By Chesney Hearst, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Fridays and Saturdays in November at Oi Futuro Ipanema are dedicated to showcasing the current diversity of Brazilian popular music, as the venue hosts the fourth edition of the Sonoridades music festival. Curated by Nelson Motta, the artists for this edition will include; BaianaSystem, Karol Conka, Márcio Victor, Pedro Baby, Pepeu Gomes, Dadi, Jorginho, Juana Molina, Jaques Morelenbaum, Alice Caymmi, Helio Flanders, and Michael Sullivan.
“Oi Futuro Ipanema feels very satisfied to help write, along with the Sonoridades, this important chapter of Brazilian popular music, which is a mixture of rhythms, accents, genres and aesthetics entirely representative of the works of the first ten years of this century,” said manager of Culture for Oi Futuro Ipanema, Roberto Guimarães.
“This fourth edition,” added Guimarães, “is one of the boldest of a festival that is moving the Brazilian music scene, revealing names, celebrating veterans, pointing out trends and creating unexpected connections between artists of different styles on Oi Futuro Ipanema’s stage. The festival is established as one of larger and more powerful musical radars in the country.”
Sonoridades began in 2011 with performances that included Seu Jorge and Almaz, Cibelle, and Lucas Santtana. During the years that followed the festival continued to host both well known national and international acts and new up-and-coming stars. Since its start, over fifty artists have given twenty-six performances during the festival’s editions.
This year the group BaianaSystem will start the festival on the night of Friday, November 7th. They will be joined on the Oi Futuro Ipanema stage by rapper Karol Conka and Márcio Victor, the founder of the band Psirico, well known for their major hit entitled “Lepo Lepo.”
A member of the BaianaSystem said in a prepared statement that the festival has “A freedom of rhythms and shapes, which embraces several languages always with a clear Brazilian reference. The presence of Karol Conka and Márcio Vitor as our guests will bring something very strong to our show and further reinforces this concept – the basic sounds.”
“Márcio is a genius percussionist,” the statement continued. “His work as a percussionist and the front of Psirico has a freshness and originality like few others. Karol brings a very strong element of pop / world music, with a very personal way of intrepreting, composing and mixing in the Brazilian elements. Having them both join with BaianaSystem will open an infinite range of sounds.”
Conka, a Brazilian rapper originating from the city of Curitiba will again join BaianaSystem on Saturday, November 8th for the second show of the festival.
“I am very excited about these performances,” said Conka. “BaianaSystem is super creative with their beats, the Bahian guitar, the voice of Russo Passapusso, this idea of the sound system around the city […] I’m the granddaughter of a Bahian and I’m predicting a very interesting partnership between us! Let’s see what will come out of all this Curitiba mixes with Salvador in Rio de Janeiro madness.”
Speaking about the curator of the festival, Nelson Motta, Conka said, “He is one of the greatest connoisseurs of Brazilian music, and he has been involved in many of the historical moments of our culture. I can only say it is an immeasurable joy to be invited to be part of it.”
For the second weekend of the festival Motta invited guitarist Pedro Baby to perform with his father, guitarist Pepeu Gomes, along with bassist Dadi and drummer Jorginho on both Friday, November 14th and Saturday, November 15th.
The bringing together of Pepeu Gomes, Dadi and Jorginho, marks reunion of Novos Baianos, a Brazilian rock and MPB band in which all three were once members.
During the third weekend of the festival, famous Argentinean tango singer and actress, turned singer-songwriter and electronic artist, Juana Molina will perform with cellist Jaques Morelenbaum on Friday, November 21st and Saturday, November 22nd.
Finally to close out this year’s edition of the festival, sing-songwriter Alice Caymmi will perform with Helio Flanders on the Friday, November 28th and again on Saturday, November 29th with Michael Sullivan.
Caymmi is the granddaughter of famous Brazilian singer-songwriter and actor Dorival Caymmi, the niece of singer Nana Caymmi and the daughter of MPB singer-songwriter Danilo Caymmi.
Alice released her self-titled debut album in 2012 and recently released her sophomore follow-up entitled, “Rainha dos Raios.” She reportedly counts her grandfather and Bjork among her varied influences.
Each show during the Sonoridades festival will begin at 9PM with doors opening an hour earlier. Entry in only R$10 – R$20.
What: Sonoridades Music Festival 2014
When: Fridays and Saturdays, November 7th – November 29th. Doors for all shows open at 8PM and shows begin at 9PM.
Where: Oi Futuro Ipanema, Rua Visconde de Pirajá 54, Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro
Entrance: R$10 – R$20