink champagne through Fisherman’s Friend part of the time. Seems like a waste, but I’m in Rio so how long can a cough last here?

Saturday is the first EPM (choro school) & I’m so excited! However it’s still raining, so the intro lectures are indoors & split up for new and old students & there’ll be no Bandao because, w/ 600+ people, that definitely has to meet outdoors. I see Marcia & Samantha (friends, staff of EPM), Jorge & Carlos (former bandmates), others, give my new method book to Marcilio & PedroA (amazing bandolimistas) – both pleased, surprised, happy for me. Mill around a bit, chat & Ana (flutist) & Luiz (guitarist) are starting a roda back in the lecture hall. It’s fun & I am so ready! Later some of the teachers join in & it becomes quite awesome, but does get too loud for me to really be heard on melody, so I work on chords.

Sunday we’re up fairly early for the Sao Salvador roda. Luiz has brought “Falte-Me Voce” – a tune I love & no one plays at rodas, probably because of all the flats, so I happily accept his offer to play it first, as the crew is assembling. Meet Ester – an oboist from Boston living in Europe, also later Jesse – a Mike Marshall mandolin protogé from CA, both of whom R met at the Choro Festival in February near Sao Paulo. A few songs later Casio – friend & fabulous clarinetist – arrives. It’s always a fun roda, & even better sitting in a clump w/ L, E, C, R. And Raphael (AnF 7-string guitarist) arrives later. Afterwards R & I are off to Pablo’s in Magé to put down my tracks for the 6-song recording they’ve been making of AnF. Without much fuss we figure out what I should play where & I do that. Home at 1:00 AM – 16 hours after leaving for the roda. Cool day w/ more playing than a girl has a right to hope for. And Ester & Jesse & I played so well at roda we have been invited to play at Luiz’ roda (invitation-only) at a bar in Laranjaras on Tuesday. There’s a roda at Bip Bip on Monday – will I try to go for the 4-day streak? Cough is gone (even w/ this crazy schedule) – I do love Rio!

On Monday I still don’t have a room, although all my friends are looking for me, so I go to Catete to check out a recommended hotel, but it just won’t do. While in Catete I walk down to the Palace park & have a cafezinho & pao de queijo (little round pastries w/ cheese inside) at my favorite outdoor cafe. The rain has stopped & it’s tank-top-&-flip-flop weather. And this is their autumn… It’s beginning to get dark & since I’ve never taken the bus back to R’s house I decide I’d better get going. It turns out to be a bad decision as the metro trains are packed from rush hour. It gets so crowded halfway there that I push my way off and wait about half an hour before there’s a train with breathing room. It’s late when I get back to R’s and I decide against goimg out again to the roda. So I’m practicing in my room when there’s a knock on my door & it’s Rafael! So he & Romulo & I have a roda of our own – it’s so much fun to play w/ the boys in my band!

Tuesday R goes off to work & I do some choro study – I want to be ready for whatever is coming. In the afternoon I walk around the Rio Comprido neighborhood where R lives to get my bearings. There’s a cool funky square down the street a couple of blocks w/ lots of stores & stalls. I take a cab to Luiz’s roda in a bar in Laranjeiras (skipping my favorite Tuesday night hang-out at Trapiche Gamboa listening to the best roda in all of Rio, for the opportunity to play). R is there & their regular bandolimist & Jesse, but not Ester. Everyone’s amplified & the talking reaches quite a roar so part way through I become inaudible. At one point I actually stop in my solo & wail “noone can hear me”, but Jesse, sitting next to me, pipes up “I can hear you.” So I laugh & go on. Just as we’re finishing Casio shows up. He’d been at church & heard the music so came in. We talk as Luiz & Romulo finish up the beer. Walk w/ Casio – who is so funny, it’s like he’s a movie all by himself – to catch a cab back to R’s.

Wednesday is a beautiful sunny day and I head off to Copacabana to check out the SESC hotel (already full), grab some beach time (after all it IS spring break) & see Ronaldo do Bandolim play at Modern Sound. Ronaldo is in fine spirits – lovely to talk to him – although it’s kindof smoozy music at Modern Sound. On Thursday I’m practicing when R arrives home from his sax lesson w/ Taxi-Paulo! The man had just called me on the telephone earlier w/ some leads on places to stay. R was hailing a cab after his lesson when he saw TP waving across the street – funny coincidence. But the big news is an email from Sueli – she has found me a room in Urca!! I call & the room will be available March 31st. I suggest I go right over w/ a deposit. The room is cute – I’m typing in it now – w/ pink walls, a large desk under the window that looks out at Cristo over the rooftops. There’s a bed, an armchair, closet, some shelves & a cool primitivo painting over the bed of a Matisse-like girl w/ a bird on her shoulder whispering in her ear (a little bird told me…). Mirian, my future landlady, seems to be about my age & has a son Sergio who is 20 & lives there too. I give her a deposit and as we are talking the man renting the room now comes out to say he wants to fly home early & would it be OK w/ Miriam & me if I “buy” the rest of his month & move in tomorrow. Fine all around, so I go back to R’s & pack to move. I gave myself a week to find something & thanks once again to Sueli I did, & miraculously will be back living in Urca exactly a week after arriving.

Friday, TaxiPaulo arrives at R’s just after the promised 9:30 AM to pick me & my stuff up & take us to Urca. R & Mariana are out of town for a couple of days, so I leave a note telling R where I’ve gone. In Urca unpack & settle into my cool little room & get the password for the wireless internet in the house – what a treat to be able to send email from my own room instead of the funky internet cafe down the street! It will make my online teaching so much easier too. I’m going to an early concert by Joel in the north of the city – an expensive cab ride, but always fun w/ TaxiPaulo. Joel’s playing w/ some of the young hot-shots from EPM, who look suitably impressed & nervous to be backing him up. It’s a great set! Jesse & his wife are there & I sit w/ them.

As promised I introduce him to Joel, who is simultaneously glad to see me – pulling me up on stage after the concert for a hug & kiss – and pretending to be disgruntled that I have been here for a week & haven’t called him. Funny, sweet… I arrange for a lesson for Wednesday & we leave by bus/metro/bus. About an hour later I am walking up my street, around 9:30, when Sueli unexpectedly sticks her head out the window of a car driving down the hill & says “Let’s go!” So I hop into the passenger seat & I am off w/ her to the gig of her most-excellent all-woman samba band, Orchestra Lunar. Of course by time we return – around 3:30 AM – I am totally wiped out, but the band is so good & so loud, and I get to hang out & chat w/ Aurea Martins – their awesome & quite famous singer – at a new cool bar, and talk to Sueli at the breaks. It’s a perfect night out in Rio!

On Saturday there’s no EPM because of the Easter holiday, so there’s an Agua no Feijao practice scheduled for noon. I’m running late when R calls to say everyone is running late & he’s cooking lunch for 1:30 – a reprieve. When I get there Rafael & R & I eat his excellent pasta & then Pablo arrives w/ the mixes he has been doing of the CD tunes. We discuss & pretty much agree on some changes – the tunes are sounding really good! Then we play (Marcus, cavaquinho, and Michel, the new pandeiro player, are doing music for a play so they can’t make practice). I am so tired that I can hardly read the music – new stuff – but still it’s fun.

Afterwards, Pablo is going to drop me at the metro station on his way out of town, but as we are heading there he swerves to avoid something burning in the road & as we pass it, it explodes. It was a small bomb, probably dropped by the car in front of us. I shudder to think what would have happened if we had driven over it and it exploded under the car. We are both kindof shaken & miss the Estacio station & Pablo ends up driving me to the entrance of Urca where I get out & walk over the bridge & stop to get a sandwich & guarana (a Brazilian soda, kindof like cream soda or gingerale) to go. I’m surprised to see it’s 9:30 already. I eat & fall asleep quite soon thereafter, refusing to admit that my cough is trying to stage a return. Must sleep more!

I wake up Easter Sunday feeling cranky, like I should just skip roda & sleep. But then I shake some sense into myself and realize that it’s probably just lack of coffee in the house. So I get out the door & get coffee at the bar down the street, grab the bus-metro & walk up to Praca Sao Salvador about a half hour late. It’s the first time going to the roda by bus/metro (Romulo usually picks me up, but has other things to do this morning) & as a result it’s my first time arriving late. But everyone is glad to see me & the pandeiro player sitting next to Luiz indicates that I should take his seat, so there I am in my favorite place.

