Casuarina Performs Live for First DVD

By Maíra Amorim, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO – Casuarina is a samba group that started out in Lapa during the revitalization of the area in 2001 and now, eight years later, the band is ready to record its first live DVD. The show is going to happen on May 5th, in Lapa of course, at Fundição Progresso, the place where they first acquired popularity with weekly performances. It will be a different version of the traditional “roda de samba” that has been taking place since 2005, and certainly a “must see” in the week’s events.

“Maybe we will have a different stage to record the DVD. Those (who are) used to seeing Casuarina will have nice surprises on the day of the show”, says the director Bruno Maia, in the group’s blog.

Casuarina is formed by five young friends in their early 20s: Daniel Montes (guitarist), Gabriel Azevedo (singer and percussionist), João Cavalcanti (singer and percussionist), João Fernando (mandolin) and Rafael Freire (cavaquinho). Next Tuesday, they are going to play songs from their debut album, “Casuarina”, released in 2005, and from last year’s “Certidão”, which contained ten of their own compositions.

The set list is going to include; “Minha Filosofia” (Aluisio Machado), “Já Fui Uma Brasa” (Adoniran Barbosa) and “Swind de Campo Grande” (Novos Baianos), from the first album, and “Vaso Ruim” (Diego Zangado e Gabriel Azevedo) and “Certidão” (João Fernando and João Cavalcanti), from their most recent CD, along with classics like “Velho Bandido” (Sérgio Sampaio) and “Canto de Ossanha” (Baden Powell and Vinícius de Moraes). To keep up with the tradition of having guests at the “roda de samba”, Casuarina welcome Wilson Moreira, Roberto Silva and Moska to the DVD recording.

They are also encouraging the audience’s participation. In their blog, they ask people to register, and take pictures at the concert with their cell phones and cameras to send to their website and the best images will appear on the final DVD in an interactive video clip, with the photographers credited.

Last year, Casuarina was nominated at the Tim Music Award in the category “Best Samba Group”. In 2006, they won the Rival BR Music Award for “Best Group”. The critics often praise the way the group combines tradition and modernity, making contemporary versions of old sambas and keeping the rhythm alive amongst young people.

Roda de Samba Casuarina and Guests
May 5th (Tuesday), Doors open at 10pm, concert starts at 12am
Fundição Progresso – Rua dos Arcos, 24, Lapa
Tel.: (21) 2220-5070
Fundição Progresso

Tickets can be purchased at Fundição Progresso from Monday to Friday (from 10AM to 1:30PM and from 2PM to 6PM)
Lot 1 – R$15 (with student card) and R$30
Lot 2 – R$20 (with student card) and R$40
Lot 3 – R$25 (with student card) and R$50