Toz – Carioca Street-Art Innovator
By Doug Gray, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO – Complimenting Rio’s natural beauty perfectly, even helping to blur the line between the sea and hillsides and the gray asphalt roads, Carioca graffiti is among the most prevalent, eye-popping and colorful to be found in any major city in the world.
Despite blowing up in New York [...]
Empty Oscar Year for Brazil Films
By Maíra Amorim, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO – For the fifth year running Brazil was not represented at an Oscar ceremony, and the Ministry of Culture’s candidate for Best Foreign Language Film – Salve Geral (Time of Fear), by Sérgio Rezende – did not even figure among the Academy nominees. To cut closer to the [...]
The Blues in Rio at Shenanigan’s
By Felicity Clarke, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO – With a characteristic zeal for life and moving to a samba beat, it’s a wonder why Rio has never spawned a burgeoning blues scene. As a contemporary cosmopolitan melting pot, the raw sounds and reflective lyrics have a place on the city’s musical landscape in the [...]
The Cachaça Cinema Clube
By Felicity Clarke, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO – ¨Because cinema is our cachaça¨ runs the tag line for the Cachaça Cinema Clube, the popular monthly film event that celebrates the intoxicating escapism of independent short films and Brazil’s national firewater cachaça.
Every second Wednesday of the month, the usually blockbuster-showing Odeon Petrobras in Cinelândia plays [...]
International Artists in Rio
By Doug Gray, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO – The city may have been overlooked recently by rock royalty Metallica, ZZ Top and AC/DC in favour of Sao Paulo, but the first half of 2010 looks set to put Rio de Janeiro back on the map for international touring artists.
Earlier this year Beyonce whipped up [...]
Big Brother Brazil 10 Controversy
By Maíra Amorim, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO – While in many countries the reality TV show Big Brother is steadily losing popularity, in Brazil the audience’s appetite just seems to get bigger each season. The tenth edition is currently on air and the housemate’s antics remain a huge subject of discussion between groups from [...]
Champions’ Parade at Sambódromo
By Mira Olson, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO – The Parade of Champions on Saturday evening marked the official end of Rio Carnival 2010. The energy in and around the Sambódromo on Saturday night during the final parade of the winning samba schools was no different from that during the Sunday and Monday shows: [...]
Guns N’ Roses Rock Brazil in March
By Felicity Clarke, Contributing Senior Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO – The legendary U.S. rock band Guns N’ Roses will play five shows in Brazil next month as part of the current leg of their Chinese Democracy world tour. Starting in Brasilia on March 7th, the band will go on to play in Belo Horizonte on March 10th, São [...]
Gringo Bloco Fills Ipanema Streets
By Raul Winson, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO – On Carnival Tuesday (February 16th) an incongruous sound filled the streets of Ipanema as the Banda da Ipanema bloco in General Osório died down and in its place a thumping 4/4 beat reverberated off the buildings of Rua Vinícius de Moraes.
The Blue Agave hosted its inaugural carnival [...]
Carnival Across Brazil
By Christine Wipfli, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO – With Carnival fever in full swing, Brazilians as well as foreigners alike are celebrating this vibrant festival all over the country. Of course, Rio de Janeiro offers the most popular “desfile” or parade at the city’s Sambódromo (a purpose-built parade area), but hundreds of other cities offer [...]