The roda is great & Casio shows up a few minutes later, & I get to play a lot of cool tunes including Santa Morena, E Do Que H, Doce de Coco, Desprezando… & my place turns out to be even better about an hour later when Jorginho do Pandeiro arrives and sits down 2 seats over. This man is the best of the best, and played in Epouca d’Oro w/ Jacob do Bandolim- my absolute choro hero who, alas, died young in 1969. I am delirious w/ excitement – why is he here playing w/ us? It’s like playing w/ history as well as one of the greats. His son Jorginho Filho (who also plays in E d’O now) arrives a few minutes later & soon is sitting next to me playing cavaquinho.

So there I am, in the middle of the “kitchen” w/ Luiz to my right & the Jorginho’s to my left. The roda is in its loud phase, so I play chords for awhile, getting a good lesson in picking by watching J Cavaquinho’s right hand. I also get to play solos on Cochichando, Noite Cariocas, Benzinho, and play an entire solo version of Santa Morena again – tunes are almost never played twice in one roda – because J Pandeiro has a famous part on the 2nd section that everyone wants him to play. Romulo arrives part way through this whole thing & graciously takes a couple of pictures of me w/ the big guys. Wow – what a thrill! Afterwards a lot of people come up to me to say “parabens” and the people sitting behind me express astonishment that I’m not Brasilian. Yes, I am pretty glad that I came. R & I drive to Sta. Teresa & toast Easter w/ gengibre cachacha at a very late lunch (early dinner?) at the Bar do Mineiro.

So everything in Rio is unfolding as it should. I’ll see Paulo Sa & Henrique soon, have a lesson w/ Joel, play at more rodas, go back to Trapiche, just slip back into my life here without missing a beat. How lucky I am to be able to live two lives right now– one in the US & one in Rio! Big thanks to everyone who understands and is OK w/ me missing half of each. More next week.

Ate ja
m

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subject: eu estou aqui
January 1, 2008
2008 will be great! (sounds like a cheer w/ the rhyme) Amazing night last night– the fireworks were unbelievable. I watched them w/ Romulo & friends on top of an apartment building right on the beach in Copacabana. We went to his Aunt’s house beforehand for a party, and afterwards went to Monique do Cavaco’s apartment for a roda, where her husband obligingly made me my 1st caipirinha of the trip. I got the whole roda to count down to the NYC Times Square live ball-drop broadcast on TV (which was 3:00 AM Rio time). Back to Romulo’s, where I am staying for a couple of days, by 5:00 AM. It sure ain’t Providence 🙂 Hanging w/ R & his gfriend Mariana and some friends today.
best to all~
m

subject: na Urca
January 3, 2008
Queridos~ I am now in my funky-but-cool apartment in Urca. It turns out that it’s all mine, as the owner is away (it’s a 1-bedroom, so he’d have to be, but that probably rules it out for March). I’ve got a balcony overlooking the beach, a piano, a great collection of jazz CDs (Rodrigo is a jazz pianist) & sheet music & all the other necessities. I’m settling in today– buying all the soap/milk stuff. I can’t get the internet connection in the apt. to work, so for now I’m in my handy internet cafe. & Handerson (my fave internet guy) is back! I’m going to a new roda in Sta. Teresa tonight, near Bar do Mineiro, so I’m definitely slipping over there for a ginger cachaca! It’s sunny, hot, noisy, wonderful here in Urca– the beach is packed & traffic is mad. Hope y’all had a happy new year. I’ll try to send some lo-res pics of the fireworks on the next email. It’s a mite hard for a Mac girl to figure out all the PC stuff, despite lessons from Alex.
tchau/bjs.
m

subject: musica todos os dias
January 7, 2008
Queridos~ I have been playing so much since I last wrote. Had a great lesson w/ Joel on Friday 2:30 until 8:30. I played Cochichando from memory & he really liked my variations. Also Eu Quero e Sosego, but not entirely memorized– and he was pleased by my interpretation– a really big deal, because this is Joel– the maestro of interpretation. And I played other choro for him too, but I’m writing these names because they come back again tomorrow… I gave him a copy of my new mandolin method– just came in the mail the day before I left. He really liked it & said I need to write a 2nd one now that I’ve studied w/ him. TaxiPaulo took me there & home– great to see the man.

Saturday was Romulo’s bday party– a grand roda! I played there from ~noon until 6:30. TaxiPaulo came to get me then because at my lesson Joel said he was playing @ a roda @ Bar Ronaldo (aka Bar Original) in Sta. Teresa that started @ 5:00 & I should come by. But I wanted to stay @ Romulo’s because he IS my v.best friend in Rio. So TP & I started out, having both been given directions, but Sta Teresa is v.complicated & of course Joel, who gave us the directions, doesn’t drive…

Well we drove around asking everyone & listening in all the bars, but no Joel. Just as we were giving up, TP sees Henrique Cazes and, of course because this is Rio & I’m lucky in Rio, TP recorded an LP by HC many years ago & HC (most famous cavaquinho player & choro historian in Rio) remembers him & the roda is at someone’s house that is right there, up a steep walking hill.

TP comes up w/ me to check it out– he’s good like that. They’re on break & Joel is talking on the other side of the swimming pool @ this gorgeous house. We go over & Joel introduces me to the guy he’s talking to– um grand bandolimist– who turns out to be the bandolimist in Tira Poeira– one of my favorite bands. Joel then grabs my hand & drags me over to Yamandu & Ze Paulo Becker (2 of the most famous guitarists in Rio) & proceeds to tell them all about me & how wonderful my method is. I manage to aqueeze in how much I like their music (really a Bill&Ted “I am not worthy” moment).

Joel then drags me into the roda room & sits me on the bench next to his daughter, who is next to him. TP hangs out for a bit & splits. The roda started @ 4:00 & it’s 7:00, but this is Rio so people keep arriving & when they start again there’s an excellent woman flutist (don’t yet know her name) & HenriqeC & Joel & ZeP (Yamandu isn’t playing, neither is the Tira guy– they just stand & appreciate) & then Ronaldo do Bandolim arrives & his brother Rogerio Sousa– incredible 7-string player– and Roberto Cazes– H’s brother– a fabulous percussionist & others. This is turning into a legendary jam. I cannot believe my luck. The music is awesome & I’m sitting between & just behind Joel & Ronaldo– muito legal!! Unfortunately the light is bad for pics, and my battery is almost shot, so only 1 bad pic, below.

At one point Ronaldo hands me his bandolim & splits to stretch his legs. I’m itching to noodle along, but completely intimidated. Joel notices me holding it though & asks if I want to play. “Nao aqui!!” I beg, but he insists & he is the one person I can’t say no to. He says to just play Cochichando because I know it by heart. So I agree. & he gives me a big intro–Americana, classical, his student, loves choro– so everyone is on my side. & he makes me play his mandolin & sit in his chair. Well, yes, now I am thourghly terrified & excited. Rogerio asks gently what I’m going to play & nods approval @ Cochhichando so I play the intro & we’re off. & I remember it (thank-you oh angel of difficult runs!) & play lots of cool stuff. & this is a debut so I’m to play the whole thing, I realize as I continue. & then I’m done & there’s huge applause & Ronaldo is back & is amazed. We’ve been friends but somehow he’s never heard me play a note.

So I get up but Berto Cazes say, no you need to play another. & yes, the standard convidalo is 2 tunes. So i guess I did OK. I play the first couple of notes of Eu Quero, & the best rhythm section in the world of choro kicks in & I’m off, vaguely remembering that I don’t really remember this tune w/out music… I fumble a bit but get back on track. I try to hand off to Ronaldo & finally get him to take a B-section & I’m in a just-go-for-it mood so I play counterlines that are actually cool & Joel is behind me yelling “muito musical” (and in my imagination pointing down at me) & I somehow get back to the melody in time to end the piece. Whoa! I am totally wiped out. But it was fine, my debut in the big leagues.

TaxiPaulo has arrived back while this is going on & gives me a thumbs up. & I know I did well because Henrique Cazes then launches into Desvairada– a killer tune. They would have regrouped w/ a groove tune if I’d messed up. & then Ronaldo played an awesome polca & I stumbled over to drink a beer w/ TP say good-byes & we go. As we are walking down the hill I realize that I want to play at this level & I can. Just need to get going on the know-by-heart thing. A big moment.

The computer just crashed & I lost the rest of this email… Will try again but probably more briefly…. Yesterday was the roda @ San Sebastao, the Sunday afternoon regular where I started my visit a week ago. Then I went to a roda da samba w/ my friends Jorge & Miriam (B remembers). Today as I started this email session I was free all day, but (since this is Rio) now I’m having dinner w/ my friend & mandolinist Sergio, & Arismar do Espirito Santo (who I played w/ @ RIC) is in town for 1 day from Sao Paulo so I’ll go hear him play @ Semente later– if I can find it again (B&A remember).

And have I mentioned how happy I am to be immersed in Brazilian music 24/7? Sorry if this was too much for some of you. Feel free to opt out of this group mail if you like. But I’m writing this for myself as much as you. So I will remember back in frigid New England 2 weeks from now that all this really did happen.
beijinhos~
m

back to sunny
January 10, 2008
Queridos– well it has been raining for 2 days & I have a cold, so that’s the downside of paradise 🙂 But today is sunny, if cool. It’s not actually as hot here as it was last March– just lucky my friends say, it should be. Not much to report. Another great lesson w/ Joel yesterday– working on Brazilian waltzes & their ornamentation. My portugues is better, somehow, and TaxiPaulo brought me some all-portugues kids’ grammar books to study.

As my students often say in their class reports–here’s some “fun facts”– Electric hot water in my shower has 2 settings– “summer” and “winter”. The summer setting is cold all the time; the winter setting was hot once but cold ever since. (Does it know I’m cheating?) “segunda-feira” (2nd day) is Monday not Tuesday– I know that but just missed a concert because I showed up a day late– rats! “Muito legal” means very cool & has nothing to do w/ legality. If a concert is scheduled to start @ 8:00, it just means you’re lucky if the doors open @ 8:00 & the concert won’t start for at least another hour– maybe an hour & a half. Goes for classical as well as club shows. Shows @ Semente start @ 11:00 PM & I don’t know how long they last– never made it that far.

I’m off to Rio Sul Shopping to buy another music folder, as I out-growing mine by leaps and bounds. Thanks to all you who have replied to these group musings– it’s great to read you here.
beijinhos (little kisses)
abracoes (big hugs)
m

subject: a week left
January 13, 2008
Queridos~ played in a great roda @ Praca Sao Salvador today. really good players & lots of people there just to listen. I love this roda– we’re all just going for it and it’s so new. I’m learning lots of new tunes– every week I get Romulo to print out some new ones that I just heard. I had my camera & got some friends to take pics so I can remember in cold old new England. There was a really good clarinetist– I went out to lunch w/ him afterwards– and a harmonica player– first time I’d heard one @ a roda & it sounded great!

It’s taken a turn to hothot here. Thursday I went to the beach for the first time, at 10:30 AM, & I only lasted 45 minutes & left feeling like I had sunstroke. My friend Sueli told me later that you should be off the beach by 10;00 AM, so I didn’t feel like such a wimp. Today, the beach outside my apt. was already filling up when I got up @ 8:00, and 12-hours later it’s still full. so clearly she wasn’t speaking for all Cariocas ;-). It’s been up around 34 or 35 (this is why I hate centigrade– does that sound hot? no! now 100 degrees– that’s a concept that says as hot as is humanly possible to take)

I wrote a waltz Saturday. I was supposed to go to Mage but wires got crossed so I ended up on my own. I had studied waltzes w/ Joel at my last lesson & woke up w/ one in my brain. I do hope that I wrote it & am not just channeling some remembered fragment. but I’ll play it for Joel Thursday & he’ll tell me if it belongs to someone else– he knows every Brazilian waltz. The 3rd part is definitely mine– i wrote an Austrian landler– I thought it would amuse him.

The carnaval bands are starting to play out now, getting ready for the big event in a few weeks. I’m going to try to hear one play @ a bloco (neighborhood street party) this week. The rhythm section is the thing there– can’t wait to hear one. There are also rehearsals @ the Samba Schools, but they start around midnight & are in dangerous neighborhoods, so I’d have to find someone to go w/ who knows what is up & likes samba (most of my friends are choroes– it’s a different mindset.) but they’re not a good idea for a solo gringa…

I hope all is well w/ y’all. I did breathe a sigh of relief when some of you told me it was up to 60 after the single-digit phase. Hope I don’t have to shovel out my driveway first thing. but it will be good to see y’all, and even to start teaching. my life here is so wonderful, but it’s also somehow surreal to walk to the local open air Sunday market and buy fresh papayas & mangos & have coconut water machete-ied out for you. guess it’s hard to take the New England out of the girl. But a good month of snowy days should put me right 😉

Raphael– a 7-string player from today just called & is trying to put another session together for tonight… so maybe my day isn’t winding down yet! [I did go over to his apartment and endeared myself to Luiz, the main guitarist @ Sao Salvador, by sightreading anything he put in front of me. Fun session!]
bjs.
m

subject: the kindness of strangers & new discoveries thereby
January 16, 2008
Queridos– I just finished reading a funny book my friend Mitch gave me for Christmas– hence the odd use of language…

My kitchen sink clogged up a couple of days ago, so I went off to the grocery, dictionary in hand, hoping there was an obvious can of Draino. There wasn’t. So I took the closest-looking thing to the fruit guy who enjoys speaking a little English w/ me. He enlisted the manager & we decided it was fine. But just as I was about to check out he races up & says, no, it’s for floor drains & will ruin the sink. Whew. So I’m back in the products aisle trying to use portugues & mime to get the idea across that I didn’t want to clean my sink or unclog my floor drain. Suddenly the lightbulb went off in the brain of a girl clerk who races back to the back corner of the store & emerged w/ a lime green (this IS Brazil) sink plunger. What a great idea– looks like a little elf hat & works like a charm!

Yesterday I went to a new-to-me music store, Toca da Vinicius in Ipanema. There were many must-haves in the CD & book departments & I chatted w/ the couple in charge a few times. When I went to check out, sadly, I discovered they didn’t take VISA. I asked if they could hold the stuff for me (about $200 worth) until the next day & I’d come back w/ cash. So the owner packed it all up in 2 bags and handed them to me and said, here, come back tomorrow to pay for it. So I did that today. Would this ever happen in the US?

I asked my internet guy if he knew of any rooms for rent in the neighborhood for March & he said yes & sent me to his building to meet his wife, and it turns out that they have a room to rent– only to people they know, but that now includes me. The building is the oddest thing– open spaces where you wouldn’t expect, no windows where you would expect (it’s built on the side of the 1st hump of the Pau de Acucar) & stairs that look right out of an Escher drawing.

The guys @ Trapiche rocked the joint yesterday. Tonight I’m off to hear Deo & Bruno Rian & Sergio Prata play an all-Jacob concert. Tomorrow is my lesson w/ Joel. I still hope to hear some carnaval music– maybe TaxiPaulo will take me to a samba school ensaio. I’m meeting Paulo Sa on Friday, and my band is having an all-night party in my honor Saturday & when we wake up (if we sleep) Romulo will drive me to the airport as I leave early Sunday. (The delights of hanging out w/ 20-30-year-olds)

It rained like crazy for a couple of hours yesterday so today is much clearer, sunny. Hope all goes well for y’all. Happy birthday to my mom tomorrow! Happy birthday to my niece Ellis today– (Ellis, I’ll lend you my pod earrings when I get home; sorry yours self-destructed).
bjs.
m

subject: home soon
January 19, 2008
Queridos– It’s my last day in Rio… sigh… Romulo is going to pick me up w/ all my stuff in about an hour & we’ll go to his apt. to meet the rest of the band. & then it’s play all night until I fly home tomorrow AM.

I’ve been low key these past couple of days. Had a great lesson w/ Joel on Thursday– he loved the waltz I wrote for him, and, yes, it IS mine– not someone else’s I was remembering. It came out so fast & so completely that I was doubting it. I met Paulo Sa in centro yesterday for a long & productive meeting about our Bandolim book project. Then hung out w/ Rodrigo (pianist whose apt. I’ve been in) & Mike (Canadian friend of Ray) on the wall outside of the Urca Bar drinking beer & eating their great fish soup. It was too hot to sleep last night w/ no hint of a longed-for breeze. Can’t believe I’m going home to winter!

But it’ll be good to see y’all– and that’s the upside of leaving this magical place.
soon-
m

subject: skies still blue
Monday, January 21, 2008
Queridos, I woke up this morning & missed the sound of children squealing in delight on the Urca beach. But when I finally opened my eyes the sky was blue and I thought I’m in… Providence… and it’s… winter… and then I smiled and went back to get my 3 hours of missing sleep due to the time change.As always, my house seems incredibly large, and my belongings overwhelmingly many. But I’m going to the movies w/ friends in a couple of hours & will get all my syllabi ready for RWU tonight & tomorrow & so the other half of my life picks itself up and I jump on. How lucky I am to have 2 lives I love.

Just wanted to let you know that I am back, and I will see many of you very soon, I hope.
beijinhos~
m

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I’m home, the semester has begun, and Rio is almost a week ago as I begin this blog. But I want to write down my last couple of days there while they are close. Because being back is so familiar that it displaces all the memories, and Rio somehow seems like a dream. And yet every morning when I wake up I still think for a moment that I am there.

Saturday, September 1st, was my last EPM (choro school) and I arrived early to chat w/ Marcia & other friends who I wouldn’t be seeing for awhile. As we were assembling in to courtyard for an all-school meeting, I found myself next to my rep teacher, Pedro Paes, and asked him about Joel’s comments on my assignment for his class (see the last blog). He was interested and said we’d go over it in class.

So after climbing the 5 flights of stairs (the elevator works about 1/3 of the time) my transcription of “Sensivel” was the class topic. I had to explain in portugues Joel’s concerns that his interpretation was very personal, quite different from the original, and so my transcription would be misleading, in a way, because it wouldn’t give a player reading it a basis to interpret the piece for himself. Pedro passed my version around so everyone could see it, and then we played it. He pointed out some of the notation that was very different than traditional choro (needed to capture Joel’s rubato) and asked me to change it to be a bit more like the original (which I’ll figure out by listening to other recordings of it, since this is not a piece that seems to have been published anywhere) and finish the second part. So, although I’m leaving, I still have homework that I’ll have to get Romulo to hand in for me next class.

Bandolim classes follow and added some new exercises to my Brazilian collection, and also some more work on chords. And as we were setting up for Bandao, there was Taxi-Paulo in the audience! He had said he might come, but I figured something else would come up, as it usually does. But, no, he was there to listen, and I introduced him to Agua no Feijao afterwards, since he’s the one I wrote “Siga em Frente” for. They convinced him to stay for practice after lunch – someone had a flute he could use (hmmm… maybe this was all pre-arranged by my delightful band) and we went off to lunch.

Agua practice was short, because there was a teacher-led roda for the whole school @ 3:00, but we played Siga and some of our other rep as well. I decided not to stay for the roda – still had packing to do – but met most of the band afterwards at the Garota da Urca for choppes (draft beer) and supper and a spontaneous planning session for our potential 1st CD. Very fun! I told them all that I’ve started writing a new choro for them – “Porque Nao?” (Why Not?) and sang the first part for them. Raphael & Marcusinho – the wonder-kids – were glad to note that it was fast.

Next morning, Sunday, was my last day. I set my bags up ready to go and Romulo picked me up for the roda @ Laranjaras. A good way to end my trip – playing choro outdoors on a beautiful morning. Raphael had decided to come too, and the 3 of us sat together in the circle and riffed off each other – so much fun, and, Romulo told me afterwards, our ensemble groove was noted by the other players. This whole band-as-community thing really does pay dividends. There were more soloists this week, so I played a lot of harmonies. And with Raphael & Romulo to my right and a really good 7-string player to my left, I was in a great spot. My friends Marcia & Jorge showed up too, toward the end, and the 3 of us said good-bye to R&R – who had other places to go – and the rest & went off to the Bar do Urca for my last lunch.

So I found myself sitting in the sun on a wall next to the beach drinking a glass of beer – boy, do Cariocas have a hard winter! & Marcia had brought me 3 books of choro as a present. We lingered, but finally strolled back to Roberto’s where Taxi-Paulo was waiting, helping Roberto – who had just arrived back from the mountains – move some stuff from his car up to the apartment. Roberto’s brother was there too. Roberto is renting out the whole apartment for a long time starting next week, so it’s moving days for him as well. & I won’t be able to return to my wonderful nest in Urca for the forseeable future.

The men had a cafezinho while I packed up the extra music & then I was off to the airport. Taxi-Paulo stood in line w/ me for about 2 hours. The Brazilians do that; there was a whole family in line w/ the woman ahead of me. And then the delays began. My plane was on the runway in Rio for 2 hours because the airport in Sao Paulo was closed because of rain. We finally took off for SP, they hustled us onto our flight – over an hour after it was supposed to have left–and then we sat on that runway for a couple of hours. We arrived in Newark 20 minutes before my flight to Providence was to leave which, with having to claim baggage, go through customs, and re-check baggage, was an impossible connection to make. So I settled in to wait for the next flight, arriving back in Providence about 24 hours after I left Roberto’s.

So I’m home for the rest of 2007. And I’m happier about being here this time than I was when I returned in May. Because I belong here, but now I know that I belong in Rio too. What could be better? Hope I’ll be seeing y’all while I’m here. And, for those of you who I left in Brasil, I’m planning to be on the Copacabana beach to throw rose petals in the ocean to celebrate the start of 2008.

bjs.
m

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Well, Roberto was right about the weather – I’m glad I went to the beach last Monday because, sure enough, Tuesday it was pouring! Luckily I had planned to go to the Biblioteca Nacional for a whole day of research. I was looking for historic written orchestrations of choro and found many, by Chinquinha Gonzaga, Ernesto Nazareth, Villa-Lobos, and hit the jackpot w/ Pixinguinha- many scores of his own orchestrations of his tunes, all on paper so brittle that no matter how careful I was the corners flaked in my hands. I left a lot (turned out to be 350 pages) to be copied by Friday and scurried home on the rush hour subway before heading out to the roda da choro at Trapiche. I arrived ahead of Romulo – turned out his bus was stuck in traffic – and who was setting up to play but Joel – again! Wow – 2 out of 3 sessions! Trapiche rocked, as usual, and it was fun to see Joel interacting w/ the band, as I’m so used to hearing him play alone at my lessons.

Wednesday I had lunch w/ Luiz & his wife Maria in Ipanema. He’s planning his next Brasil gigs, including a release concert for his awesome new CD “Cafun,” a Brazilian word that means to scratch someone’s head.

That evening was the “Brasileirinho” concert @ Canaco. The concert centered around the Trio Madeira, featuring Ronaldo on bandolim, and also included performances by the fabulous Rui (from Trapiche) on clarinet and bass clarinet; Celsinho on pandeiro, along w/ his father, the awesome Jorge do Pandeiro who played w/ Jacob do Bandolim in Epocha D’Oro; Yamandu Costa, the virtuoso 7-cordista; and the incredible Ze da Velha & Silverio Pontes on trombone and trumpet respectively. Rather than do a scripted show that followed the DVD, they played a mix of old and new tunes and the performances really had a live spark to them – a great event! Romulo brought me a book as a present – “How to Be A Carioca” (that’s the nickname for a resident of Rio) which is a hilariously funny look at Rio’s residents and their habits with, for instance, an entire chapter on “How to Pass in a Tunnel” along with a look at the food, dress, lifestyle. Too funny.

Thursday morning I met Paulo Sa downtown for an all-too-brief chat and his morning class at the Villa-Lobos Conservatory. His quartet has been invited to play in Italy – muito legal! We also discussed our planned joint writing project – a choro method for bandolim – that we hope to start in earnest at the beginning of 2008. Taxi-Paulo picked me up downtown for my lesson w/ Joel, but first I got to experience something I bet no other tourist in Rio has. I got to go to the auto inspection center while Taxi-Paulo waited w/ crossed fingers to see if his cab would pass the emission test, which it did. It wasn’t an experience without interest though, as the place was outdoors, there was a passable lunch cart, and it provided an excellent venue for people-watching, as everyone has to stay while their cars are inspected. The reason I was there was because the inspection site was close to Joel’s house and Taxi-Paulo’s appointment was a couple of hours before my lesson, and I didn’t want to take a chance on another taxi.

At my lesson I showed Joel the draft of my new method, which he was interested in. We played some of the exercises – Leone & Bach – that I thought he might like to hear. Then I showed him my transcription of his interpretation of the waltz “Sensivel” on Ze da Velha & Silverio Pontes’ CD, “So Pixinguinha,” that I was making for my rep class at Escola Portatil. Interestingly, he thought it was a far too personal a reading to be in print, that a more general version would be better, to leave room for individual playing style. I decided to wait to finish it until I had talked w/ my rep teacher to see if I really had the assignment right. When Taxi-Paulo showed up to pick me up at the end of my lesson, he had brought his flute and my choro, “Siga Em Frente” so we could play it together w/ Joel on guitar. A fun surprise and a nice end to my lesson series this trip.

Friday, today, was a mix of errands, laundry, email, a quick trip to Praia Vermelha, some pics of the neighborhood–especially the abandoned Urca Casino, that is being rebuilt as an art school (work just started yesterday), and shopping for thank-you presents for folks at home who helped me take care of things there while I was here. I also got to see the Adalton exhibit of circus figures at my favorite Edson Folk Museum. I thought I had missed it in May, but it turned out to be in an entirely separate building in the Catete Palace Park that I stumbled on while walking in the park today. And – oh so Brazilian – although the show closed July 1st, it was still up for me to enjoy. As I send this email there’s just 2 more days left, and I’ll write about them from home. Right now I just want to enjoy what’s left of this trip to Rio.

bjs.
m

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A quiet Monday. I was going to go to the National Library to do research, but my landlord Roberto said that this would be the last good beach day for awhile so I changed my plans and went to Ipanema instead. Because Roberto is never wrong about the weather, and I haven’t been to the beach once this trip. Tomorrow will be fine for the library.

I wrote last on Wednesday, and Thursday was my lesson w/ Joel. I was a bit hasty in assuming last week that he had finished correcting my technique. There’s a particular pick technique that he uses for fast runs and ornaments that he wanted me to learn, and he was also working on my right hand to get more volume out of the instrument. And we did some work on chords. In fact, chords became a theme for my week, as Pedro also worked on them in both bandolim classes Saturday @ EPM (choro school, who’s actual name is ‘Escola Portatil de Musica,’ – portable music school.)

Friday was Luiz’s concert, so I had planned to just chill out during the day, but I got a surprise call from my friend Sergio @ 11:00, and an hour later found myself on the bus to Leblon to meet him for lunch He’d changed jobs just after I saw him in May so I wasn’t able to let him know I was coming back, but somehow my message to his dead cellphone was saved so I didn’t lose contact. It was good to spend a couple of hours in his cheerful company. He was leaving right after work to go to Sao Paulo, where he is very involved with the choro scene, so this was our only chance to get together.

Back home I had an hour to get ready & TaxiPaulo picked me up to go to Cecilia Mirelles Hall. I had to be there @ 5:00 for soundcheck, even though the concert didn’t begin until 9:00, so I had lots of time there to work on the choro I had to memorize for rep class @ EPM. After soundcheck & rehearsal Luiz & I went out to get a bite to eat with his manager and his cousin’s son, who is the Brasilian website manager for the Dave Matthews Band, and was filming & recording the concert for Luiz. The concert was fabulous – Luiz played really well, and he had set the concert up to engage the audience, singing some Gershwin lyrics in portugues, talking about the music. Our piece was super too. It was “Meu Bandolim,” the piece he wrote for me, and the audience really dug it.

After I played, his manager & I went out to sit in the hall for the rest of the concert, and just before the encore I saw Romulo & surprised him by slipping into the seat next to his. He was my only friend who actually showed up – problems w/ working late, forgetting, falling asleep– but we decided to go out for a drink anyway, and wound up at Democratica – a great old dance hall in Lapa where Ronaldo had told me he was playing. Sure enough Ronaldo was there, along w/ his brother, 7-cordista Rogerio Sousa, and Celsinho, and others. The ever-energetic Ronaldo grabbed my bandolim (his was on stage, we apparently arrived right at break) and launched into a half-hour of non-stop classical mandolin – Chopin, opera arias, Radames’ Retratos – that I strained to hear over the background of recorded samba. It was a very Charles-Ivesian experience. When he finished he pronounce my bandolim good, kissed me on the top of the head as if I was 6, and they went back to play & Romulo & I drank beer and talked to some friends from EPM until way too late.

Saturday morning arrived with little sleep & I had to get to EPM early to buy a pandeiro from Celsinho for my friend Ellen. Gave one of my new NEME CDs to Marcilio, chatted w/ Marcia, went to rep class, worked on chords in bandolim class. At Bandao practice we played an unscheduled piece from a previous semester’s rep book, there was a great round of applause & a pale man stood up & waved in response. It was Altimira Carrilho, the beloved Brazilian flautist, and composer of the piece, who was just up and about after heart surgery. He watched rehearsal for awhile sitting next to his brother Alvaro, as people came over to greet him with smiles and hugs.

We had a short lunch and a shortened rehearsal w/ Agua because there was an all-school roda @ 3:00 run by the teachers. I was so tired, but stayed to listen & decided to work on Pedro’s idea of just playing 2-note chords that sounded good to accompany the choro, without reading the chart or even caring what the actual official chords were. It proved to be fun & interesting. Pablo, Marcus & Raphael, from Agua, were also working on chords, Carlos was in the group of pandeiros, and Romulo jumped right in and solo-ed on the tunes he had memorized. Later I chatted w/ Marcia some more. The new CD by her band w/ Igor (the 7-cordista who I played w/ in March) is nearly finished. Didn’t get home until after 6:00 & then went to the internet caf to download the new proofs of my method from Mel Bay.

Sunday was the roda in Laranjaris again, and this time I jumped right in and soloed a lot. It was really cool! One of the bandolim hotshot students from EPM was there & we had fun trading sections or just playing together. This is an informal roda, so reading is OK, but I did play a couple of tunes by ear, with most of their notes intact. I sat next to a really nice guitarist, and between us we had most of the music for the tunes being played. So I even soloed on a couple of tunes that I was sight-reading, when it turned out that only one soloist really knew the tune. Afterwards, when I was talking to my bandolim friend, a woman came up to congratulate me on my performance w/ Luiz on Friday. What a funny coincidence that she should be at both events!

When I got home I walked over to Canacao to buy tickets for the Brasileirinho show on Wednesday, & got a couple of CDs at the Biscoito Fino stand in the Rio Sul Shopping center. Then I edited the method proofs, and last night emailed the OK in to Mel Bay for the 3rd set of proofs. So I have officially signed off on the method. I heard back from them today, and now their editor will look it all over again, and if everything is OK it goes to “blue line”. Then I’ll get to look at the final copy before it goes to press. Wow. It’s been 3 years, but this thing is finally going to happen.

Tomorrow is the final Trapiche of my stay, as I have reached my last week here. But rather than being sad to leave, I’m still just thrilled to be back. Rio is a really important pat of my world now- and how cool is that!

bjs.
m

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It’s only 4 days since the last blog, and so much has happened! Today I had a great rehearsal with Luiz — the concert is Friday and should be really fun. And this evening I went to see Ronaldo do Bandolim play at Modern Sound. Muito legal! He doesn’t do email so had no idea that I was in town. He was so glad to see me and still remembered my cellphone number! The group was great and Ronaldo wrote down everywhere he’s playing while I’m in town. The most exciting news is that much of the cast of the DVD “Brasileirinho” is giving a concert at Canacao next Wednesday. Alas, not Joel, but Ronaldo’s trio is playing and Ze da Velha and Silverio Pontes — who I love and have never heard live — and Yamandu and many others. That’s a definite!

Last Sunday was choro-todo-o-dia and so much fun. I went to the local Urca fruit market in the morning, and then Romulo picked me up at 9:45 for a new outdoor roda in Laranjaras that he has been raving about. It was really great — all students so no pressure and reading totally OK. Jorge was there too, and Marcia, so we got to chat a bit waiting for the rest of Agua to arrive. And then we piled into Romulo’s and Jorge’s cars and drove to Mage to meet Pablo and Anderson and had an incredible afternoon of playing, laughing, eating. Marcele, Pablo’s wife, took a hilarious video of Anderson “conducting” us, and all of my recordings have yelling and laughter mixed with the music. Total joy. Note pic of Romulo modeling the prototype for new band Tshirt (so far there’s only one). I rode home in Jorge’s car, and by time I got to Urca —nearly 12 hours after I left — I was completely music-ed out. I slept well that night.

Monday I glued myself to my computer all day and was able to finish editing the 2nd proofs of my method from Mel Bay. I ran out to email the corrections in the evening and, as there was a waiting line at the internet cafe, got into a great portu-english session with Kinho (who works there) until a computer was available.

Tuesday eu fiz muitos coisas in the morning and met Romulo in Leblon in the late afternoon to go to his favorite juice bar — the famous Bi-Bi —and then we got some dinner before heading to Trapiche. Last Friday Romulo passed the “prova” to continue his graduate studies in engineering and is now officially a doctorate candidate — so he is very glad and relieved. He’d told his friends to meet at Trapiche to celebrate and lots showed up. So we had great conversations — in portugues and some in English — between the great choros. Luiz Barcelos was back in his bandolim spot, and Jaime was back at cavaquinho, Eduardo was in fine form, but Rui was absent on clarinet. However, with one fewer soloist we got to hear a lot more of the incredible Rogerio Caetano on 7-corde guitar, so it was, of course, a stellar evening.

Tomorrow I go back to Joel’s for another lesson, and Friday is Luiz’s concert, and Saturday is choro school, and Sunday is the roda… you get the idea. I’m in music heaven!

bjs.
m

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happyhappyhappyhappyhappy… can I just tell you how great it was to go back to choro school today? Everyone seemed radiantly pleased to see me- faculty   including a couple I hadn’t ever talked to-  students in my classes, and of course, my band, Agua no Feijao. It somehow seems that by coming back I’ve become part of the family, not just a guest. Romulo waved from the window when I arrived and immediately came loping out to be sure I figured out what classes to go to. Pedro Amorim’s face lit up as I walked into bandolim class, and even my often-stern repertory teacher remembered my name. Raphael, one of the Agua guitarists raced over before Bandao started to envelope me in a bear hug and blast his brilliant smile (the Rio smile is so breathtaking, like the sun. Why don’t we smile so entirely up north?) The awesome Jaime-  who arranges for everyone worthy in Rio & plays cavaquinho at Trapiche (but was missing last Tuesday)-   saw me while he was conducting during Bandao practice & came right over when the tune was finished to give me the kiss-on-each-cheek greeting & say how glad he was that I was back. The marvelous Marcilio was there in the bandolim section, although he couldn’t be my stand-partner because I forgot to bring a stand from the US.

I ate lunch at Praia Vermelha with Pablo- Agua’s other guitarist- in the warm winter sun (it’s about 70 here today, and it’s February for them) and at our regional practice in the afternoon the band played my new choro, “Siga em Frente,” for the first time, after going through some of our tunes. They have been working really hard while I was away and sound awesome! I wrote “Siga em Frente” for my taxista Paulo, at his request, and so far it is getting good reviews here. I played it with Luiz at our rehearsal yesterday, and with Joel at my lesson on Thursday and they both really liked it. The title translates to “Go Straight Ahead” and is a phrase often used when giving directions.

Since my first blog, a mere 3 days ago, I’ve had an incredible lesson with Joel, and a rehearsal with Luiz Simas, my Rio/NYC piano friend. My portugues is much better now, and so I am speaking more and understanding more that my friends say. Joel was great & we worked on interpretation as he’s finally decided that my technique is fine. He played me some tracks from the new CD he is recording with Hamilton de Hollande. It’s all classical & mostly just 2 bandolims. I really like it!

Luiz is in town for a concert at the huge and prestigious Sala Cecilia Mirelles. It’s part of a solo-piano jazz series there. When he found out I was going to be here he asked me to play with him  the piece he wrote for me, “Meu Bandolim”. It’s very exciting to get to play there. All my friends have immediately turned it into my concert, so I have to keep reminding them that I’m only playing one tune. But there’s an unlimited guest list, so they’re all coming. I’ve also had some great conversations with my landlord Roberto, resulting in improvement of my portugues and his English.

I went to hear Taxi-Paulo play at his church on Friday night- there’s a whole band and chorus, kindof like a gospel thing-  and got to hang out with his sons, Rodrigo, 18, who runs sound for the band, and Paulo Marcelo, 9, who became quite attached to my camera and ran around shooting pictures and movies of everything. But, for better or worse, he also discovered the “delete” button, so I only got to see a few in the end. We all went out for pizza afterwards in an outdoor cafe, and Rodrigo worked on speaking English, as he had his English class in the morning.

Other than that I’ve walked around, remembering. It seems like I never left, which is a good thing, because it means that I do really have two lives now, and I think I will be able to go back and forth between them. More later- it’s late and I have to get up early tomorrow for more adventures!

bjs.
m

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It is simply not possible for 24 hours to hold so much happiness. And I still have an hour left for writing in my first 24 in Rio. If I had just come back for this one day the trip would definitely have been worth it. And I have 18 more days to go. Otimo! Even in the Newark Airport the Brasileiro vibe was thick in the air as I chatted with other women standing in line to get our tickets checked uselessly yet again. Americans would have been annoyed with a dash of indignation; Brasileiras were amused, with a hint of the benevolent tolerance shown toward harmlessly clueless children. I chatted with a flight attendant as we waited to board, Sam-Joe who lives in Rio, and during the flight he kept dashing back from 1st class with glasses of the good wine and an ice cream sundae.

When I arrived in Rio my bags did too and Taxi-Paulo was waiting with his unparalleled smile and a way-cool new beard. The weather has turned warm here after 2 weeks of frigid cold (in Rio terms this means temperatures in the 50’s. It’s winter here  the equivalent of our February) and yesterday was mid-70s and sunny. The traffic was benign, and we caught ourselves up in portu-glish as I marveled at the sameness of Rio. Cristo was still on top of his mountain  apparently unchanged by having been elected one of the 7 wonders of the modern world. The boy jugglers were there on top of the trashcan, one on the other’s shoulders juggling blind-folded at the traffic light by Rio Sul Shopping. And there were people swimming at the beach in Urca (even though it’s winter) as we drove past on the way to my old place at Roberto’s.

TaxiPaulo dropped me off, promising to pick me up at Trapiche at midnight and I moved back in. I caught up with Roberto over lunch at Garota da Urca that involved the smallest of choppes (draft beer) that immediately made me long for a nap. Romulo called, confirming that my cellphone number still worked after my 2-and-a-half month absence. Muito bom! Luiz Simas (who is in Rio, not New York) called and we set up a rehearsal for the piece I’m playing in his concert the 24th. I slept briefly, woke disoriented in the dark, but luckily it was only 7:00 PM (it’s winter here so the days are short, and the sky is a paler, but still lovely blue). I caught a cab to Trapiche chatting in portugues with the cab driver all the way. When I apologized for my poor use of past tense, he encouraged me to live in the moment, so agora eu falo portugues pra o momentinho. (Yes, I did make that joke in portuges in the cab.)

I walked into Trapche a bit early to meet Romulo (the sax-playing leader of my regional, Agua no Feijao), and, amazing, he was chatting with Joel! Joel Nascimento, my beloved bandolim teacher and a 70-year-old much-revered hot-shot player in Rio, had been the guest artist at Trapiche on my last night in Rio at the end of May. An incredible coincidence then. And now here he was again on my first day back in Rio- the trickster spirits had clearly lined up a block-buster of a welcome. Neither one of us was expecting the other, so it was a grand surprise and he said he had missed me too, just as I had sorely missed my weekly lessons and long chats with him.

And the night continued to get even better. Marcilio Lopes-  my stand-partner from Bandao and crack bandolimist- was there to play too! It seems Luiz Barcelos- the wunderkind bandolimist who usually plays Trapiche- had to miss, and someone in the band called Joel and someone else called Marcilio to substitute, so they were both there. And not only that, but, as the evening wore on, Reco do Bandolim from Brasilia arrived with most of his band and they all played; and Marco Cesar- who directs a bandolim orchestra in Recife- was in town for a frevo gig at Canacao and he played and we chatted and he’s going to send me bandolim orchestra music. and Sergio Prata- head of the Instituto Jacob do Bandolim- was there as well and sat in on cavaquinho. Eduardo Neves- the group leader who plays tenor sax and flute- blew his brains out, exchanged math puzzles with Romulo, invited me to sit-in any time; Rui Alvim played his so-sweet-you-could-die clarinet. A kid from choro school was sitting in for the absent Jaime on cavaquinho; Anderson rocked on pandeiro.

Jovino Santos Neto, who played with Hermeto and now often with my NYC friend Richard Boukas, walked in in the middle of the first set and sat at the bar. He “happened” (o ye trickster fates) to be in town to record with Eduardo. This just a day after I was talking to Boukas about getting their duo up to play at RWU. He introduced himself to Joel by credentials- he was Hermeto’s keyboard player for many years- as Joel and I were chatting after the first set, and I chimed in with, yes & he’s a friend of mine too, which broke the formality, and I saw them in animated discussion later in the evening.

My friends Jorge (plays pandeiro in Agua no Feijao) and Miriam arrived after an hour or so, and we all sat with Romulo at a table practically in front of the band soaking it all in. Taxi-Paulo came early and got into the math-puzzle thing with Eduardo, his longtime friend, and Romulo; and the band played late, until 1:00 AM instead of the usual midnight, because it was all just too good to end. And did I mention that Trapiche was packed? At separate points in the evening Romulo and Taxi-Paulo both commented that it felt like a holiday there, each paused and said, it’s the return-of-Marilynn holiday. All I can say is it was unbelievable. At the end of the night Romulo confirmed that I do have a lesson with Joel on Thursday at 2:00. And when I said goodnight to Joel, he said to me in English, I love you. I hugged him and marveled at how lucky I am. As I repeated over and over all evening eu estou muito feliz estar aqui.

Waking this morning, in need of coffee and remembering that I had not visited the grocery yet, I stumbled into the kitchen to find Roberto grating manioc root. I asked plaintively if there was coffee and he said yes but there was no bread. So he put on water for coffee, grated and squeezed the liquid out of the manioc in a teatowel- all the time joking that he was returning to his Indian roots- put it in the frying pan without adding a thing, shaped and flattened it into a pancake & voila-  a delicious crisp-yet-bendable tortilla that we filled with farmer cheese and had with coffee and fresh papaya. That was when I looked at the clock and counted my 23 hours of blessings that I have now written down & am sending to you. No pictures yet- except some blurry ones of the band which are of no interest to anyone but me. But it all will come. Everything will come; everything is possible. Porque nao?– eu estou no Rio.

Beijinhos pra voces!
m

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Life in Rio continues pra mim, full of music and friends. The last log ended just before the great choro-fest week-end, so I’ll start this episode back there in April. The concert venue, Circo Voador, is an outdoor rock amphitheater just inside the Arcos do Lapa withpalm trees, bars, a stage, some bleachers, and alot of open space for standing or dancing. My friend Betty & I take the metro there early in the day to get tickets and check out the location before dark, as I haven’t been there yet. The Arcos, that you see in the first pic, date from the 18th century and are a copy of a Roman aqueduct, built originally to carry water but now used as a track for the “bondinho” (little train) to Santa Teresa, and they have become the defining landmark of the Lapa neighborhood. Afterwards we walk around the streets near the Cinelandia metro station, home to the Municipal Theater, the National Library, Escola da Musica and many other public buildings.

We’re meeting friends from NYC – Luiz Simas, Brazilian pianist and composer, & his wife Maria – for dinner at my local restaurant, the Garota da Urca, and afterwards we catch a cab together to the concert. My choro-school friend Ray is already there, and makes room for us all at the table he was early enough to snag. There are 5 acts playing each night of the festival, most of them groups whose recordings I have and love. The opening act the first night is a flute ensemble that is already on as we arrive. But I’m waiting for the second set, with my beloved bandolim teacher Joel Nascimento, playing with choro-legend Henrique Cazes on cavaquinho. Their band has percussion, electric bass, and Rogerio Caetano on 7-string, and they play a great set. It’s interesting to hear Joel fit his very personal rubato-filled style into a band setting, keeping all the ornaments and virtuoso runs and interacting with the other musicians, as I’ve gotten so used to hearing him play solo at my lessons.

Jacob’s former band, Epouca de Ouro, is on 3rd, continuing the thread of traditional choro, and sounding as perfect as they had at Bar do Tom in March. I will mention here that this concert started at 10:00 PM, so as we reach the end of the 3rd set it’s already well past 1:00 AM, and we’ve heard a lot of great music. The 4th set is Gilson Peranzzetta, piano, with Mauro Senise, flute and sax, playing an interesting but very mellow modern jazz that seems to barely have a foot in choro. It’s an odd choice to follow the energy of the previous two bands. But then, at about 2:30 AM, the headline group – the Hamilton de Holanda Quinteto – takes the stage. It’s loud, it’s rock, Hamilton is bouncing around the stage with his bandolim, backed by electric guitar, harmonica, electric bass & drums. A galvanizing set for the 20-something crowd who stand up and cheer and dance. Unfortunately by now I am so tired I can barely see straight & have choro school at 9:00 AM, so shortly after 3:00, even though Hamilton continues on, we call TaxiPaulo to come get us. He shows up on foot, having parked the cab where he could, so we get to walk through the mysterious back alleys of Lapa with smokey food stands and sleeping street people before riding home.

Saturday is Betty’s last day in Rio, and Henrique picks her up early to see some more of the city while I’m at choro-school. I miss my early repertory class – can’t prop the eyelids open in time – and find, when I get to Bandolim class, that Luiz Barcelos, the Trapiche hot-shot is subbing for Pedro Amorim. I’ve forgotten my recorder, and it’s incredibly hot, and the noise of the Botofogo Air Show planes as they scream overhead is intense. Bandao is cancelled, as are the afternoon regional rehearsals, because the teachers are giving a concert that we’re all invited to at 6:00. But I do get my official bandolim-student ID card! And although afternoon rehearsals have been cancelled, our regional decides to stay and play a little anyway. I leave around 1:30 to go home to meet Betty when she comes back to collect her stuff before leaving for the airport. As I start walking home, however, it becomes increasingly apparent that we have seriously miscalculated the impact of the Botofogo Air Show on our plans. The streets of Urca are jammed with people and gridlock traffic. I find out later that over a million people are here for the event, taking place over the bay between Urca & Botofogo. As I slowly push my tired body through the mass of people watching from our side, I realize that Henrique and Betty are most likely completely unaware of situation here. I call to warn them to start back right away & not to try to drive into Urca, and tell them I’ll pull Betty’s luggage out of Urca & meet them by UniRio.

At this point the surreality of the exhaustion-tinged day just tips right over into the Salvador-Dali zone. I drag a wheeled duffle etc. through shoulder-to-shoulder crowds in meltingly-hot temperatures checking in at intervals on the cell with H&B, who are stuck in gridlock traffic in Botofogo on their way back from peaceful Sta. Teresa. Traffic is still a mess by UniRio, so I turn right & keep walking to a spot they can turn around and head back out before hitting the clogged 1-way streets, hoping that I have managed to locate all of Betty’s stuff and that she will not miss her plane. Somewhat amazingly my plan works, I flag them down, we throw the bags in the car and Henrique sets off on a roundabout way to the airport. As he says with a rueful shake of his head, never in our wildest dreams did any of us think an airshow would be such a huge event.

I go by myself to the 2nd night of the choro-fest, but Ray has saved me a seat, and Romulo and Raphael from my regional are there as well, although I don’t find them until partway through. The first set is a stripe-shirt/straw-hat bunch who do a theatrical choro set with jokes that border on corney. Next up is Agua de Moringa, a group I’m really excited to hear live. Three of the teachers from choro-school play in it – Marcilio Lopes, bandolim – my stand-partner at Bandao; Jayme Vignole, cavaquinho, and Rui Alvim – he of the meltingly beautiful tone – on clarinet and sax. Jayme & Rui both play at Trapiche as well. The band also includes 6 & 7-string guitars and a drummer, and they play a galvanizing set. I see Romulo after it & tell him I want us to BE Agua de M. According to Ray, Jaime does most of the arrangements and they are stellar. They play a piece written by Joel and I find out later that they are recording an entire CD of Joel’s music.

The next set features Galo Preta, with Alfonso Machado on bandolim, one of the old-school groups that first began the move to modernize choro improvisational style. Their set seems tame compared to AdeM’s – lovely, but without the fire that sets a great group apart from a good one. But another great group plays the set that follows. No Em Pingo d’Agua is a band of extraordinary players whose energy is palpable. Rodrigo Lessa on bandolim, Rogerio Sousa, 7-string, Celsinho on pandeiro (with occasional added cymbal), electric bass, and Mario Seve on sax – they set up with the soloists on either end and Celsinho in the center holding down the groove. A big wow.

By now it’s well after 2 AM, and the headliner, Yamandu, has yet to hit the stage. Just as Y starts his set, Marcia appears & says that Igor called her & there’s a roda in Petropolis tomorrow at ~noon and she should bring me too. Cool! We agree to meet at the Rodoviaria in the morning to catch the bus together. I return my attention to Y, who starts off playing solo & then brings 2 other guitars to the stage – Rogerio Caetano, of the Trapiche sessions, and Ze Paulo Becker, of Trio Madeira. Unfortunately the sound system is turned up so loud it hurts, so after about a half-hour Ray & I decide it’s time to go & catch a cab.

The next morning, Sunday, seems to arrive very early and Marcia & I get to the Rodoviaria just in the nick of time to catch the 11:40 bus to Petropolis. We meet the rest of her band & go to a small theater/restaurant that is holding the roda in honor of St. George’s Day, and Pixinguinha’s birthday (April 23). I always thought St. George was Brit, but apparently he’s very important to Brasil – important enough that everyone gets Monday off. The band includes my duo-partner Igor on 7-string, Marcia on pandeiro, and 3 others whose names I don’t have on sax, flute, and cavaquinho.

The host theater has prepared a feijoada – beans, sausage, rice, farofa – a dish usually served on week-ends and holidays. Everyone who comes pays an admission that covers food & music & the musicians eat for free. The roda is a blast as the band is very funny and fun and play really well. I have a good time making up counterlines, or playing chords, and occasionally play melody on a tune I know. I call Henrique to surprise him that I’m in his hometown & he comes over for awhile. Paulo Sa was supposed to play as well, but can’t come as his son Miguel has had a accident, but we talk later on the phone and all is well with Miguel. There are lots of percussion instruments at the theater so the roda later segues into a singing/drum jam, and at one point I’m playing a beer can with Marcia`s keys. Marcia is staying over as the band has rehearsal tomorrow, but my band is rehearsing too, so I catch the bus back to Rio.

For some reason our band has decided to rehearse at 10:30 in the morning, so we’re all at Carlos’ in Sta Teresa bright and early, and have a good session. Afterwards I catch a cab home, pointing out to Romulo that it’s expensive to be this tired as it seems impossibly difficult to navigate the metro/bus home. Later in the afternoon I meet Luiz & Maria back in Urca, as they want to walk around the neighborhood a bit. Luiz’ mother, who lives in Ipanema, says Urca is a miracle, because it has no highrises or big hotels, it’s still a small community even with its incredible location. Luiz says Urca looks like he remembers Rio used to be. Once again I feel incredibly lucky to be able to live here.

Tuesday arrives, and with it the session at Trapiche – Ray’s last as he’s scheduled to fly back to Vancouver on Thursday. It’s quite a different band this week, with Marcilio playing bandolim instead of LuizB, and Rogerio Sousa on 7-string. But it’s somehow fitting as they’re both good friends of Ray’s. There’s a pic of the 3 plus an Oz friend of Ray’s who’s spending some time in Rio. Eduardo Neves is also missing from the session but Rui is there and sounds great.

Joel has pushed my lesson back from Wednesday to Thursday, as he has a recording session, so I take the opportunity to catch the early choro show at Modern Sound – it’s 6-9 and I can never go as I don’t get back from my 5-hour lesson with Joel until after 8:00. I know Ronaldo is playing so I take my CDs to give him. Daniella Spielman is sitting in with the group, so it’s a delightful set. Thursday is my lesson with Joel – the first in 2 weeks as I took a week off when Betty was here – and it’s amazing as always. He’s showing me more and more about ornamentation now that he seems satisfied with my technique & instrument.

I’m trying to learn some of the tunes by heart – it’s easier to keep my place when we go back over glisses and fingerings, and I feel as if I’m beginning to relate to playing in a different way, with the mandolin, rather than the music, coming first. Muito interesante! Thursday evening there’s a concert at Sala Baden Powell to celebrate the release of Mauricio Carrilho’s new CD, and his 50th birthday. He’s written a set of choro in odd meters for the CD, and they are gorgeous. The concert ensemble is piano, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, Mauricio on violao, Luciana on cavaquinho, and pandeiro. I buy the CD and the cast is a bit different – I recognize the names of my Sao Paulo acquaintances Nailor and Arismar in the credits of several tunes.

Friday the first real “weather” arrives and it’s a doozey – a rain storm with powerful winds blowing it horizontal and rendering umbrellas completely useless. Roberto is away so I prop chairs in front of the terrace doors to keep them closed. I’m meeting my friend Sergio downtown in the afternoon, but get so drenched as I start out that I go back home & change, putting on my waterproof beach pants. The storm seems a little calmer in the city, but we and everyone else are completely drippingly soaked. Sergio has brought me some music from his collection, and a DVD of old TV movies of Joel to give to him at my next lesson. We have coffee and he drives me home, and approaching Urca we notice the lights are out and trees are down in the streets.

Luckily I find a candle at Roberto’s as it’s hours before the power comes on, so I practice by candlelight. In the morning on the way to choro-school I see the damage in the streets. Luckily no windows broke at my place, although one of the big plants was blown off its stand but I manage to get it back in place. Choro School continues unaffected – it turns out that Urca was the hardest hit neighborhood, although traffic was snarled everywhere.

Classes and Bandao are back to normal after the shortened session last week, and in the afternoon, the time scheduled for regional rehearsals, MauricioC drops in to critique our group and is very interesting in his discussion on the importance of using the right rhythmic picking patterns for a piece – samba or maxixe or choro. He organizes our rhythm section into a more cohesive unit, and reseats us in sections. We’re beginning to sound more like a group and less like a jam session. Afterwards everyone is a little crazy though, and I snap a pic of an impromptu “instrument exchange”.

Sunday & Monday are days of errands, practice, etc., and then Tuesday – May 1st – is another holiday & we’re back rehearsing in Sta Teresa again. Marcele, Pablo’s wife, comes and takes pics & films of us. It’s a full moon and our rooftop rehearsal spot begins to look like a movie set as afternoon turns to evening. Later I go to Trapiche for the session, and so do Romulo & Raphael, so we have a band table full of the energy of a good practice.

It’s an unusual night at Trapiche. Eduardo arrives late, Luiz isn’t there, but Yamandu is there with a family including 3 performing kids who play a set. Romulo says they come from the south, near Argentina. The youngest boy is a 7-string phenom. He’s so small that his guitar is nearly completely hidden by the table. His older brother plays accordion, and their sister sings and plays rhythm guitar. It’s interesting to see Yamandu solicitously setting up their mikes and getting the sound levels right. At one point he & the 7-string kid play a duet that is really flashy & fun – you can tell Y sees himself in this little guy. Maybe as a result of their long break the regular band plays a smoking last set and TaxiPaulo arrives in time to catch the end of it & take a pic of me & the boys.

So now it’s officially May – my last month in Rio – and I’m trying not to be sad and to count myself lucky, etc. But it is really going to be hard to leave this new life in which I am so completely happy and industriously occupied. The sonnet to end this log started from a comment Marcia made at the roda in Petropolis when I said I rarely felt myself in danger in Rio. It also includes the feeling of rebirth walking to choro-school the day after the big storm, the brilliance of the sun and blue sky returning in a miraculous calm as people tidied up after the deluge. The rhyme pattern for the 6-line section at the end is different than the one I usually use, but still traditional for a sonnet. The lines seem kindof unbalanced, but at this point I like that. We’ll see

she said no but you are simple so no-
one would think you are an American
a compliment that I don’t understand
fully because I’m complicated so
being simple is somehow a disguise
but she’s right my life has untangled here
in many ways and the ground’s been swept clear
of obstacles it’s a pleasant surprise
to be simple and happy becomes me
and I am radiantly content to
walk along these rain-soaked sidewalks in my
new flip-flops hair permanently frizzy
from wind and sun under such a clear blue
sky that even a damaged dream could fly

Bjs.
m

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